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THE 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


OF 


SILAS  WRIGHT 


JR.  .    W  .     G  I  L  L  ET  , 


AUTHOR    OF    THE     "   DEMOCRACY    OF    THE    JjNITED     ^TATES,  "     AND     "THE    fEDERAI.    poVER_NJ 

ITS   PFFICERS  AND  THEIR   DUTIES." 


VOLUME    I. 


THE    ARGUS    COMPANY,     PRINTERS    AND    PUBLISHERS. 
1874. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 

seventy-four, 

BY  B.  H.  GILLET, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


TO 

WON.  FRANCIS    PRESTON 

(%  Tj, ife-hwjj  ^personal  anb  political  Jritnfi 

Of 

SILAS  WRIGHT, 

THIS  WORK  ON  jiis  J^IFE  AND  TIMES  is  RESPECTFULLY  J)EDICATED, 

AS    AN 

EVIDENCE     OF     ESTEEM, 
ay 

R.      H.      plLLET. 


^47461 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  Author  has  endeavored  to  present  SILAS  WEIGHT 
to  the  present  generation  as  he  was  seen  and  known  to 
the  last.  Although  ardently  attached  to  him,  he  is  not 
aware  that  he  has  overdrawn  one  trait  in  his  character, 
or  failed  truly  to  represent  the  varied  acts  of  his  stirring 
life.  For  more  than  twenty  years  he  was  distinguished 
as  a  rising  star  whose  brightness  was  never  obscured  by 
spot  or  cloud.  Few  did  or  said  so  much  during  their 
long  lives.  Whatever  feelings  envy  may  have  engendered 
against  him,  he  was  no  man's  enemy.  He  wrote  and 
spoke  freely,  and  believed  and  felt  what  emanated  from 
him.  To  what  extent  his  thoughts  should  be  presented 
to  the  public,  was  a  question  of  deep  solicitude  to  the 
Author.  On  reflection,  he  finally  determined  to  present 
whatever  came  within  his  reach,  as  fully  as  the  same 
came  from  him,  whether  it  related  to  political,  friendly 
or  family  matters.  In  no  other  way  could  he  be  pre 
sented  and  seen  as  he  was,  and  his  true  character  be  fully 
known  and  properly  appreciated.  It  would  present  him 
almost  as  unfairly  to  suppress  a  portion  of  what  he  said 
and  did  as  to  add  to  either. 

His  speeches,  in  most  cases,  were  carefully  and  labori 
ously  prepared  by  his  own  hand  for  the  public.     His 


vi  TNTR  on  UCTION. 

letters  clearly  and  truly  present  Ms  feelings  and  thoughts, 
and  were  designed  to  produce  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
those  to  whom  addressed.  They  contain  nothing  not 
consistent  with  truth,  and  which  had  not  been  freely  and 
fully  communicated  to  those  with  whom  he  mingled  in  an 
unrestrained  intercourse.  He  never  said,  or  did,  or  wrote 
anything  concerning  public  affairs  which  he  wished  to 
conceal  from  the  public.  There  are  few  thoughts,  if  any, 
contained  in  one  now  given,  which  he  had  not,  at  some 
time,  freely  communicated  to  the  Author,  and  others 
about  him,  without  an  injunction  of  secrecy.  We  think 
it  due  to  his  reputation  and  our  readers  to  give  his  letters 
as  we  found  them,  as  best  calculated  to  show  the  man  as 
he  really  was.  It  is  not  in  the  studied  expressions  of 
those  laboriously  prepared  for  the  public  that  the  real 
man  is  to  be  found,  but  in  those  rapidly  dashed  off  for 
the  eye  of  friends,  whose  criticisms  never  have  stings. 
With  very  few  exceptions,  every  letter  given  was  written 
to  trusted  friends,  and  not  for  the  public,  and  are  there 
fore  the  more  valuable.  They  will  be  found  between 
chapters  where  they  do  not  constitute  a  separate  one,  in 
the  order  of  date. 

Mr.  WRIGHT'S  speeches  and  reports,  now  given,  do 
not,  in  all  cases,  possess  the  same  interest  as  when  first 
presented  to  the  public.  With  the  thorough  investigator 
and  profound  statesman,  their  elaborate  details,  instead 
of  being  the  source  of  objection,  will  excite  great  interest, 
while  the  political  wisdom  found  mingled  in  them  will 
well  reward  the  labor  of  all  who  study  them. 


INTR  on  UCTION.  v  ii 

The  Author  hopes  he  has  so  presented  Gov.  WRIGHT 
as  to  secure  for  him  the  respect,  if  not  the  admiration,  of 
all  his  readers.  He  trusts  that  many  will  profit  by  his 
examples  in  their  journey  through  life. 

All  must  admire  his  patient  and  untiring  industry,  his 
cheerful  and  unflagging  perseverance,  his  great  frankness 
and  sincere  cordiality,  his  kindness  of  heart  and  inoffen 
sive  manners,  his  intrepid  and  unbending  integrity,  as 
well  as  his  heroic  self-sacrifice  in  sustaining  his  cherished 
political  principles,  by  yielding  his  own  and  conforming 
to  the  wishes  of  those  friends  who  sought  his  services  in 
a  new  field  of  action,  when  he  reluctantly  consented  to 
be  made  Governor. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


V  O  L  TT  M  B3     I  . 


PAGE. 

INTRODUCTION v 

CHAPTER  I. 
Preliminary  Chapter  . .  f 1 

CHAPTER  II. 
Parentage  and  Birthplace  of  SILAS  WRIGHT 3 

CHAPTER  III. 
His  Boyhood    6 

CHAPTER    IV. 
In  College 9 

CHAPTER  V. 
Selects  the  Law  as  a  Profession  and  Studies  it 12 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Selecting  a  Place  to  Practice  Law 10 

CHAPTER   VII. 
The  Young  Lawyer  in  Canton 18 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Other  Relations  in  Life 22 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  and  Local  Offices 


CHAPTER   X. 

Nomination  and  Canvass  for  the  State  Senate 29 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Elected  to  the  State  Senate 35 

CHAPTER    XII. 
In  1  he  State  Senate  .  .  • 37 


x  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

PAOE. 
Organization  and  Proceedings  in  the  Assembly 42 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Proceedings  in  the  Senate  on  the  Electoral  Law 45 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Clamor  about  the  Postponement  of  the  Electoral  Law 59 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Failure  of  the  Attempted  Censure  for  Not  Opposing  Mr.  Crawford,         66 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Congressional  Caucus  in  1824 69 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Removal  of  De  Witt  Clinton  as  Canal  Commissioner 72 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Legislative  Caucus  for  Nominating  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor,        77 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Appointing  Electors  of  President  and  Vice- President 80 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Changing  the  Electoral  Law 82 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Successor  of  Rufus  King 85 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Amending  the  State  Constitution 91 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
State  Bank  Charters 92. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
The  New  York  Canals 100 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Legislative  Caucus  Address 104 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
The  Van  Buren  Letter 114 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Nominated  and  Elected  to  Congress   119 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

PAGE. 

Retires  from  the  State  Senate  ....................................       121 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

What  he  Omitted  to  Do  while  There  .............................       122 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

In  the  Twentieth  Congress  at  its  First  Session   ....................       124 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  and  Mr.  Barnard    ----  ..............................       134 

CHAPTER  XXXII 
Re-elected  to  Congress  ...........................................      137 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Elected  Comptroller  ...........................................       139 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  as  Comptroller  ............   ..............  .  .........       143 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Georgia  Missionaries  ........................................       151 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

The  Chenango  and  other  Minor  Canals.  ...  ............  .  .........       154 

CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 
Re-elected  Comptroller  .............................  .............       156 

CHAPTER  XXXIX 
Elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  ................  ........       160 

CHAPTER  XL. 

Entrance  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  .....................       162 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

Letters  Concerning  Nullification  .............  ....................       164 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

Nullification  and  Compromise  Measures  ..........................       169 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Case  of  Elisha  R.  Potter  Claiming  a  Seat  as  a  Senator  from  Rhode 
Island  .  .  174 


xii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

PAQE. 
Removal  of  the  Deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 176 

CHAPTER  XLV. 
Defense  of  the  New  York  Safety  Fund  Banking  System 221 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

Views  Concerning  Legislative  Inquiries  into  the  Duties  of  Govern 
ment  Officials 231 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 
Extending  the  Charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 235 

CHAPTER   XL VIII. 
Defense  of  Gen.  Jackson's  Protest 264 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
The  Bill  to  Pay  for  French  Spoliations  prior  to  1800 304 

CHAPTER  L. 

Executive  Patronage,  or  the  Repeal  of  the  Four  Year  Law 312 

CHAPTER  LI. 

Expunging  the  Senate  Resolution  Condemning  Gen.  Jackson 335 

CHAPTER  LII. 

Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 340 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

Relief  of  the  New  York  Sufferers  by  Fire 353 

CHAPTER  LIV. 
National  Defenses 355 

CHAPTER  LV. 
Specie  Payments 384 

CHAPTER  LVI. 
Distribution  of  the  Proceeds  of  the  Public  Lands 392 

CHAPTER  LVII. 

Purchasing  Sites  and  Materials  for  Fortifications 444 

CHAPTER   LVIII. 

Views  Concerning  Certain  State  Legislation  in  1836 464 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  LIX. 

PAGE. 

Public  Deposits 470 

I 

CHAPTER  LX. 

Rechartering  Banks  in  the  District  of  Columbia 511 

CHAPTER  LXI. 
Reduction  of  the  Duties  on  Imports   512 

CHAPTER  LXII. 

The  Suspension  of  the  Banks  in  1837 524 

CHAPTER  LXIII. 

Postponing  the  Fourth  Installment  of  the  Deposits  with  the  States. . .       566 

CHAPTER  LXIV. 
The  Constitutional  Treasury 576 

CHAPTER  LXV. 

Other  Measures  Introduced  at  the  Special  Session  of  1837 627 

CHAPTER  LXVI. 
Case  of  Richard  W.  Meade 630 

CHAPTER  LXVII. 
Independent  Treasury  Bill 634 

CHAPTER   LXVIII. 
The  Independent  Treasury  Bill  and  Mr.  Tallmadge 695 

CHAPTER  LXIX. 

New  York  City  Remonstrance  against  Independent  Treasury 698 


CHAPTER  LXX. 
Issuing  Treasury  IS  otes 709 

CHAPTER  LXXI. 

Restraining  the  Banks    in    the  District  of    Columbia  from    issuing 
Small  Bills 715 

CHAPTER  LXXII. 
Report  on  the  Currency  of  the  Government 721 

CHAPTER  LXXIII. 
Report  on  the  Finances  of  the  Government  779 


xiv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  LXXIV. 

PAGE. 

Postponement  of  the  Fourth  Installment  of  the  Distribution 791 

CHAPTER  LXXV. 
Mr.  Rives'  Resolution 794 

CHAPTER  LXXVI. 

Sale  of  the  Bonds  against  the  United  States  Bank  of  Pennsylvania..  .       805 

CHAPTER   LXXVII. 

Distributing  Books  and  Constructive  Mileage 867 

CHAPTER  LXXVIII. 
Independent  Treasury  Bill  becomes  a  Law 872 

CHAPTER  LXXIX. 

Assuming  the  Debts  of  the  Several  States 880 

CHAPTER  LXXX. 

Repeal  of  the  Salt  Duties 895 

CHAPTER  LXXXI. 
The  Cumberland  Road  Bill 903 

CHAPTER  LXXXII. 
Abolition  Petitions 917 

CHAPTER  LXXXIII. 
The  New  York  Indian  Treaty 926 

CHAPTER  LXXXIV. 
The  Bankrupt  Bill  of  1841 969 

CHAPTER  LXXXV. 

The  Banks  in  the  District  of  Columbia 970 

CHAPTER  LXXXVI. 
Repeal  of  the  Independent  Treasury 973 

CHAPTER  LXXXVII. 
Finances  of  the  Country 979 

CHAPTER  LXXXVIII. 

The  Principles  of  Granting  Pensions 1005 


I 


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tfe  antl  ijWs  of  Mas  4|]ri|jht. 

i  Tr  'if 

j  •»  «jo 


PRELIMINARY  CHAPTER. 

When  the  intelligence  of  the  sudden  death  of  SILAS 
WRIGHT  spread  over  the  country,  a  common  wish  was 
manifested  to  learn  more  of  his  private  life  and  character 
than  was  generally  known,  and  to  have  his  connection 
with  public  events  fully  developed.  The  former  was 
met,  in  a  limited  degree,  by  the  wide-spread  republication 
of  an  anonymous,  but  truthful  contribution  of  the  author 
to  a  newspaper  during  his  canvass  for  Governor  in  1844. 
The  facts  presented  in  the  latter  were  limited  to  the  recol 
lection  of  editors,  and  seldom  referred  to  in  their  annun 
ciation  of  the  melancholy  event.  Soon  after,  Mr.  John 
S.  Jenkins  published  a  life  of  SILAS  WRIGHT,  a  very 
creditable  work,  considering  the  brief  period  in  which  it 
was  prepared.  It  was  included  in  a  small  compass,  and 
contained  three  of  his  speeches  in  Congress  and  an  Agri 
cultural  Address,  prepared  but  not  delivered  by  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  in  consequence  of  his  death.  This  work  was 
followed  the  next  year  by  Jabez  D.  Hammond's  third 
volume  of  his  valuable  Political  History  of  New  York, 
which  included  a  life  of  SILAS  WRIGHT  of  considerable 
length,  showing  great  labor,  care  and  diligence  in  its 
preparation,  and,  in  the  main,  is  strictly  accurate.  The 
author  then  contemplated  the  preparation  of  a  biography, 
and  the  collection  of  his  speeches  for  publication.  But 
under  the  advice  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  others,  the  enter 
prise  was  postponed  until  the  prominent  actors  in  the 
stirring  times  when  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  engaged  in  public 
life  retired  from  the  stage,  as  they  might  become  restive, 


2    kt     j  y]LiP£Axd  *Tff&8  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

if  not  deeply  offended,  by  a  truthful  arid  thorough  exhi 
bition  of  events  as  they  actually  occurred.  A  period  of 
over  twenty  years  has  left  few,  if  any,  of  these  to  be 
personally  affected  by  anything  which  need  find  a  place 
in  a  faithful  biography  of  this  inoffensive,  modest  and 
genial  citizen.  Many  have  gone  from  earth,  leaving  their 
places  to  be  filled  by  other  and  younger  men,  and  their 
own  biographies  grace  the  shelves  of  numerous  libraries, 
to  instruct  the  citizen  and  guide  the  public  man  in  avoid 
ing  shoals  and  quicksands,  and  in  finding  the  deep  waters 
and  road  of  safety.  The  following  chapters  will  not  unne 
cessarily  wound  the  sensibilities  of  any  one.  They  will 
be  devoted  to  the  development  of  the  life,  public  and 
private,  of  a  model  Citizen,  Senator  and  Governor,  and  to 
the  discussion  and  application  of  the  enduring  and  cher 
ished  principles  which  guided  him  in  every  position,  and 
the  results  naturally  flowing  from  them.  That  they  will 
exercise  a  beneficial  influence,  wherever  known  and  appre 
ciated,  is  confidently  expected.  In  the  far-off  cabin,  and 
at  the  humble  fireside  everywhere,  the  prayer  is  often 
breathed  that  principles  like  his  might  control  our  public 
councils  and  govern  the  private  and  public  acts  of  men, 
and  that  others  like  him  might  arise  to  lead  the  people  — 
the  government  —  in  the  path  of  safety.  Full  often  has 
it  been  said,  by  men  in  high  positions,  and  even  whispered 
in  the  Senate  chamber,  what  a  blessing  it  would  be  to  our 
distracted  country  if  he  could  again  return  to  earth  and 
resume  his  position  in  our  public  councils,  and  by  his 
wisdom,  power  of  conciliation  and  his  known  unselfish 
ness,  combine  the  friends  of  the  Constitution  in  favor  of 
right  and  justice,  and  make  our  country  what  our  fore 
fathers  designed  it  to  be,  a  self-governed  one,  acting 
within  the  powers  conferred  by  the  Constitution,  strictly 
construed,  leaving  the  States  to  exercise,  as  they  should 
see  fit,  all  powers  not  granted  to  the  federal  government, 
and  the  people  to  pursue  happiness  in  their  own  way. 


LlFK   AND    TlMKS    "/*'  til/,  AS    Will  (111  I'. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PARENTAGE  AND  BIRTHPLACE  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

The  ancestors  of  Mr.  WRIGHT  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  Springfield  and  Northampton,  in  Massachu 
setts.  His  grandfather  removed  to  what  is  now  called 
Amherst,  at  an  eaily  day,  where  his  father,  Silas  Wright, 
was  born.  The  latter,  while  quite  young,  was  bound  out 
as  an  apprentice  to  learn  the  business  of  tanning  and 
shoemaking.  He  became  well  skilled  in  both  and  pur 
sued  them  for  considerable  time.  There  were  few  schools 
in  that  vicinity,  and  he  never  attended  one.  At  the  close 
of  his  apprenticeship  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  for 
some  time.  During  this  period,  through  the  kindness  of 
a  brother  journeyman,  he  learned  to  read,  write  and  keep 
accounts.  Being  a  person  who  observed  everything  about 
him,  and  reflected  upon  and  understood  whatever  he  saw, 
he  readily  learned  to  transact  business  with  promptitude 
and  accuracy.  In  sound  common  sense  he  had  no  supe 
rior.  His  personal  appearance  was  attractive.  He  was 
noted  for  his  cheerfulness,  playful  humor  and  lively  wit. 
These  made  him  a  favorite  in  all  circles.  His  memory 
was  retentive,  and  he  became  a  well-informed  man.  He 
was,  in  after  life,  often  sent  to  the  Legislature,  and  was 
the  arbiter  of  differences  among  neighbors,  and  was  often 
selected  to  manage  and  settle  the  estates  of  widows  and 
orphans.  At  the  early  age  of  twenty  he  married  Eleanor 
Goodale,  an  educated  young  woman.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Isaac  Gfoodale,  a  revolutionary  soldier,  who 
had  served  as  a  journeyman  with  him  in  Hampshire 
county,  in  which  Amherst  was  situated;  The  patrimony 
of  both  consisted  of  health,  industry  and  economy.  Both 


4  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

were  endowed  with  excellent  judgments.  Observation 
and  reflection  supplied  what  the  schools  had  omitted. 
Mrs.  Wright's  household  arrangements  might  have  served 
as  a  model  for  thrift  arid  domestic  enjoyment.  She  was 
fond  of  narrating  past  events  with  amplitude  of  detail, 
which  arrested  the  attention  and  chained  all  listeners. 
Her  strength  of  mind,  benevolence  and  kindness,  made 
her  a  great  favorite  among  her  neighbors,  and  her  society 
was  much  sought.  These  excellent  people  lived  together, 
enjoying  the  blessings  of  kind  hearts  and  mutual  affec 
tion,  for  sixty-three  years.  Their  memories  are  fondly 
cherished  by  all  who  knew  them.  Of  their  nine  children, 
two  died  in  infancy,  and  seven  grew  up  and  were  edu 
cated.  Their  father  was  able  to  give  them  respectable 
outfits,  and  two  sons,  Silas  and  Plinny,  college  educa 
tions,  preparatory  to  studying  law.  The  other  sons 
became  farmers,  and  the  daughters  married  cultivators  of 
the  soil.  Plinny  read  law,  partly  with  his  brother  Silas 
and  partly  with  James  McKown,  oj:  Albany.  He  never 
engaged  in  active  business.  Ill-health  and  over-mental 
exertion  prostrated  his  mind  at  an  early  day.  The  senior 
Mr.  Wright,  generally  known  as  "  Cap  tain  Wright," 
was  an  ardent  republican  and  a  devoted  supporter  of  Jef 
ferson,  Madison,  Jackson  and  Van  Buren.  His  patriot 
ism  led  him  and  his  eldest  sons  to  participate  in  the 
victorious  battle  at  Plattsburgh  on  llth  September,  1814. 
His  descendants,  with  just  pride,  point  to  the  badge  he. 
wore  on  that  day  distinguishing  him  as  one  of  the 
"  Green  -Mountain  Boys."  After  a  long  and  useful  life 
he  died  at  Weybridge,  Vermont,  on  the  13th  of  May, 
1843,  aged  eighty-three  years.  His  wife  survived  him 
about  three  years.  Their  descendants  reside  in  Vermont 
and  Northern  New  York,  and  enjoy  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  their  acquaintances,  and  are  noted  for  their 
honesty,  integrity,  fidelity  and  kindly  dispositions. 
SILAS  WRIGHT,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  born  at 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  5 

Amherst,  Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts,  May  24, 
1795.  This  is  one  of  the  picturesque  and  charming  places 
for  which  New  England  is  noted.  It  is  situated  on  a 
tributary  of  Connecticut  river,  and  is  now  a  nourishing 
manufacturing  village,  where  Amherst  College  is  situated. 
When  less  than  a  year  old,  his  father  removed  to  Wey- 
bridge,  Vermont.  He  settled  on  Otter  creek,  where  he 
cultivated  a  farm  until  his  death.  While  he  was  really 
a  native  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  WRIGHT  thus  became  a 
Yermonter.  His  attachments  for  the  Green-Mountain 
home  of  his  boyhood  were  strong,  and  continued  through 
life,  while  all  Vermonters  looked  upon  him  as  substanti 
ally  a  native  of  their  State.  They  were  proud  of  his 
success  as  a  public  man  and  of  his  high  personal  char 
acter.  The  citizens  of  Weybridge,  after  his  death,  erected 
a  beautiful  monument  to  his  memory,  from  which  it  lias 
been  said  forty  towns  can  be  seen. 


6  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HIS  BOYHOOD. 

There  was  little  in  the  boyhood  of  Mr.  WRIGHT  to  dis 
tinguish  it  from  that  of  many  others  in  the  country.  He 
grew  up  very  robust,  healthy  and  active.  He  had  an 
exceedingly  sweet  temper,  was  remarkably  mild  and  kind 
and  much  beloved  by  his  playmates.  Older  people  were 
often  attracted  by  his  genial  qualities  and  were  exceed 
ingly  fond  of  him.  His  manners  were  pleasing  and  helped 
win  esteem.  His  honesty,  integrity  and  love  of  truth  and 
justice  were  proverbial.  He  never  assumed  to  command 
among  his  playfellows,  but  they  unanimously  made  him 
a  trusted  leader  in  their  sports.  His  word,  or  opinion, 
settled  their  boyish  questions  and  disputes,  and  to  the 
common  satisfaction.  He  was  early  put  to  work  on  the 
farm,  for  which  he  had  a  great  fondness,  which  continued 
through  life,  increasing  with  his  years.  No  one  worked 
more  faithfully.  He  was  always  exceedingly  thorough 
in  whatever  he  had  in  hand.  This  early  trait  in  his  char 
acter  continued  through  life. 

He  commenced  attending  school,  winters,  at  an  early 
day,  and  worked  on  his  father's  farm  the  residue  of  the 
year.  On  one  occasion  he  manifested  his  attachment  to 
a  schoolmate  in  an  extraordinary  manner.  The  boy  sit 
ting  next  him  did  something  that  caused  him  to  laugh 
aloud.  He  was  called  up  to  answer  for  the  offense.  He 
was  told  by  the  teacher  that  if  he  would  inform  on  the 
boy  who  caused  him  to  laugh,  he  should  not  be  punished, 
but  if  he  did  not,  he  should  be  severely  dealt  with. 
Believing  that  the  boy  did  not  intend  to  involve  him  in 
difficulty,  he  declined  to  give  his  name.  The  consequence 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  7 

was,  that  he  was  severely  chastised  to  save  his  comrade. 
Such  an  act  of  heroic  self-sacrifice  naturally  endeared 
him  to  all  his  schoolmates.  It  elevated  him  in  the  esti 
mation  of  all  who  understood  and  appreciated  his 
motives.  In  after  life  he  often  silently  bore  the  respon 
sibilities  of  others,  who  should  have  voluntarily  assumed 
them  and  have  saved  him  from  them.  But  he  never 
murmured  at  such  consequences. 

The  talents  manifested  by  the  schoolboy,  his  upright 
ness  and  the  excellent  disposition  he  exhibited,  not  only 
awakened  the  pride  of  the  father,  but  attracted  the 
attention  of  all  who  knew  him,  and  induced  a  general 
expression  in  favor  of  his  receiving  a  college  education. 
The  father  was  readily  induced  to  consent  and  to  make 
the  necessary  provision.  He  had  been  a  thrifty  and  pru 
dent  man  and  had  accumulated  a  very  considerable 
property,  out  of  which  this  son  could  be  educated,  and 
leave  for  each  of  his  other  children  a  sum  equal  to  its 
cost.  Silas  thereupon  commenced  to  prepare  for  college, 
and  while  doing  so  walked  two  miles  and  three-quarters, 
each  day,  to  and  from  the  academy  which  he  attended. 

He  was  naturally  quite  diffident,  and  he  doubted  his 
capacity  to  accomplish  some  things  which  others  did  with 
ease.  Declamation  and  composition  were  terrors  to  him. 
The  fear  of  making  a  failure  in  these  induced  him  to 
absent  himself  on  Wednesdays,  when  they  formed  a  part 
of  the  exercises.  In  a  by-place  in  the  field,  he  and  his 
brother  ,  older  than  himself,  erected  a  hut  of  oak  staves 
where  they  studied  and  learned  lessons  on  other  subjects. 
When  the  irregularity  was  known  it  soon  terminated, 
and,  on  trial,  he  was  found  to  be  a  good  declaimer,  and 
in  composition  he  early  proved  to  be  the  best  scholar  in 
his  class. 

The  three  winters  previous  to  his  entering  college — in 
1811 — he  taught  district  schools,  two  of  them  in  Orwell, 
not  far  from  Weybridge,  although  only  from  thirteen  to 


8  LIFE  AND  TIMES  oi<  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

sixteen  years  of  age.  In  each  lie  succeeded  in  winning 
the  affections  of  his  scholars  and  in  giving  satisfaction  to 
their  parents. 

One  who  was  with  him  when  preparing  for  college,* 
says :  "At  that  early  period  his  frankness,  his  unbending 
regard  to  truth,  and  his  perfect,  upright  and  fair  dealing 
were  not  only  conspicuous,  but  were  proverbial  among 
his  associates.  His  natural  temper  was  mild  and  attrac 
tive.  In  the  academy,  while  pursuing  studies  prepara 
tory  to  entering  college,  he  was  an  industrious  student, 
and  several  times  was  the  successful  competitor  for  the 
small  prizes  proffered  to  excite  emulation."  His  career 
in  the  academy  was  honorable  to  himself,  satisfactory  to 
its  officers  and  attending  pupils,  and  gratifying  to  his 
parents  and  friends.  He  left  it  quite  prepared  to  enter 
college  under  favorable  circumstances.  He  was  quite  as 
well  prepared  as  any  in  his  class. 

*  Rev.  H.  S.  Johnson,  of  Canton. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IN  COLLEGE. 

In  August,  1811,  Mr.  WRIGHT  entered  Middlebury 
College  in  the  Freshman  Class,  and  remained  a  member 
of  that  institution  until  he  graduated  in  August,  1815. 
In  college,  he  was  never  known  to  miss  a  lesson  or  trans 
gress  the  rules  in  force.  The  Rev.  Hiram  S.  Johnson,  in 
a  funeral  discourse  on  his  death,  thus  speaks  of  him  : 
"  My  acquaintance  with  this  friend  commenced  in  1811. 
In  early  life  we  were  treading  together  the  halls  of 
science.  I  knew  him  there  as  an  industrious  and  dili 
gent  student,  and  as  one  of  the  most  upright  and  sober 
young  men.  I  say  this  from  positive  knowledge,  and  I 
say  it  firmly,  because  I  have  heard  misapprehension  inti 
mate  that  Governor  WEIGHT  was  then  indulging  in  some 
excesses.  He  was  there  distinguished  for  moral  honesty 
and  for  an  unbending  regard  to  the  truth.  His  inflexible 
attachment  to  truth  and  firmness  was  there,  as  it  has 
been  through  all  his  life,  proverbial.  I  have  heard  those 
who  could  not  be  mistaken  say  that,  even  in  the  days  of 
his  earliest  childhood,  his  regard  to  truth  and  fair 
dealing  was  known,  marked  and  controlling.  These 
principles,  thus  deeply  infixed,  did  much  in  laying  the 
foundation  for  his  unexampled  elevation  in  after  life. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  graduated  with  honor  and  respect." 

He  had  no  special  taste  for  the  dead  languages,  and  it 
required  much  labor  to  keep  up  with  his  class  in  them. 
Having  no  occasion  to  use  it,  the  Greek  soon  passed  from 
his  memory.  The  Latin,  often  occurring  in  the  practice 
of  his  profession,  was  substantially  retained  through  life, 
though  not  read  with  much  pleasure.  .  In  those  studies 
where  mere  memory  was  mainly  involved,  he  cannot  be 
said  to  have  been  very  successful.  But  in  those  where 


10  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  reasoning  and  reflecting  faculties  are  largely  brought 
into  play,  he  had  few,  if  any,  superiors.  In  geometry, 
algebra  and  mathematics  generally,  he  was  eminently 
successful.  These  furnished  food  for  the  mind  and 
tended  to  give  it  that  permanence  and  solidity  which  he 
then,  and  through  life,  exhibited.  Although  he  had,  in 
no  portion  of  his  life,  occasion  for  the  practical  use  of 
these  sciences,  they  laid  the  foundation  for  those  clear 
and  perfect  demonstrations  for  which  he  was  always  dis 
tinguished. 

The  war  of  1812  occurred  during  his  college  term,  and 
brought  with  it  intense  political  excitement.  The  prin 
ciples  of  the  democratic  and  federal  parties,  and  their 
leading  acts,  became  the  subject  of  fierce  and  heated  dis 
cussion,  as  well  in  the  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning, 
as  in  Congress  and  in  the  newspapers.  Congress,  on  the 
recommendation  of  President  Madison,  and  with  hearty 
concurrence  of  the  democratic,  or  republican  party,  as 
then  often  called,  declared  war  against  Great  Britain  to 
sustain  "free  trade  and  sailors'  rights."  The  federal 
party,  and  especially  in  New  England,  violently  opposed 
this  declaration,  and  the  measures  taken  to  sustain  it. 
The  seeds  of  "  secession,"  first  planted  in  Mr.  Jefferson's 
time,  were  seen  to  sprout  up  and  grow  in  New  England. 
Nothing  was  there  left  undone  to  make  the  war  and  Madi 
son'  s  administration  a  failure.  Governor  Chittenden,  of 
Vermont,  followed  the  footsteps  of  Governor  Strong,  of 
Massachusetts,  and  the  Executive  of  Rhode  Island 
refused  to  permit  the  militia  of  his  State  to  pass  beyond 
its  boundaries  to  aid  in  the  defense  of  sister  States. 
They  set  at  defiance  that  provision  of  the  federal  Consti 
tution  which  declares  that  "  the  President  shall  be  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States." 
When  Plattsburgh  was  threatened,  the  democrats  of 
Vermont  volunteered  to  assist  in  its  defense.  Among 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRKIHT.  H 

the  volunteers  was  Mr.  WRIGHT'S  father,  who  was  made 
a  captain,  a  brother,  two  brothers-in-law  and  most  of 
their  neighbors.  They  all  participated  in  the  great  bat 
tle  won  by  General  Macomb,  rendered  the  more  memora 
ble  by  McDonough's  great  victory  on  Lake  Champlain, 
fought  at  the  same  time.  Such  events  were  well  calculated 
to  arouse  the  feelings  and  precipitate  conflicts  not  limited 
to  mere  words.  His  class  consisted  of  about  thirty, 
he  and  three  others  being  the  only  democrats.  Notwith 
standing  this  disparity  in  numbers,  these  four  young 
men  were  ever  ready  to  defend  their  principles  and  the 
action  of  their  party.  It  was  conceded  by  graver  heads, 
that  they  had  as  much  the  best  of  the  argument,  as  their 
adversaries  had  the  largest  number  It  was  during  this 
war,  and  on  the  occasion  of  these  discussions,  that  the 
broad  and  firm  basis  of  his  political  principles  was  laid. 
He  then  adopted  the  belief  that  the  principles  of  the 
federal  party,  if  carried  out  to  their  natural  conclusions, 
would  lead  to  secession  and  disunion,  and  that  their  acts 
at  that  time  had  such  an  end  in  view.  These  opinions 
abided  with  him  through  life;  and  he  fully  believed,  as 
much  as  he  did  in  his  own  existence,  that  it  was  neces 
sary  to  secure  the  triumphant  success  of  democratic 
principles,  in  order  to  preserve  our  federal  constitutional 
form  of  government  and  secure  the  States  in  their 
reserved  rights  and  duties,  and  preserve  the  Union.  His 
whole  political  action,  at  home,  in  the  Legislature,  in 
Congress  and  as  Governor  of  his  State,  had  this  unchange 
able  basis.  He  could  never  comprehend  how  principles 
beat  into  a  man,  in  war,  could  fairly  be  beat  out  of  him 
in  peace;  nor  why,  when  a  man  once  fully  believed  in  a 
long  series  of  political  doctrines,  he  could  forget  or 
renounce  them  all,  and  become  a  true  and  sincere  believer 
in  those  of  an  opposite  character.  His  theory  was,  once 
a  democrat,  always  a  democrat,  and  that  a  federalist 
never  really  changed,  however  he  might  talk.  Here  we 
have  a  key  to  many  of  the  important  acts  of  his  life. 


12  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MR.    WRIGHT   SELECTS  THE    LAW   AS    A   PROFESSION,   AND 

STUDIES  IT. 

On  completing  his  studies  in  college,  the  selection  of 
an  occupation  became  a  subject  of  importance.  His 
friends  concurred  with  him  that  it  would  be  best  to 
choose  one  of  the  learned  professions.  His  knowledge 
of  history  satisfied  him  that  the  profession  of  law  would 
best  promote  his  highest  aspirations.  It  had  taught  him 
that  in  all  ages,  and  in  all  countries,  the  legal  profession 
had  furnished  the  greatest  number,  and  the  ablest  and 
most  successful  champions  of  true  liberty.  Their  educa 
tion  and  training,  as  well  as  the  practice  of  their  pro 
fession,  especially  qualified  them  to  understand  arid 
defend  the  principles  of  human  liberty.  Those  who 
most  ably  and  successfully  defended  them  in  Greece, 
Rome,  on  the  Continent,  in  Great  Britain  and  in  this 
country,  were  members  of  the  legal  profession.  Demos 
thenes,  Cicero,  Burke,  Sheridan,  Fox,  John  Adams, 
Jefferson,  Madison,  Patrick  Henry,  Rutledge,  Lee,  Hamil 
ton,  Jay,  Livingston  and  numerous  others  had  been 
members  of  the  legal  profession.  He  then  and  always 
believed  that  the  world  was  more  indebted  to  that  pro 
fession  than  to  any  other  for  the  liberty  that  mankind 
enjoy.  His  deep  democratic  feelings  he  believed  to  be 
enlisted  in  the  same  cause.  His  father  soon  became  a 
convert  to  his  son' s  views,  and  it  was  resolved,  by  com 
mon  consent,  that  he  should  become  a  lawyer. 

The  important  question  where  he  should  learn  the 
law  was  wisely  decided.  No  bench  or  bar  stood  higher 
than  that  of  New  York.  She  had  an  equity  system,  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  or  >S'//,.i,s  Witnair.  13 

broad  foundations  of  which  had  been  laid  by  that  eminent 
jurist,  statesman  and  patriot,  Robert  R.  Livingston,  of 
Columbia  county,  had  been  enlarged  by  Lansing  and  per 
fected  by  Kent.  No  New-England  State  had  a  court  of 
chancery.  Her  common-law  courts  had  been  matured 
and  risen  to  eminence,  under  the  adjudications  of  a  Tornp- 
kins,  Woodworth,  Platt,  Van  Ness,  Thompson  arid 
Spencer.  The  decisions  of  the  New  York  courts  stood 
quite  as  high  as  those  of  any  other  State,  and  far  above 
most  of  them.  The  bar  had  its  Williams,  Van  Buren, 
Emmet,  Talcott,  Oakley,  Stoors,  Van  Vechten,  Henry, 
Slosson,  Harrison,  Livingston  and  many  others,  who 
added  luster  to  the  profession.  The  conditions  of  admis 
sion  imposed  by  the  courts,  seven  years'  study,  four  of 
which  might  be  classical,  guaranteed  the  necessary  pre 
paration  and  discipline  which  were  calculated  to  secure 
learning,  intelligence  and  practical  usefulness  among  the 
members  of  the  bar.  Their  whole  training  was  calculated 
to  elevate  them  to  the  highest  rank  in  society,  and  render 
them  practically  useful.  It  was  among  this  description 
of  men  he  desired  a  position,  such  as  his  talents,  educa 
tion  and  industry  might  enable  him  to  command.  The 
compensation  for  professional  services  in  New  York  was 
equal  to  that  of  other  Northern  States,  hence  this  State 
was  selected  as  the  one  in  which  to  read  and  practice 
law. 

He  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  at  Sandy  Hill,  in 
Washington  county,  New  York,  in  October  of  1815,  in  the 
office  of  Martindale  &  Wait,  with  whom  he  remained 
about  eighteen  months.  The  senior  member  of  this  firm 
subsequently  became  a  distinguished  an ti- democratic 
politician,  and  was  elected  to  Congress.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
finished  his  studies  with  Skinner  &  Mussy,  of  the  same 
place.  Mr.  Skinner  was  a  brother  of  Governor  Skinner, 
of  Vermont.  He  became  United  States  District  Attorney 
for  the  northern  district  of  New  York,  and,  subsequently, 


14  LIFK  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

United  States  Judge  in  that  district.  He  was  elected 
State  Senator  in  April.  1818.  and  held  that  office  while 
District  Attorney,  and  after  his  appoitment  as  United 
States  Judge.  He  was  a  distinguished  leader  in  the 
democratic  party,  of  great  purity  of  character,  and  was 
highly  esteemed  by  all  who  personally  knew  him.  It  is 
most  probable  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  left  the  one  law  office 
for  the  other  with  reference  to  his  political  feelings.  He 
and  Judge  Skinner  were  devoted  friends.  The  judge, 
during  the  latter  part  of  his  four  year  senatorial  term, 
was  a  member  of  the  old  Council  of  Appointment,  and  it 
was,  doubtless,  through  him,  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  then  a  Senator  also,  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  received 
his  first  commission  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Sur 
rogate  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  as  he  often  said  they 
came  unsolicited.  To  aid  in  his  own  support,  Mr. 
W  RIGHT  taught  school  one  or  two  winters  while  read 
ing  law.  He  also  practiced  in  Magistrates'  Courts. 
At  the  commencement,  his  natural  diffidence  threatened 
to  defeat  his  success.  Thorough  preparation  enabled 
him  to  overcome  this  painful  difficulty.  In  his  studies, 
he  completely  mastered  every  subject  that  came  in  his 
way.  He  sought  out  and  investigated  the  principles 
upon  which  decisions  were  founded  and  the  rules  of  law 
were  established.  When  he  learned  a  rule  of  law,  he 
mastered  the  reasons  for  its  adoption. 

With  him  the  law  was  a  science,  for  which  he  could 
furnish  approved  demonstrations.  Books  of  authority 
were  deemed  useful,  but  logical  demonstrations  were 
more  so,  and  were  always  at  command.  Next  to  legal 
principles,  he  carefully  studied  the  forms  used  in  his 
business,  and  so  impressed  them  upon  his  memory  that 
he  could  accurately  prepare  papers  without  the  aid  of 
precedents.  In  system  and  order  in  the  office,  he  was. 
like  Washington  and  Jefferson,  faultless.  He  was  able 
to  answer  every  question  on  his  examination  for  admis- 


/,/ /<'/•;    AM)     y/.l/AVS    ()!<'  ,S'//,.1,S    WlflUIIT.  15 

sion.      He  was  admitted  at  the   January   term   of  the 
Supreme  Court,  ill  1819. 

It  was  while  lie  was  a  student  in  Judge  Skinner's  office 
that  he  became  acquainted  with  Martin  Van  Buren,  then 
Attorney-General  of  the  State  of  New  York.  They  first 
met  at  Caldwell,  on  a  boat  on  Lake  George,  when  a  play 
ful  incident  occurred  on  leaving  it,  often  referred  to  by 
them.  The  Attorney-General,  in  attempting  to  frighten 
the  law  student,  received  an  accidental  baptism,  bringing 
a  laugh  upon  himself.  They  were  then  strangers.  The 
next  day  they  met  in  Judge  Skinner's  office,  when  the 
high  official  met  him  with  cordiality,  and  invited  the 
student  to  dine  with  him  at  the  hotel,  with  Colonel 
Charles  E.  Dudley,  afterward  his  colleague  in  the  State 
and  United  States  Senate,  and  several  others.  Then 
and  there  commenced  that  friendship  and  confidence 
which  only  ended  in  death.  They  increased  with  time, 
and  became  proverbially  strong.  The  confidence  between 
them  never  wavered.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  always  true 
to  his  friend  when  living,  and  cherished  his  memory 
when  dead,  while  Mr.  WEIGHT  sacrificed  for  him  many 
opportunities  of  merited  advancement.  They  lived  and 
died  confiding  in  each  other  to  an  unlimited  extent. 


LIFE  AM*  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

SELECTING  A  PLACE  TO  PRACTICE  LAW 

Tlie  question  of  locality  where  to  practice,  is  one 
of  importance  to  a  lawyer  just  admitted,  as  well  as  to  a 
practitioner  of  experience.  This  is  often  a  difficult  ques 
tion,  and  the  determination  of  which  involves  the  consid 
eration  of  many  doubtful  points.  If  he  locates  in  a  city 
without  a  previous  reputation,  or  influential  friends  to 
aid  him  in  securing  business,  can  he  expect  to  succeed 
without  an  insufferable  delay  I  If  he  is  without  consid 
erable  means,  how  can  he  sustain  himself  while  waiting  \ 
If  he  goes  to  a  new  place,  hoping  to  grow  up  with  the 
country,  how  can  he  determine  what  places  will  grow  up 
and  furnish  business  of  any  considerable  value  ?  How 
long  must  he  there  devote  his  time  and  talents  to  patience 
and  hope  before  productive  business  shall  spring  up  ? 
Questions  like  these  were  discussed  between  him  and  his 
father.  His  severe  and  persistent  application  as  a  student 
had  much  impaired  his  former  robust  health.  It  had 
brought  upon  him  a  headache,  commencing  in  the  fore 
part  of  the  day,  which  continued  until  near  night. 
Outdoor  exercise,  and  particularly  on  horseback,  was 
deemed  the  most  appropriate  remedy. 

Considering  these  circumstances,  it  was  determined  that 
the  young  lawyer  should  personally  explore  western  and 
northern  New  York  on  horseback,  for  the  double  purpose 
of  restoring  his  impaired  health  and  selecting  a  suitable 
location  for  practice  as  a  lawyer.  Accordingly,  his  father 
furnished  him  a  suitable  horse,  and  supplied  him  with 
the  requisite  means,  and  he  commenced  his  explorations 
early  in  the  summer  of  1819.  He  visited  many  places  in 
western  New  York  which  have  since  become  the  centers 
of  population  and  business.  Returning,  he  passed  from 


LlFK   AND    TlM US    OF  A'//,J,S    WliKllIT.  17 

Watertowii  to  Plattsburgh,  through  Canton,  in  St.  Law 
rence  county.  Here  he  met  witli  a  former  neighbor  from 
Wey bridge,  Captain  Meclad  Moody,  an  old  friend  of  his 
father's,  who  earnestly  besought  him  to  locate  in  Canton. 
Captain  Moody  was  a  man  of  excellent  sense,  with  a  very 
sound  judgment.  He  had  established  himself  there,  on 
the  bank  of  the  Racquet  river,  as  an  inn-keeper,  expect 
ing  at  some  future  day  the  county  buildings  would  be 
located  at  that  place  and  the  courts  held  there.  He  called 
attention  to  the  map  of  the  State,  showing  that  St.  Law 
rence  county  was  as  large  as  some  of  the  States,  with  not 
a  mountain  or  much  waste  land  in  it — that  it  abounded 
with  excellent  timber  and  splendid  waterfalls  for  mills, 
and  excellent  building  stone,  and  that  the  soil  was 
superior  for  grain  and  grass.  He  insisted  that  it  must 
become  a  rich  county  and  furnish  at  Canton  ample 
employment  for  an  able  and  honest  lawyer.  He  offered 
to  erect  for  him  a  commodious  office,  and  render  him  all 
the  assistance  in  his  power,  assuring  him  of  complete 
success.  Others  joined  the  captain  in  his  account  of  the 
nattering  prospects  for  a  young  lawyer  at  Canton.  The 
considerations  thus  presented  were  carefully  weighed 
by  Mr.  WEIGHT,  while  many  others  presented  themselves 
to  his  observing  and  reflecting  mind.  He  became  satisfied 
that  the  county  buildings  could  not  long  remain  at 
Ogdensburgh,  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river,  near  one  corner 
of  the  immense  county,  and  that  Canton  was  a  central 
and  natural  location  for  them.  There  were  no  lawyers  in 
the  county  nearer  than  ten  miles,  and  all  but  two  were 
eighteen  miles  distant.  There  were  mills,  factories,  stores 
and  hotels  at  Canton,  which  was  a  first-rate  farming  town 
ship  ten  miles  square.  The  place  must  grow  and  his 
business  grow  with  it.  Time  has  proved  the  correctness 
of  these  anticipations.  These  and  some  other  minor 
considerations  induced  the  young  lawyer  to  locate  there. 
He  returned  home,  and  his  father  approving  his  location, 
he  returned  and  settled  at  Canton  in  October,  1819. 


18  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  YOUNG  LAWYER  IN  CANTON. 

In  the  fall  of  1810  there  .rode  into  Canton  a  young 
man  twenty-four  years  of  age,  of  a  muscular  and  robust 
build,  neatly  but  plainly  dressed.  He  wore  a  tall  but 
narrow-rimmed  hat,  which  enabled  others  the  more  fully 
to  see  his  large,  florid  face.  His  complexion  was  dark, 
eyes  light  and  hair  nearly  black,  but  thin,  made  so  by 
voluntary  action  to  counteract  pain  in  the  head.  He  was 
mainly  dressed  in  homespun  of  the  better  kind.  His 
manners  were  simple,  but  easy  and  calculated  to  attract 
attention.  His  conversation  was  plain,  simple  and  natu 
ral,  which  all  could  understand,  and  he  made  no  effort  at 
display.  Neither  Greek,  Latin,  nor  pithy  quotations 
were  heard  from  him,  nor  striking  poetical  expressions. 
All  could  approach  him  and  feel  at  ease.  His  intercourse 
with  the  people  induced  the  belief  that  he  was  gentle, 
kind  and  benevolent.  The  fear  of  contentions  and  law- 
suits,  which  his  first  entrance  occasioned,  were  soon  dis 
sipated,  and  gave  place  to  respect,  admiration  and  attach 
ment.  The  people  soon  became  proud  of  the  new  comer. 
Captain  Moody  recounted  the  virtues  of  the  father,  and 
predicted  their  reappearance  in  the  son.  The  citizens  of 
that  town  soon  gave  him  their  unlimited  confidence,  and 
he  cheerfully  gave  them  his.  They  had  but  little  law 
business,  but  what  they  had  they  unhesitatingly  confided 
to  him.  He  did  not  seek  business,  but  it  came  to  him. 
He  never  commenced  a  suit  without  perfectly  under 
standing  its  merits  and  having  a  clear  conviction  that  the 
plaintiff  would  succeed.  He  seldom  tried  a  cause  where 
he  did  not  fully  understand  what  the  witnesses  on  both 


LIFE   AND    TlMKS    OF  til  LAS    H  ///'.' //'/'.  I!) 

sides  would  say,  with  full  memorandums  of  tlx-ir 
expected  testimony.  The  points  which  each  side  was 
expected  to  make  were  carefully  noted,  with  the  authori 
ties  to  which  each  was  expected  to  refer.  He  was  never 
taken  by  surprise  on  a  trial,  though  his  adversaries  often 
were.  The  late  distinguished  Aaron  Hackley,  when 
opposed  to  him  on  a  trial  at  Ogdensburgh,  audibly 
remarked,  "  My  God,  what  is  that  young  fellow's  head 
made  off  His  skill  in  the  examination  of  witnesses  was 
proverbial  and  extraordinary.  Even  reluctant  witnesses 
usually  became  impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  was 
fair  and  kind,  divulging  fully  whatever  they  knew. 
Juries  confided  in  him,  almost  as  much  as  in  the  judges, 
and  scarcely  ever  failed  to  place  implicit  confidence  in 
his  addresses  to  them.  In  no  instance  did  he  ever  utter 
a  word  to  them  or  the  court,  which  he  did  not  religiously 
believe  to  be  true  and  right.  Hence  the  confidence  which 
they  had  in  him.  Success  must  nearly  always  follow 
such  confidence.  Mr.  Van  Buren  expressed  to  him,  at  an 
early  day,  the  opinion  that  he  ought  to  remove  to  western 
New  York  and  compete  with  John  C.  Spencer  for  the 
honors  of  the  bar.  But  his  diffidence  concerning  his  own 
powers,  and  local  attachments,  would  not  permit  him  to 
do  so.  He  loved  Canton  and  his  neighbors  and  St. 
Lawrence  county  too  well  ever  to  abandon  his  selected 
home.  He  was  contented  with  the  small  income  which 
his  limited  business  afforded  him.  Instead  of  grasping 
for  more  business  and  greater  gains,  he  seemed  almost  to 
shrink  from  what  he  had,  and  was  contented  with  little. 
It  is  known  that  he  spent  as  much  time  to  induce  his 
neighbors  peacefully  to  adjust  their  controversies,  as 
others  did  to  secure  new  business.  As  a  magistrate  he 
not  unfrequently  abandoned  his  fees  to  induce  the  par 
ties  to  make  amicable  settlements.  On  one  occasion  he 
appeared  before  a  magistrate  for  one  of  his  neighbors, 


20  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and,  at  his  suggestion,  the  counsel*  on  the  other  side  and 
the  justice  assenting  to  it,  the  parties  were  got  into  the 
latter' s  office,  and  locked  in  and  kept  there  until  they 
amicably  settled.  They  thus  became  friends,  and  both 
thanked  him  for  what  he  had  done,  while  all  acquainted 
with  this  new  court  of  conciliation  and  its  success 
breathed  blessings  upon  him  as  a  peacemaker. 

Mr.  WKIGIIT,  in  his  practice  as  a  lawyer,  seemed  to 
overlook  his  own  interests  and  treat  them  as  of  minor 
importance,  but  was  exceedingly  watchful  and  attentive 
to  those  of  his  clients.  He  seemed  to  love  labor,  and 
would  not  allow  a  student  to  lighten  the  drudgery  of 
copying  his  papers.  Neither  in  his  office  nor  in  the 
courts  did  he  make  a  display  of  his  classical  education, 
or  attempt  to  confound  a  listener  by  using  technical  or 
other  special  law  terms.  He  always  used  plain  and  sim 
ple  language  which  all  could  understand  and  appreciate. 
There  was  truth  and  justice  in  the  remark  made  by  a 
sensible  townsman,  ' '  that  he  was  the  only  lawyer  he 
ever  knew  whose  law  was  all  common  sense,  and  who 
always  gave  plain,  sensible  reasons  for  his  opinions  upon 
all  subjects."  In  this  sentence  we  have  an  ample  reason 
for  the  confidence  which  his  acquaintances  reposed  in 
him,  and  a  key  to  his  success  as  a  lawyer. 

While  practicing  law,  and  before  entering  public  life, 
his  amusements,  beyond  conversation  with  his  neighbors, 
were  few.  But  they  were  healthful  and  instructive.  He 
spent  much  time  in  the  forest,  rifle  in  hand,  hunting,  but 
with  limited  success;  though  a  good  marksman,  his  skill 
never  enabled  him  to  carry  in  venison  of  his  own  killing. 
Much  of  his  leisure  time  was  spent  in  reading.  Shak- 
speare  was  his  favorite  author.  He  considered  him  the 
best  and  closest  observer  who  had  ever  written,  and 
admired  his  descriptions  of  men  and  things.  He  con- 

*  The  Author. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  21 

sidored  his  works  a  fountain  of  wisdom.  He  never  tired 
in  reading  them.  He  read  the  public  papers,  but  always 
with  the  main  design  of  gleaning  something  to  remember. 
During  his  service  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
and  particularly  the  latter  part  of  it,  when  compelled  to 
perform  a  vast  amount  of  labor,  he  read  lighter  works 
to  relieve  the  brain,  by  diverting  his  thoughts  from 
fatiguing  subjects.  In  this,  he  followed  the  example  of 
many  laborious  men,  like  W.  M.  Meredith,  of  Phila 
delphia.  Tradition  informs  us  that,  when  mentally 
fatigued,  Mr.  Jefferson  relieved  his  mind  and  changed 
the  current  of  his  thoughts  by  resorting  to  his  violin. 
He  said,  the  year  before  he  died,  that  he  had  used  this 
instrument,  two  hours  a  day,  from  his  boyhood.  Exces 
sive  mental  fatigue  is  relieved,  with  many,  by  the  gambols 
of  children,  with  which  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  not  blessed. 
The  light  works  which  he  read  for  the  relief  of  the  mind 
he  never  attempted  to  remember. 

In  his  professional  reading,  he  was  diligent  in  seeking 
and  understanding  the  principles  involved.  He  read  law 
exceedingly  slow,  being  desirous  of  accurately  ascertain 
ing  the  true  theories  upon  which  the  law  was  based,  and 
of  so  impressing  them  upon  the  mind  as  to  recollect 
them  in  all  future  time  and  to  be  able  promptly  to  apply 
them  in  practice.  In  reading  Shakspeare  for  amuse 
ment,  he  manifested  the  same  care  in  understanding  what 
he  read.  But  he  seldom,  if  ever,  quoted  from  him,  or 
any  other  author.  He  preferred  uttering  his  own 
thoughts  in  his  own  language,  instead  of  that  of  another, 
however  elegant,  forcible  or  appropriate.  He  never  used 
his  voice  as  the  vehicle  of  conveying  other  men's 
thoughts,  however  splendid  or  impressive. 


22  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WUIGHT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

OTHER    RELATIONS    IN    LIFE. 

On  settling  in  Canton,  Mr.  WRIGHT  identified  Himself 
with  the  people,  and  was  active  in  everything  which  con 
cerned  or  interested  them.  The  practical  good  sense 
which  he  manifested  on  all  occasions,  soon  induced  them 
to  put  him  forward  as  a  leader  in  almost  everything.  His 
example  was  copied,  and  all  became  emulous  to  please 
him.  When  sickness  demanded  watchers,  he  was  always 
ready,  and  often  walked  several  miles,  and  sometimes 
through  storms  and  mud,  to  attend  the  bedside  of  the 
sick  and  afflicted.  His  care  and  though  tfulness  rendered 
him  a  very  acceptable  watcher.  His  presence  and  atten 
tion  awakened  hope  and  gave  confidence,  when  that  of 
others  failed  to  do  so.  He  encouraged  the  citizens  of 
Canton  in  improving  their  highways,  by  accepting  the 
position  of  road-master,  and  working,  without  reference  to 
the  amount  of  his  tax,  with  his  own  hands.  The  conse 
quence  of  this  was  emulation  in  the  different  road  dis 
tricts,  which  resulted  in  Canton  having  the  best  highways 
in  the  county.  Although  without  musical  talent,  to 
encourage  others  and  to  secure  good  music  in  the  church, 
he  was  the  first  who  became  active  in  establishing  sing 
ing  schools,  and  was  ever  a  punctual  attendant,  and  took 
part  in  the  choir  of  the  church. 

He  was  a  liberal  supporter  and  a  punctual  attendant 
of  the  Presbyterian  church,  and,  in  the  absence  of  a 
clergyman,  read  sermons,  while  the  deacon  attended  to 
other  religious  duties  common  in  churches.  Being  an 
excellent  reader,  it  was  long  remarked  that  the  printed 
sermons  he  read  made  the  attendance  at  church  more 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  23 

interesting  and  profitable  than  at  any  other  period.  The 
operations  of  the  human  mind  on  such  subjects  exhibit, 
occasionally,  some  singular  peculiarities.  On  one  occa 
sion,  when  he  seemed  to  read  from  the  printed  volume, 
he  actually  read  a  manuscript  sermon  prepared  by  a  Mr. 
Catlin,  the  hatter  of  the  town.  It  was  extolled  as  one  of 
Dr.  Spring's  best  productions,  but  when  the  author 
became  known  it  was  denounced  as  a  trashy  affair. 

As  an  officer  under  the  common-school  system,  he 
devoted  much  time  and  attention  in  furthering  the  inter 
ests  of  education.  His  visits  at  the  schools  were  hailed 
with  delight.  During  the  period  of  his  expected  visits, 
both  teachers  and  pupils  labored  for  his  applause.  A 
kind  and  cheering  word  repaid  both  for  days  of  unremit 
ting  labor.  The  complimentary  expressions  used  by 
him  were  repeated  and  spread  over  the  town  with  great 
joy  by  both  parents  and  children.  The  latter  would 
purposely  put  themselves  in  positions,  when  he  was 
expected  to  pass,  so  as  to  secure  an  approving  smile  and 
a  word  of  encouragement.  The  secret  of  the  attachment 
of  children  to  him,  as  well  as  others,  was  developed  in 
after  life  by  a  young  fairy  miss  of  some  eight  summers, 
who,  on  being  asked  why  she  liked  him,  answered, 
"  Because  he  always  speaks  so  kind  to  me."  Here  was 
an  unconscious  declaration  of  a  great  philosophical  prin 
ciple,  upon  which  much  of  the  happiness  of  mankind 
depends.  She  still  lives,  is  the  wife  of  one  of  the  first 
lawyers  of  Burlington,  Vermont,  and  often  dwells  upon 
his  memory  with  peculiar  delight. 

The  accumulation  of  wealth,  beyond  what  his  labors 
naturally  produced,  seemed  never  to  occupy  a  thought 
of  his.  He  made  no  investments  with  reference  to  the 
growth  of  the  village,  or  the  removal  of  the  county 
buildings  to  Canton.  He  never  became  a  subscriber  for 
stocks,  anticipating  a  rise.  Later  in  life,  on  two  occa 
sions,  friends,  hoping  to  benefit  him,  did  so  without 


24  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

his  knowledge  or  consent,  whose  acts,  so  kindly  intended, 
his  regard  for  them  induced  him  not  to  repudiate.  Mr. 
Coming's  subscription  to  the  stock  of  the  Utica  and 
Schenectady  railroad  turned  out  well,  and  that  of  Mr. 
Croswell  to  the  American  Land  Company  quite  the 
reverse.  He  was  never  known  to  be  laying  plans  to 
secure  pecuniary  gain  or.  personal  advancement.  No  one 
ever  accused  him  of  wrong  or  injustice.  Every  engage 
ment  made  by  him,  down  to  those  made  to  children,  was 
scrupulously  fulfilled.  A  promise,  without  a  considera 
tion,  was  as  sacred  with  him  as  if  made  for  coined  gold. 
In  settling  accounts,  where  doubts  arose,  he  always 
refused  the  doubtful  penny,  often  saying  he  had  no  use 
for  it,  and  that  it  would  burn  a  hole  in  his  pocket.  The 
example  of  Mr.  WRIGHT,  upon  nearly  every  subject, 
exerted  a  most  salutary  influence  in  his  town.  The 
desire  so  to  act  as  to  secure  his  approbation  seemed  to 
be  almost  universal.  ' '  What  will  Silas  say  ? ' '  was  a 
question  often  asked.  Contests,  and  other  matters, 
which,  on  reflection,  it  was  thought  lie  would  not  approve, 
were  usually  abandoned.  Nearly  every  one  manifested 
a  disposition  to  conform  in  all  things  to  his  example.  It 
became  discreditable,  and  then  odious,  to  wrangle,  quar 
rel  or  act  meanly.  Lawsuits  among  themselves  went  out 
of  fashion.  The  people  of  Canton  became  noted  for 
order,  uprightness  and  integrity.  It  is  due  to  truth  to 
say  that  this  was  owing  to  the  silent  example  of  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  and  the  desire  of  the  citizens  to  please  him. 
He  made  no  eifort  to  control,  nor  did  he  fight  vice  and 
call  upon  others  to  witness  his  zeal  and  exertions, 
expecting  them  to  applaud  him  for  it.  He  ruled  by  the 
purity,  sincerity  and  integrity  which  controlled  his  own 
action,  and  all  as  quiet  as  the  index  hand  directs  the 
stranger  on  his  travels  upon  the  highway. 

Through  life,    his  dress  was  simple  and  plain,    but 
exceedingly  neat.     He  seemed  only  anxious  to  appear 


L IVK  AND    TlMKS   OF  SlLAS   WltHlllT.  25 

respectably  in  his  position.  He  was  always  cool  arid  col 
lected,  but  was  quite  diffident.  This  contributed  to  his 
wish  to  avoid  occasions  when  formalities  and  display  were 
the  leading  features,  from  which  he  seemed  to  shrink. 
No  one  was  more  gentle  or  frank.  His  colloquial 
powers  were  of  the  highest  order.  These  qualities  won 
the  hearts  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  But  for 
the  formalities  of  many  official  positions  he  always  had 
strong  distaste,  which  grew  upon  him  as  life  advanced, 
and  was,  doubtless,  among  the  reasons  for  his  rejection 
of  the  cabinet  positions  and  foreign  missions  offered  him 
on  various  occasions  by  different  Presidents.  He  loved 
the  simplicity  of  country  life,  and  preferred  the  society 
of  his  neighbors  to  that  of  kings,  princes  and  high  offi 
cials,  association  with  whom  was  often  through  a  laby 
rinth  of  forms  and  ceremonies.  This  he  could  not  endure.  * 

*  It  is  due  to  his  memory  to  state  that,  when  lie  had  been  in  practice  some 
two  years,  his  professional  duties  called  him  to  Potsdam,  where  he  met  a 
young  man  in  deep  poverty,  struggling  to  learn  his  own  profession.  Kind 
words  from  the  landlady  who  kept  the  village  inn  induced  him  to  call  him 
in.  He  studied  his  character  and  capacity,  and  learned  all  about  his  means 
and  hopes.  Although  actually  reading  law,  he  did  chores  for  the  lawyer 
with  whom  he  was  studying,  to  cover  his  board,  and  he  was  without  friends 
or  relatives  to  aid  him.  At  the  close  of  the  interview  he  invited  him  to  come 
to  Canton  and  read  law  in  his  office,  offering  to  secure  him  the  village  school 
to  meet  his  expenses.  He  gladly  accepted  the  invitation,  and  was  soon 
with  his  first  patron.  He  remained  with  him  until  he  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate,  in  the  fall  of  1823.  The  young  man,  at  the  proper  time,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  became  a  successful  practitioner.  He  rose,  by 
industry  and  perseverance,  and  very  early  in  life  served  two  terms  in  Con 
gress;  was  voluntarily  appointed,  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  to  negotiate  Indian 
treaties;  was  voluntarily  made  Register,  and  then  Solicitor  of  the  Treasury 
by  Mr.  Polk;  was  employed  as  assistant  in-  the  Attorney-General's  office 
under  Mr.  Pierce,  and  was  made  Solicitor  for  the  United  States  in  the  Court 
of  Claims,  where  he  served  three  years.  During  nearly  all  this  time  he 
practiced  in  the  higher  courts  in  New  York  or  Supreme  Court  at  Washing 
ton.  Until  the  death  of  Governor  WRIGHT,  in  1847,  their  friendship  was 
without  interruption.  The  survivor  believes  that  he  owed  his  deceased 
friend  for  his  successes  and  advancements  during  his  life.  He  is  now 
attempting  to  pay  the  debt  as  well  as  he  can,  in  preparing  the  present  work. 


26  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MR.  WRIGHT  AND  LOCAL  OFFICES. 

Under  the  old  Constitution  of  1777,  justices  of  the 
peace  and  surrogates  were  appointed  by  the  Governor 
and  Council  of  Appointment.  Mr.  WRIGHT'S  preceptor 
and  friend,  Judge  Skinner,  was  not  only  a  State  Senator, 
but  was  also  a  member  of  this  Council,  wielding  an 
extended  political  influence.  It  was  both  easy  and 
natural  for  him  to  seek  opportunities  to  show  his  appre 
ciation  of  the  character  and  talents  of  his  late  student, 
whose  noble  and  excellent  qualities  he  had  often  men 
tioned  with  great  apparent  satisfaction,  and  to  promote 
his  interests.  Mr.  WRIGHT  had  not  been  long  established 
in  his  profession  when  he  received,  unsolicited  by  him, 
commissions  for  these  offices.  They  were  both  naturally 
connected  with  his  profession.  Both  are  best  exercised 
by  those  who  understand  the  law.  From  the  time  of 
receiving  these  commissions  until  he  entered  the  State 
Senate  he  performed  the  duties  of  both  to  the  entire  sat 
isfaction  of  every  one.  They  were  of  little  pecuniary 
value  to  him,  neither  producing  fees  to  the  amount  of 
$100,  and  the  latter,  probably,  not  one-half  of  that  sum. 

On  the  death  of  Dr.  Campbell,  who  had  long  held  and 
faithfully  discharged  the  duties  of  Postmaster  of  Canton, 
Mr.  WRIGHT  was  appointed  to  supply  his  place.  He 
was  commissioned  during  the  administration  of  President 
Monroe,  by  Postmaster-Greneral  Meigs.  When  the 
vacancy  occurred,  at  the  instance  of  his  neighbors  and 
friends,  he  took  such  steps  as  are  usual  in  such  cases  to 
procure  the  appointment.  It  was  the  only  office  which 
he  ever  held  which  he  personally  sought  to  obtain.  In 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRKHIT.  27 

doing  so  in  this  case  he  only  complied  with  the  earnest 
solicitations  of  those  who  did  business  at  the  office,  being 
persons  of  all  political  parties.  Its  duties  were  performed 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  whole  community.  The  income 
derived  from  it,  while  he  held  the  office,  was  very  trifling. 
He  continued  to  hold  it  until  a  short  time  before  the  4th 
of  March,  1827,  when  he  would  become  entitled  to  take 
his  seat  as  a  member  of  Congress. 

The  patriotic  spirit  which  animated  the  militia  during 
the  war  of  1812,  and  which  so  largely  contributed  to  the 
splendor  of  its  conclusion,  had  not  died  out  in  northern 
New  York  when  Mr.  WRIGHT  settled  there.  In  1822,  the 
young  men  of  Canton,  many  of  whom  were  skilled  in  the 
use  of  the  rifle,  and  some  of  whom  were  practical  deer- 
killers,  desired  to  form  themselves  into  a  rifle  company 
with  uniforms.  They  unanimously  invited  Mr.  WEIGHT 
to  become  their  captain.  Participating  strongly  in  the 
feeling  which  impelled  his  father  and  brothers  to  volun 
teer  for  the  defense  of  Plattsburgh,  during  the  war,  he 
consented  and  was  commissioned.  The  company  was 
soon  raised  and  equipped,  they  adopting  a  green  uniform 
as  most  becoming  to  riflemen.  He  took  peculiar  pride  in 
drilling  and  maneuvering  this  company,  which  had  no 
superior  at  the  annual  reviews.  He  continued  in  com 
mand  until  1825.  Other  companies,  consisting  of  cavalry, 
artillery,  infantry  and  riflemen,  were  also  raised,  uni 
formed  and  equipped.  These,  by  a  general  order  from 
the  Adjutant-General' s  office,  were  grouped  together  and 
formed  a  "  Rifle  Regiment,"  in  the  organization  of  which 
he  was  elected  its  major,  and  in  1826  colonel.  He  was 
justly  proud  of  this  regiment,  and  those  composing  it 
were  loud  in  their  eulogies  of  their  colonel.  A  large  por 
tion  of  them,  without  distinction  of  party,  voted  for  him 
the  fall  when  he  was  first  elected  to  Congress. 

In  1827,  the  officers  of  the  Forty-ninth  Brigade  and 
Twelfth  Division  of  the  Militia  of  New  York,  with  great 


28  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

unanimity,  elected  him  brigadier-general.  In  the  fall  of 
1828  he  reviewed  his  brigade.  By  his  candor,  frankness 
and  cordial  manner  he  won  the  hearts  of  most  of  those 
composing  the  brigade.  Many  of  those  who  differed 
from  him,  politically,  became  his  supporters  at  the 
November  election,  when  he  was  re-elected  to  Congress. 
From  this  time,  for  near  twenty  years,  his  progress  was 
onward  and  upward,  until  treachery  of  professed  politi 
cal  friends  caused  his  defeat  when  nominated  for  re-elec 
tion  as  Governor,  to  the  infinite  regret  of  nearly  the  entire 
democracy  of  the  Union,  and  of  many  who  had  not  acted 
with  him  politically.  His  sudden  death,  in  les.s  than  a 
year,  prevented  his  rising  and  being  made  the  successor 
of  President  Polk,  as  was  earnestly  desired  by  the  great 
body  of  the  American  people. 


AXD    TlMtiti    OF  til  LAS    W  RIGHT.  29 


CHAPTER   X. 

NOMINATION  AND  CANVASS  FOR  THE  STATE  SENATE. 

Under  the  Constitution  of  1821,  the  State  was  divided 
into  eight  Senate  districts.  The  fourth  was  composed  of 
the  counties  of  Washington,  Warren,  Saratoga,  Mont 
gomery,  Essex,  Clinton,  Franklin,  Hamilton  and  St.  Law 
rence.  Each  district  was  entitled  to  four  Senators.  At 
the  session  of  1823,  Archibald  Mclntyre,  of  Montgomery, 
John  Cramor,  of  Saratoga,  Melancton  Wheeler,  of  Wash 
ington,  and  David  Erwin,  of  Franklin  counties,  repre 
sented  the  district  in  the  Senate.  A  Senator  to  supply 
the  place  of  Mr.  Erwin  was  to  be  elected  in  November  of 
that  year.  Allen  B,.  Mooers,  of  Clinton,  was  nominated 
by  the  federal  party,  and  Mr.  WRIGHT  by  the  democratic 
or  republican.  Out  of  this  nomination  and  its  incidents 
sprung  the  only  imputations  of  bad  faith  ever  made 
against  the  latter.  He  was  accused  of  making  a  pledge 
on  the  subject  of  the  electoral  law  and  violating  it. 

From  April  12,  1792,  a  statute  of  the  State  had  pro 
vided  for  the  appointment  of  presidential  electors  by  the 
Legislature,  in  November,  previous  to  casting  their  votes. 
Similar  laws  existed  in  many  States.  In  some  they  were 
elected  by  the  people,  usually  by  general  ticket,  but  some 
by  districts,  some  by  majority,  and  others  by  a  plurality 
of  votes.  The  Legislature  to  be  elected  in  1823,  including 
the  twenty  four  Senators  whose  terms  of  office  had  not 
expired,  would,  under  this  law,  elect  presidential  electors 
who  would  vote  for  the  President  for  the  tenth  term. 
Some  discussion  was  had  in  this  State  concerning  changing 
the  mode  of  selection  from  legislative  appointment  to  an 
election  by  the  people.  Taking  power  from  the  few  and 


30  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

distributing  it  to  the  many  was  a  popular  thought,  and 
met  with  few  dissenters.  The  only  question  was  one 
involving  the  general  principle,  where  the  power  of  acting 
should  be  vested.  The  State,  by  an  immense  majority, 
had  just  decided  this  very  principle  by  abolishing  the 
Council  of  Revision  and  Appointment,  and  taking 
from  the  Governor  a  very  large  proportion  of  his  patron 
age  and  giving  it  to  the  people,  making  most  of  the  offices 
elective.  It  required  no  profound  reflection  to  under 
stand  that  the  masses  of  the  people  would  approve  taking 
from  the  Legislature  and  conferring  upon  the  people  the 
election  of  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President. 
The  question  of  how  they  should  be  elected,  whether  by 
general  ticket  or  by  districts,  requiring  a  majority  or 
plurality  to  elect,  had  hardly  been  considered  at  all.  The 
majority  principle,  in  nearly  all  cases  of  election,  was 
then  almost  uniformly  and  firmly  established  in  all  New 
England. 

It  is  believed  that  nowhere,  in  making  nominations 
for  the  Legislature,  in  the  fall  of  1823,  were  resolutions 
passed  on  the  subject  of  an  electoral  law  of  any  descrip 
tion,  and  most  certainly  none  dictating  in  what  manner 
or  what  should  constitute  an  election.  Had  details  been 
gone  into,  a  great  diversity  of  opinion  would  have  been 
developed. 

It  had  been  the  practice  of  the  republicans,  in  the  Fourth 
Senate  district,  for  the  nominating  convention  of  one  year 
to  determine  and  declare  from  what  county  the  next 
nomination  should  be  made,  leaving  that  county,  if  no 
convention  should  be  called,  to  name  and  present  a  can 
didate  the  next  year.  The  convention  of  1822  had 
decided  that  in  1823  the  candidate  for  the  Senate  should 
be  selected  from  St.  Lawrence  county.  A  convention  was 
accordingly  called  in  that  county,  and  Mr.  WRIGHT  was 
duly  nominated.  Although  made  late  in  the  fall,  infor 
mation  of  his  having  been  nominated  was  sent  to  every 


/,//•'/•;    AM>    TlMKN    OF  Hi  LAS    II  lildH'l'.  31 

county  in  the  district,  and  duly  announced  in  the  demo 
cratic  papers.  This  convention  passed  no  resolutions 
concerning  a  change  in  the  electoral  law,  nor  did  it  ask  or 
receive  any  pledge  from  its  nominee  on  any  subject  what 
ever.  At  that  time  there  was  no  democratic  paper  in  St. 
Lawrence  or  Franklin  counties.  The  Plattsburgh  Repub 
lican,  on  the  25th  of  October,  1823,  announced  the  nomi 
nation  in  these  words : 

"  SENATORIAL  CONVENTION. 

"At  a  meeting  of  republican  delegates  from  the  different 
towns  in  the  county  of  St.  Lawrence,  at  Canton,  on  the  llth  of 
September,  1823,  Hon.  Ansen  Bailey,  Chairman,  and  D.  C.  Jud- 
son  Secretary  ; 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  that  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR.,  be  recom 
mended  to  the  electors  of  this  senatorial  district  as  a  suitable 
candidate  to  supply  the  place  of  the  Hon.  David  Erwin  in  the 
Senate  of  this  State." 

The  Mends  of  the  federal  candidate,  under  the  suppo 
sition  that  there  were  so  many  candidates  for  the  presi 
dency — Jackson,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Adams  and  Crawford- 
thought  that  there  must  be  a  very  large  majority  against 
the  latter.  If  so,  they  could  prejudice  Mr.  WRIGHT  by 
creating  the  belief  that  he  was  for  Crawford.  They, 
therefore,  published  throughout  the  district  that  he  was 
a  supporter  of  Mr.  Crawford.  Knowing  that  most  of  the 
voters  desired  to  change  the  electoral  law  from  legisla 
tive  appointment  to  election  by  the  people,  they  also 
proclaimed  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  opposed  to  any  change. 
These  two  assumptions  were  calculated  to  defeat  him  and 
secure  the  election  of  Gen.  Mooers.  The  following  article 
from  the  Plattsburgh  Eepublican  of  the  twenty-fifth  of 
October,  discloses  the  objects  of  the  friends  of  Mooers  in 
making  these  imputations,  and  why  they  were  not  put 
forth  at  an  earlier  day  : 


32  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WHIGHT. 

"  FEDERAL  MISREPRESENTATIONS  OF  OUR  SENATOR. 

"  The  federalists  attempted  to  aid  their  Senator  by  misrepre 
senting  the  opinions  of  Mr.  WRIGHT  ;  and  they  resorted  to  this 
unmanly  course  after  they  thought  it  was  too  late  to  get  a  refu 
tation  of  their  falsehoods  before  the  public.  It,  however,  has 
arrived  in  time. 

"  The  federalists,  in  setting  up  Allen  II.  Mooers  in  opposition 
to  the  fair  rights  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  misrepresenting  the 
opinions  of  Mr.  WRIGHT,  have  shown  a  want  of  common  honesty 
and  of  good  faith  to  a  neighboring  county. 

"  The  following  letter  is  from  the  secretary*  of  the  republican 
convention  which  nominated  Mr.  WRIGHT,  and  bears  date 
Ogdensburgh,  Oct.  25,  1823  : 

"  *  SIR. — The  federal  nomination  of  a  Senator  in  your  county, 
in  opposition  to  Mr.  WRIGHT,  would  not  have  called  for  any 
special  notice,  were  it  not  for  some  unfounded  assertions,  or 
suggestions,  in  relation  to  him. 

"  '  If  talents  of  a  respectable  character,  integrity  unimpeach 
able,  and  sound  and  correct  republican  principles,  entitle  a  man 
to  public  confidence,  Mr.  WRIGHT  has  strong  claims.  That  he  is 
the  supporter  of  Mr.  Crawford  is  untrue.  Viewing  the  strife 
between  the  friends  of  the  different  candidates  for  the  presi 
dency  as  resulting  from  a  choice  of  men  merely  —  not  being 
aware  at  this  time  that  any  particular  set  of  measures  or  course 
of  policy  is  to  be  pursued  in  case  of  the  election  of  one  candi 
date  which  would  not  be  by  the  other  —  he  has  not  thought  it 
became  him,  in  the  situation  in  which  he  is  likely  to  be  placed, 
to  commit  himself  by  any  pledge  as  resulting  from  his  individual 
partialities  or  prejudices.  His  friends  here  are  satisfied  with  this 
course  ;  indeed,  with  most  of  them,  myself  among  the  number, 
it  is  esteemed  the  only  correct  and  proper  course.  It  is  perhaps 
due  to  him  to  say,  that  Mr.  Crawford  is  not  his  favorite  candi 
date  ;  but  should  he  ever  be  called  upon  to  act  in  a  public 
capacity,  he  will  be  governed  exclusively  by  a  regard  to  the 
public  interests  and  the  support  of  republican  principles. 

"  '  On  the  other  topic  of  their  opposition  to  him,  I  am  able  to 

*  Hon.  David  C.  Judson,  who  still  lives,  in  1874. 


Llb'K   AND    T/MKS    OF  tf/LAH    Wit  HI  I  IT.  33 

speak  decisively.  He  is  and  has  been,  since  the  subject  was  first 
agitated,  the  decided  and  open  advocate  of  the  election  of 
electors  of  President  by  the  people  by  general  ticket.  This  is  a 
settled  opinion  of  his,  which,  as  he  this  day  observed  to  me,  no 
circumstances  could  induce  him  to  alter  or  to  refrain  from  sup 
porting. 

"  'The  nomination  having  been  conceded  to  this  county  by  the 
other  parts  of  the  district  —  it  having  been  made  at  a  convention 
of  delegates  in  which  the  whole  county  was  represented,  with 
entire  unanimity,  and  it  being  received  among  us  with  general 
approbation,  more  so  than  any  other  which  could  have  been 
made,  we  were  not  aware  that  any  exertions  on  our  part  were 
necessary,  further  than  to  make  the  nomination  known.'  ' 

Here  we  have  an  exact  account  of  the  whole  matter  by 
a  highly  honorable  man,  an  actor  in  the  affair,  and  writ 
ten  and  published  at  the  time.  There  was  certainly  no 
pledge,  although  there  was  a  distinct  avowal  of  his  views 
and  feelings.  Although  Mr.  Crawford  was  not  his 
favorite  candidate,  he  refused  to  commit  himself  against 
him,  but  would,  if  called  upon  to  act,  be  exclusively 
governed  by  a  regard  to  the  pnblic  interests  and  the  sup 
port  of  republican  principles.  The  correctness  of  this 
sentiment  no  one  can  question. 

On  the  subject  of  the  electoral  law,  he  was  and  had 
been  an  open  advocate  of  electing  electors  of  President 
by  the  people,  and  by  general  ticket.  He  declared  before 
the  nomination,  and  on  the  day  Mr.  Judson  wrote,  that 
he  was  for  thus  electing  them,  and  that  no  circumstances 
could  induce  him  to  alter  or  to  refrain  from  supporting 
such  a  law.  This  declaration  of  fixed  opinions  was  in  no 
sense  a  "pledge."  Mr.  Judson  did  not  seek  a  pledge, 
nor  was  one  given.  His  and  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  opinions 
harmonized.  Under  such  circumstances,  no  one  needed 
or  thought  of  a  pledge.  Mr.  Judson  communicated  to 
the  public  a  denial  of  the  assumptions  of  the  federalists, 
and  strengthened  it  by  stating  facts  and  circumstances 
3 


34  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

personally  known  to  him.  No  one  acquainted  with  him 
will  doubt  the  truth  of  whatever  he  may  say,  or  question 
his  intentions  or  ability  to  report  accurately  whatever 
occurred. 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  publications  were  made 
at  the  time  to  repel  the  accusations,  made  at  a  late  stage 
of  the  canvass  by  his  adversaries,  that  he  was  a  Crawford 
man  and  opposed  to  changing  the  electoral  law.  They 
served  that  purpose,  and  cannot  be  tortured  into  any 
thing  else. 


LIFE  AI\L>  TIMES  OF  >S'y/,.i,s  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER   XT. 

MR.  WKIGHT  ELECTED  TO  THE  STATE  SENATE. 

The  vote  at  the  election  in  November,  1823,  clearly 
showed  that  the  usual  party  lines  were  not  drawn.  To 
a  casual  observer,  it  would  seem  that  local  questions  had 
produced  their  usual  results.  But,  in  fact,  the  different 
counties  cast  their  votes  principally  with  reference  to  the 
state  of  the  knowledge  of  the  voters  concerning  the 
candidates,  and  their  supposed  opinions  and  preferences 
among  the  aspirants  to  the  presidency.  Clinton,  Essex, 
Franklin,  Saratoga,  Warren  and  St.  Lawrence  counties 
gave  Mr.  WRIGHT  majorities.  Washington,  Hamilton 
and  Montgomery  alone  gave  majorities  for  Gren.  Mooers. 

St.  Lawrence  county  gave  Mr.  WRIGHT  1,419  votes,  and 
Allen  R.  Mooers,  20.  The  town  of  Canton,  where  Mr. 
W MIGHT  resided,  gave  him  199,  and  Jason  Fenton,  an 
old  democratic  friend  of  his,  residing  in  Madrid,  1,  which 
was  cast  by  Mr.  WRIGHT  himself.  Mr.  WRIGHT  received 
every  vote  in  his  town  but  his  own.  He  was  declared 
elected  by  a  majority  of  1,316  votes. 

The  vote  in  St.  Lawrence,  and  especially  in  Canton, 
shows  the  impression  that  the  young  lawyer  had  made 
upon  the  people.  The  vote  in  favor  of  his  adversary  did 
not  average  one  to  a  town  in  his  county.  He  was  then 
only  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  was  probably  the 
youngest  man  who  had  then  ever  been  elected  to  the 
Senate.  This  election  made  him,  not  only  a  Senator  to 
participate  in  enacting  laws,  but  in  virtue  of  that  office 
he  became  a  member  of  the  highest  judicial  court  in  the 
State,  the  Court  for  the  Correction  of  Errors,  which 
reviewed  cases  from  the  Supreme  Court  and  Court  of 


36  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

Chancery.  This  constituted  him  a  member  of  a  tribunal 
.in  which  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  the 
Chancellor  sat,  with  many  venerable  and  learned  men 
as  Senators.  It  has  never  been  suggested  by  his  brethren, 
or  by  the  members  of  the  bar,  that  he  did  not  here  per 
form  his  duty  as  satisfactorily  as  any  other  Senator.  He 
did  not  attempt  to  become  a  leader  in  this  court,  but  con 
tented  himself  with  listening  and  voting  as  his  sense  of 
justice  dictated. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  37 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IN    THE    STATE    SENATE. 

The  Senate  convened  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  January, 
1824,  at  the  Capitol  in  Albany.  Mr.  WRIGHT  attended, 
was  sworn  into  office,  and  took  his  seat  as  a  member.  In 
that  body  were  John  A.  King,  Walter  Bowne,  John 
Lefferts  and  Jasper  Ward,  from  the  First  District ;  John 
Hunter,  John  Suydam,  Stephen  Thorn,  James  Burt  and 
William  Nelson,  from  the  Second ;  Edward  P.  Living 
ston,  Charles  E.  Dudley,  James  Mallory  and  Jacob 
Haight,  from  the  Third ;  Melancton  Wheeler,  John 
Cramer,  Archibald  Mclntyre  and  SILAS  WRIGHT,  Jr., 
from  the  Fourth  ;  Alvin  Bronsin,  Thomas  Greenly,  Sher 
man  Wooster  and  Perley  Keyes,  from  the  Fifth  ;  Farran 
Strannahan,  Tilly  Lynde,  Isaac  Ogden  and  Latham  A. 
Burrows,  from  the  Sixth ;  Byram  Green,  Jesse  Clark, 
Jonas  Eaiie  and  Jedediah  Morgan  from  the  Seventh ; 
Heman  J.  Redfield,  John  Bowman  and  James  McCall, 
from  the  Eighth.  Erastus  Root  was  Lieutenant-Governor 
and  President  of  the  Senate,  and  John  F.  Bacon,  Clerk. 

After  Mr.  Monroe's  second  election  to  the  presidency, 
there  occurred  what  was  called  the  "  era  of  good  feeling." 
The  federal  party  was  disbanded,  and  certain  gentlemen 
of  that  party,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  described  as 
"high  minded,"  assigned,  in  a  formal  paper  issued  by 
them,  as  a  reason  for  this,  that  they  "had  no  longer 
any  ground  of  principle  to  stand  upon."  Although 
federalists  were,  wherever  there  were  hopes  of  success, 
nominated  for  office,  they  were  not  presented  as  federal 
candidates.  Some  other  name  was  assumed  or  conferred. 
Nearly  everybody  shrunk  from  the  old  name  as  if  it 


38  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

would  taint  them.  No  federalist,  as  such,  thought  of 
securing  the  presidency,  and  no  candidate  of  that  party 
was  in  the  field  for  election  in  1824.  None  but  demo 
cratic  candidates  were  brought  forward.  The  com petitors 
were  all  distinguished  democrats,  who  had  long  stood 
high  in  that  party,  and  had  occupied  exalted  official 
positions.  Three  of  them  bad  held  the  three  highest 
offices  in  Mr.  Monroe's  administration,  from  about  its 
commencement. 

John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  was  a  man  of 
high  talents,  extensive  knowledge  and  great  experience. 
His  personal  character  was  without  spot  or  blemish.  He 
had  long  been  recognized  as  a  democrat,  and  was  a 
favorite  with  a  large  portion  of  the  New-England  people. 

William  H.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was 
no  less  distinguished  for  talents,  with  great  acquirements 
and  extensive  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  Federal 
Government.  His  character  was  above  reproach.  He 
had  long  been  a  leader  in  the  democratic  party,  and  was 
largely  supported  by  democrats  in  the  congressional 
caucus  which  nominated  Mr.  Monroe  for  his  second  elec 
tion.  He  had  a  strong  hold  upon  the  democracy,  and 
was  looked  upon  as  a  leading  candidate  to  fill  the  place 
of  Mr.  Monroe. 

John  C.  Calhoun  was  Secretary  of  War  under  Mr. 
Monroe.  He  had  sustained  himself  in  Congress  with 
great  success,  and  had  displayed  high  executive  talent 
in  the  War  Department.  His  private  character  was 
above  suspicion.  His  democracy  was  unquestioned. 

Henry  Clay  was  a  member  of  Congress,  and  for  many 
years  Speaker  of  the  House.  He  possessed  talents,  had 
had  long  experience  in  government  affairs,  and  had  no 
superior  in  eloquence.  His  character  was  unstained,  and 
he  had  always  been  a  democrat.  His  manners  were 
exceedingly  popular.  His  friends  were  ardently  attached 
to  him. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  &ILAS  WKIOHT.  39 

Andrew  Jackson  had  always  been  a  democrat,  and  his 
private  character  was  irreproachable.  He  had  served  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  in  high  positions  in 
Tennessee.  His  splendid  achievement  in  closing  the  war 
of  1812,  at  New  Orleans,  had  won  the  public  admiration. 
Although  not  looked  upon  as  a  very  prominent  candi 
date  for  the  presidency,  still  there  was  a  wide- spread 
feeling  in  his  favor,  and  especially  among  those  who  had 
served  in  the  army,  or  performed  duty  among  the 
militia.  The  elements  of  his  future  great  popularity 
then  existed,  but  were  not  concentrated  or  organized, 
except  in  limited  localities. 

From  among  these  candidates  a  president  was  to  be 
chosen.  At  the  commencement,  Mr.  Crawford  united 
more  democratic  strength  than  either  of  the  others,  and 
whose  respective  friends  united  in  a  common  effort  for 
his  defeat.  Numerous  plans  were  devised  to  accomplish 
this  purpose.  Newspapers  were  established  to  support 
the  different  candidates,  but  all  agreeing  in  opposing  Mr. 
Crawford.  In  New  York,  a  change  in  the  mode  of 
choosing  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  was  sug 
gested  in  1823,  and  public  opinion  soon  after  adopted  the 
proposition  with  much  unanimity.  It  was  the  common 
impression  that  such  a  change  would  defeat  Mr.  Craw 
ford.  Mr.  Adams'  friends  thought  they  saw  his  success 
in  its  adoption.  Little  thought  was  bestowed  by  either 
on  the  question  of  how  and  by  what  vote  the  electors 
should  be  chosen.  The  minds  of  the  most  active  anti- 
Crawf ord  men  were  too  much  occupied  with  defeating 
him  by  the  change,  to  consider  the  details  of  a  bill  to 
accomplish  it 

Joseph  C.  Yates  was  then  Governor,  and  in  his  message 
to  the  Legislature,  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  he 
called  attention  to  the  general  subject  of  a  change,  dis 
cussed  it  some,  but  did  not  specifically  recommend  one. 
He  rather  created  the  impression  that  he  thought  it  best 


40  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

to  leave  the  law  as  it  existed,  at  least  for  the  present. 
His  presentation  of  the  subject  was  not  calculated  to  con 
centrate  opinion  or  accomplish  any  particular  result. 
Although  an  excellent  man,  and  had  been  a  sterling  judge, 
he  manifested  little  talent  in  the  organization  and  manage 
ment  of  political  parties.  He  was  not  calculated  for  a 
safe  leader  of  masses  of  men.  He  vainly  thought  that 
all  leading  men  were  as  pure  and  upright  as  himself,  and 
that  they  would  not  assume  to  be  exclusively  actuated 
by  one  motive  to  accomplish  one  worthy  object,  when  the 
sole  purpose  was  to  secure  another  and  quite  a  different 
one.  In  the  end  he  became  the  victim  of  his  own  honest 
credulity.  He  unwisely  became  separated  from  a  large 
portion  of  his  old  real  friends,  while  he  gained  no  new 
ones  from  among  his  former  adversaries. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MTNET  JENISON. 

"ALBANY,  24t/i  January,  1824. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR. —  I  have  delayed  writing  you,  that  I  might 
inform  you  who  was  Surrogate  and  what  to  do  with  the  papers. 
On  Thursday  last,  Horace  Allen  was  appointed  to  that  office  and 
on  that  day  I  wrote  to  him.  I  will,  however,  write  you  again 
when  he  sends  me  the  requisite  clerk's  certificate.  In  the  mean 
time  I  will  fulfill  the  promise  made  to  you,  and  to  remind  you 
that  I  want  to  hear  from  home.  I  have  nothing  of  interest  to 
communicate,  as  nothing  of  an  important  nature  has  yet  been 
done  in  the  Legislature.  The  electoral  law  has  not  yet  been 
passed,  although  a  bill  on  that  subject  is  now  before  the  Assem 
bly.  It  is  all  the  talk  and  all  the  subject  of  interest  here,  and 
so  much  difference  of  opinion  exists  on  the  details  of  a  bill,  that 
the  final  passage  of  one  is  very  doubtful. 

"  The  great  questions  of  difference  are  whether  the  election 
shall  be  had  by  general  ticket  or  by  districts  ;  and  again,  whether 
a  plurality  or  majority  of  votes  shall  elect.  The  great  object 
seems,  with  all,  to  be,  and  ought  to  be,  to  preserve  the  strength 
of  the  Stale  entire,  and  not  have  one-half  of  the  votes  for  one 
candidate  and  the  other  half  for  another,  and  thus  neutralize  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  41 

voice  of  this,  the  strongest  State  in  the  Union.  I  am  yet  for 
the  Yankee  system  to  choose  by  general  ticket,  and  require  a 
majority  of  all  the  votes  to  constitute  a  choice,  and  thus  have 
something  or  nothing.  Yet,  what  will  be  the  result  no  one  can 
tell. 

"  I  have  been  well  since  I  left  home,  and  am  as  well  situated  and 
contented  as  I  could  possibly  have  expected  to  be.  I  saw  Mr. 
Day  here,  as  he  will  have  told  you,  and  learned  from  him  the 
result  of  his  business  with  the  Olins.  I  was  much  pleased  to 
see  him,  and  spent  the  most  pleasant  evening  since-  I  have  been 
in  Albany. 

"  The  great  difficulty  with  me,  I  believe,  is  that  I  cannot  yet  feel 
large  enough,  as  many  of  my  colleagues  here  seem  to  enjoy  their 
consequence  particularly  well,  and  really  I  think  their  shadows 
on  the  sidewalks  in  State  street  must  seem  much  longer  to  them 
than  in  their  own  country  towns  in  the  woods,  like  ours.  How 
ever,  perhaps  I  am  jealous,  as  I  have  felt  much  larger  on  the 
banks  of  the  little  river,  after  shooting  a  fish,  than  I  can  do  in 
the  Capitol,  although  I  have  a  respectable  seat  there.  Yet  you 
know  some  of  our  friends  predicted  I  should  grow  large  enough 
before  I  returned,  and  so  it  may  be. 

"  I  have  written,  every  week,  to  some  person  in  Canton,  and 
shall  continue  to  do  so,  and,  as  one,  I  ask  you  to  write  me,  and 
give,  among  other  things,  the  report  of  your  every-day  news,  as 
it  will  be  interesting. 

"  Inform  me  how  Parkiel  comes  on  in  collecting  the  tax,  where 
is  the  Fish  petition,  etc.,  etc.  Mr.  Van  Denh  envoi  arrived  here 
last  night  most  awfully  canal  warm,  but  I  am  sorry  to  inform  you 
there  is  not  the  least  possibility  of  our  passing  a  law  to  authorize 
a  survey.  The  canal  fever  is  ebbing  fast  in  the  Legislature,  and 
not  a  dollar,  I  venture  to  say,  will  be  appropriated  except  that 
which  must  be  devoted  to  the  canals  already  begun,  and  a  small 
allowance  to  them.  Give  my  respects  to  our  friends  in  Canton, 
one  and  all,  and  say  I  shall  be  pleased  to  hear  from  them. 

"  In  great  haste,  your  friend, 

" -S.  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"Mr.  MINET  JENTSONT." 


42  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ORGANIZATION  AND  PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

The  House  was  organized  by  electing  Richard  Goodellj 
of  Jefferson  county,  who  had  served  with  credit  as  a  cap 
tain  in  the  army  in  the  war  of  1812,  as  Speaker,  over 
James  Tallmadge,  who  was  denominated  "a  people's 
man,"  though  claiming  to  be  a  democrat.  This  secured, 
on  the  committees,  a  majority  of  democrats. 

When  the  Governor' s  message  was  read  in  the  House, 
Mr.  A.  C.  Flagg,  of  Clinton  county,  presented  a  resolu 
tion,  which,  after  a  warm  debate,  was  passed,  referring 
the  subject  of  changing  the  mode  of  choosing  electors  to 
a  committee  of  nine.  The  committee  appointed  by  the 
Speaker  consisted  of  Messrs.  Flagg,  Wheaton,  Mtillett, 
Van  Alstyne,  Bellinger,  Finch,  Brown,  Bowker  and  Ells, 
all  of  whom,  except  Wheaton,  Mullett  and  Finch,  were 
supposed  to  be  Crawford  men. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Wheaton  offered 
the  following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  As  the  sense  of  this  committee,  that  the  right  of 
choosing  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  ought  to  be  vested  in  the  people  of  this  State,  by  a  law 
passed  at  the  present  session  of  the  Legislature." 

This  was  passed  unanimously,  except  a  negative  vote 
by  Mr.  Van  Alstyne. 
Mr.  Wheaton  also  offered  the  following : 
"  .Resolved,  That  such  election  ought  to  be  by  general  ticket." 

Mr.  Flagg  offered  an  amendment  in  these  words  :  "and 
that  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  shall  be  necessary  to  make 
a  choice." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W  RIGHT.  43 


This  amendment  was  adopted,  and  eventually  the 
mittee  reported  a  bill  giving  the  power  of  choosing 
electors  to  the  people,  but  requiring  a  majority  of  all  the 
votes  given  to  make  an  election. 

In  the  House  Mr.  Finch  offered  an  amendment,  declar 
ing  the  person  having  the  greatest  number  duly  elected. 
It  was  voted  down  by  sixty-four  to  fifty-  two.  In  this 
shape,  on  the  4th  of  February,  1824,  it  passed  with  but 
five  dissenting  votes. 

A  party  had  been  some  time  forming,  exclusively  based 
upon  the  electoral  law  question,  widely  differing  upon 
all  other  matters.  It  included  the  supporters  of  all  the 
candidates,  except  Mr.  Crawford.  Except  on  this  one 
question,  their  opinions  were  largely  discordant.  They 
even  differed  among  themselves  upon  the  details  of  the 
law  which  they  thought  ought  to  pass.  Some  anti-Clin- 
tonians  feared  that  a  general-ticket  bill,  by  plurality, 
might  give  the  State  to  Mr.  Clinton.  The  friends  of 
Mr.  Clinton  were  naturally  in  favor  of  a  general  ticket 
arid  plurality. 

After  the  nomination  of  General  Jackson  by  a  demo 
cratic  convention  in  Pennsylvania,  early  in  the  winter  of 
1824,  Mr.  Calhoun  withdrew,  as  a  candidate  for  the  presi 
dency,  and  became  a  supporter  of  the  General,  and  sub 
sequently  became  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency, 
and  was  elected  by  104  majority  over  all  other  persons 
voted  for. 

Mr.  Adams'  friends  thought  they  saw  in  the  general 
ticket  and  plurality  system  thirty  -six  votes  for  him. 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  believed  that  the  district  sys 
tem,  through  the  deservedly  great  influence  of  his  friends, 
General  Peter  B.  Porter  and  others,  would  give  their 
favorite  the  votes  of  western  New  York,  and  perhaps 
some  elsewhere. 

Although  there  was  no  organized  party  in  New  York 
in  favor  of  General  Jackson,  he  had  eminent  friends,  and 


44  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

among  them  Mr.  Clinton,  though,  not  generally  known 
and  believed,  who  were  desirous  of  such  a  change  in  the 
electoral  laws  as  would  damage  the  prospects  of  Mr. 
Crawford. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
people's  party  was  dissatisfied  with  the  electoral  bill  as  it 
passed  the  House.  It  was  seized  upon  by  that  party  to 
excite  and  extend  the  popular  feeling  on  the  subject  of 
changing  the  mode  of  choosing  electors.  The  ablest  pens 
in  the  State  were  put  in  requisition.  But  generally  they 
discussed  only  the  abstract  question  of  where  the  power  of 
choosing  electors  should  be  lodged,  avoiding  those  of  the 
details  where  the  real  difficulties  lay.  The  House  com 
mittee,  with  one  exception,  resolved  unanimously  that  a 
change  ought  to  be  made  at  that  session.  Such  was  the 
common  expression  of  nearly  every  member  of  the 
Legislature.  The  differences  of  opinion  were  few,  if 
any,  on  this  point.  Divergencies  began,  on  the  next 
question,  when  members  began  to  reflect  and  calculate 
their  eif ect  upon  their  respective  favorites  for  the  presi 
dency;  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that  no  one  was  willing  to 
take  a  step  which  would  endanger  the  success  of  him 
whom  he  preferred  and  supported. 


Ln ••/•;  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  45 


CHAPTER    XTV. 

PROCEEDINGS   IN  THE    SENATE    ON   THE  ELECTORAL    LAW. 

When  the  House  bill  came  to  the  Senate  it  was  referred 
to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Dudley  was  chair 
man.  While  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the  committee,  Mr. 
Ogden  resorted  to  the  unusual  mode  of  forcing  them,  by 
resolution,  to  report.  His  resolution  was  supported  by 
him,  Burt,  Burroughs  and  Cramer,  and  opposed  by  Mr. 
WEIGHT,  Suydam,  Wheeler  and  several  others.  It  was 
indefinitely  postponed  by  a  vote  of  twenty  to  nine.  The 
committee  soon  after  reported.  The  conclusion  at  which 
they  arrived  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  committee  are,  therefore,  of  opinion,  for  the  reasons  set 
forth  in  this  report,  that  it  would  not  be  expedient  to  pass  the 
bill  from  the  Assembly,  or  any  other  bill  changing  the  present 
mode  of  appointing  electors  of  President  and  V ice-President  of 
the  United  States ;  or,  at  least,  until  the  efforts  which  are  now 
seriously  making  in  Congress  to  establish  a  uniform  rule  of 
appointment,  by  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  by  which  the  people  can  elect  by  districts,  have 
terminated  in  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  such  amendment  by 
that  body." 

On  the  tenth  of  March  this  report  came  up  for  con 
sideration.  Mr.  Cramer  moved  to  strike  out  this  conclu 
sion,  and  to  insert : 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to  pass  a  law,  at  the  present 
session  of  the  Legislature,  giving  the  people  of  this  State  the 
choice  of  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  by  general 
ticket." 

It  was  moved  to  amend  this  by  adding  "and  by  a 
plurality  of  votes."  This  was  rejected  by  seventeen  to 


46  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

fourteen,  Mr.  WEIGHT  voting  against  it.  An  amend 
ment  providing  that  the  choice  should  be  made  by  con 
gressional  districts  was  moved  and  voted  down,  he  also 
voting  in  the  negative.  Mr.  Cramer's  resolution  was  then 
adopted,  sixteen  to  fifteen,  Mr.  WRIGHT  voting  for  it. 
He  then  presented  his  views,  in  the  shape  of  an  amend 
ment,  by  striking  out  all  after  the  word  "Assembly,"  in 
the  second  line  of  the  last  clause  of  the  printed  report, 
and  inserting  the  following  : 

"  But  they  recommend  the  passage  of  a  law  providing  for  a 
choice  by  the  people,  by  general  ticket,  of  a  number  of  electors 
of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  equal  to 
the  number  of  representatives  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  to  which  this  State  shall  be  entitled  at  the  time  of  any 
election  of  electors  shall  be  held,  locating  the  electors,  so  to  be 
chosen  in  the  several  congressional  districts,  in  such  a  manner 
that  each  congressional  district  shall  have,  residing  within  it,  a 
number  of  said  electors  equal  to  the  number  of  members  of 
Congress  to  which  said  district  shall  be  entitled  at  the  time  of 
the  election,  requiring  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  given  in  the 
State  for  such  electors  to  constitute  a  choice  ;  and  directing  a 
meeting  of  the  Legislature,  at  such  time  as  shall  be  requisite,  in 
any  year  when  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  are  to 
be  chosen,  to  appoint  two  electors  in  the  manner  now  provided 
by  law,  corresponding  to  the  two  Senators  from  this  State  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  to  fill  any  vacancies  that 
may  exist  in  any  of  the  congressional  districts  from  a  failure  to 
elect,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  as  aforesaid.  And  further  recom 
mend  a  repeal  of  the  present  existing  law  providing  for  the 
appointment  of  the  said  electors,  so  far  as  the  same  may  be 
inconsistent  with  a  law  containing  the  aforesaid  provisions." 

Mr.  Cramer  proposed  a  substitute  to  Mr.  WRIGHT'S 
amendment,  the  object  of  which  was  to  test  the  main 
question,  whether  the  Senate  would  retain  or  change  the 
present  electoral  law.  The  purport  of  the  substitute 
was,  in  general  terms,  that  it  is  expedient  to  pass  a  bill 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  tiiLAs  WRIGHT.  47 

at  the  present  session,  giving  the  choice  of  electors  to  the 
people. 

Mr.  President  decided  that  Mr.  Cramer's  proposition 
was  not  in  order,  until  the  other  had  been  disposed  of. 

Mr.  Nelson  proposed  to  amend  the  amendment,  by 
striking  out  all  after  the  word  "people"  in  the  forty- 
seventh  line,  and  also  to  strike  out  all  that  part  of  the 
report  which  says  it  is  not  expedient  to  pass  the  bill  from 
the  Assembly. 

Mr.  Nelson  observed,  that  he  should  prefer  to  test  the 
abstract  question  rather  than  to  go  into  the  details  of 
any  bill.  If  the  Senate  should  determine  to  pass  a  law, 
the  details  of  such  bill  would  be  a  tit  subject  of  consider 
ation  afterwards  in  the  committee  of  the  whole. 

Mr.  WKIGHT  hoped  the  amendment  would  not  prevail. 
It  was  a  manifest  absurdity  in  itself,  and  destroyed  the 
plain  diction  of  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the  report. 
It  was,  perhaps,  demanded  of  him  that,  in  offering  his 
proposition,  he  should  state  brieily  the  reasons  by  which 
he  had  been  governed  in  relation  to  it,  and  the  views  by 
which  he  had  acted  in  the  general  application  of  this 
question.  He  submitted  the  proposition,  therefore,  as 
the  skeleton  or  outline  of  a  principle  which,  could  after 
wards  be  embodied  into  a  corresponding  form,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  drawing  out  the  opinions  of  the  Senate, 
for  he  was  entirely  unprepared  to  say  that  he  could  vote 
for  the  repeal  of  the  present  law,  unless  he  could  know 
also  the  shape  which  the  change  would  assume. 

The  reasons  of  my  preference,  said  Mr.  W. ,  for  the 
features  of  the  law  proposed  by  the  amendment  I  have 
had  the  honor  to  offer,  are,  in  the  first  place,  because  in 
all  my  reflections  upon  this  subject  I  have  believed  that 
a  point  beyond  all  others  to  be  secured,  in  the  passage  of 
any  law,  is  the  preservation  entire  of  the  electoral  vote 
of  this  State.  It  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that,  while  the 
State  of  New  York  possesses  the  heaviest  voice  in  the 


48  LIFE  A  AD  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

choice  of  a  President  of  any  State  in  this  Union,  that 
voice,  by  division,  may  be  easily  neutralized,  or  made 
only  equal  to  that  of  the  weakest  State ;  and  it  should 
be  particularly  remembered  that,  while  an  electoral  vote 
is  thus  strong,  it  is  only  commensurate  with  our  wants 
and  interests.  Indeed,  from  the  reasoning  of  the  com 
mittee,  it  appears  that  our  voice  is  much  less,  in  propor 
tion  to  our  population,  than  that  of  the  small  States ; 
and  I  cannot  believe,  said  Mr.  W.,  that  any  member  of 
this  Senate  will  disagree  with  me  in  the  necessity  of 
keeping  that  voice  entire,  and  thus  of  commanding  that 
influence,  in  the  choice  of  a  chief  magistrate  of  the  Union, 
which  our  interests  demand  and  our  duty  to  ourselves 
requires.  This,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  not  the  only  considera 
tion  which,  as  republicans,  urges  us  to  eifect  this  in  the 
passage  of  a  law  regulating  the  choice  of  our  presidential 
electors.  Were  we  legislating  for  the  State  of  New  York 
only ;  were  this  State  alone  interested  in  keeping  our 
electoral  vote  entire,  much  of  the  importance  of  doing 
so  would  be  lost.  But,  sir,  every  State  in  the  Union  has 
a  deep  interest  upon  this  subject.  The  great  body  of  the 
republican  party  are  interested  ;  they  have  the  right  to 
demand  of  us  the  exertion  of  our  whole  strength ;  nor 
can  we  as  republicans  (and  such  we  profess  and  are 
proud  to  be)  in  justice  withhold  it,  or  pass  any  law 
which  shall  render  probable,  or  even  morally  certain,  its 
division  and  diminution. 

Two  distinct  propositions,  regulating  this  choice,  have 
been  considered  by  the  committee.  One  by  general 
ticket,  a  plurality  of  votes  to  constitute  a  choice,  and  the 
other  a  simple  district  bill.  The  first  of  these  proposi 
tions,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  entirely  objectionable  for  two 
important  reasons.  First,  because  a  law  passed  upon 
this  principle  would  be  morally  certain  to  divide  the 
electoral  vote  of  the  State.  We  might,  indeed,  in  theory, 
suppose  that  an  election  by  plurality  would  be  equally 


AND  TIMES  OF  MILAN  WRWHT.  49 

certain,  with  an  election  by  a  majority  of  votes,  to  result 
in  the  choice  of  an  entire  ticket  of  the  same  political 
character ;  and  so  it  would  if  every  elector  at  the  polls 
would  vote  for  the  same  entire  ticket.  But  the  slightest 
experience  proves  they  will  riot  do  so.  Every  voter 
has  his  preferences,  and  he  will  change  and  divide  the 
respective  tickets  to  suit  those  preferences  and  to  gratify 
his  own  partialities.  The  electors  of  this  great  State  will 
not,  like  myself  and  many  of  my  honorable  friends  in 
this  House,  so  entirely  attach  their  feelings  to  either  of 
the  candidates  for  the  presidency  as  to  absorb  their 
preferences  for  the  men  of  their  acquaintance  upon  the 
several  tickets  in  the  market.  In  an  election  under  this 
proposition,  the  electors,  voting  for  a  ticket  containing 
the  names  of  thirty-six  candidates,  cannot  be  expected 
to  act  with  a  full  understanding  of,  or  acquaintance  with, 
the  persons  for  whom  they  vote,  when  those  persons  are 
located  in  the  several  congressional  districts  of  the  State. 
They  will  consequently  compose  a  ticket  for  themselves, 
from  the  names  upon  each  ticket,  of  men  they  approve, 
and  thus  divide  entirely  the  electoral  vote.  If  proof  is 
wanted  that  this  will  be  the  effect,  look  at  the  respective 
counties  of  the  State  that  elect  three,  four,  five  or  more 
members  of  the  other  branch  of  this  Legislature.  How 
often  do  these  counties  divide  their  vote  in  that  House  ? 
How  often,  in  those  counties,  under  the  plurality  system, 
do  they  elect  part  of  the  one  political  ticket  and  part  of 
the  other?  Look  at  the  county  of  Washington,  with 
four  members  in  that  House,  equally  'divided,  and  conse 
quently  with  no  political  representation.  Look  also  at 
Saratoga,  with  two  on  the  one  side  and  one  on  the  other, 
and  at  the  city  and  county  of  New  York,  with  seven  on 
the  one  side  and  three  on  the  other.  Are  not  these  coun 
ties,  in  part  or  in  whole,  politically  neutralized  1  Can  it 
be  expected,  then,  that  a  ticket  containing  the  names  of 
thirty-six  electors  upon  one  ballot  would  not  be  divided  ? 
4 


50  LIFE  AND  TIM  us  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Can  it  be  reasonably  supposed  that  such  a  ticket,  com 
posed  of  persons  in  every  part  of  the  State,  would  be 
kept  entire,  and  that,  too,  when  three,  four  or  five  tickets 
will  with  certainty  be  run  ?  And  here,  although  we  are 
passing  a  general  law,  it  is  impossible  to  discuss  the  ques 
tion  without  reference  to  the  coming  presidential  election. 
Can  any  man,  at  this  time,  promise  himself  that  a  less 
number  than  three  will  enter  the  lists  at  the  time  of  the 
election  1  And  if  but  three  candidates  are  then  insisted 
on,  that  number  of  tickets  for  electors  must  be  presented 
in  this  State.  And  is  any  man  so  sanguine  as  to  believe 
that,  with  this  number  of  tickets,  any  one  can  be  certainly 
elected  3  Is  it  credible  to  suppose,  that  while  a  political 
struggle  in  a  single  county  seldom  fails  to  produce  a 
divided  election,  that  division  and  subdivision  would  not 
exist  in  a  ticket  composed  of  thirty-six  persons  scattered 
over  this  extensive  Stated  Would  not  the  natural  and 
necessary  consequence  be  the  election  of  some  of  the 
most  popular  men  upon  each  of  the  several  tickets,  and 
that,  too,  with  greater  certainty  when  the  struggle  is 
merely  a  preference  for  men  3  But,  said  Mr.  W.,  this 
supposition  is  far  better  than  the  fact.  It  is  at  this  time 
impossible  to  predict  that  a  less  number  of  candidates 
than  four  will  be  presented  at  the  time  of  the  election. 
And  what  is  still  more  objectionable  in  this  form  of  law, 
we  invite,  by  it,  every  ambitious,  aspiring  man  to  enter 
the  lists  for  this  high  office.  We  invite  every  daring  poli 
tician,  who  is  vain  enough  to  put  his  fortunes  at  hazard, 
to  place  himself  among  the  lists  of  candidates,  to  get  up 
his  electoral  ticket,  and  run  his  chance  of  electing  part, 
if  not  the  whole  of  that  ticket,  by  the  fraction  of  the 
electors  of  the  State  who  may  chance  to  prefer  his  eleva 
tion. 

The  second  and  insuperable  objection  to  a  general  plu 
rality  law,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  that  it  empowers  a  small 
minority  of  the  electors  of  the  State  to  control  its  electo- 


LIFE  AND  TiMiiH  OF  MILAN  WHHUIT.  51 

ral  vote.  Take  the  instance  of  three  separate  tickets  for 
these  presidential  electors,  and  a  mere  fraction  over  one- 
third  of  the  electors  of  the  State  can,  wield  this  important 
expression ;  increase  the  number  of  candidates,  and  you, 
in  the  same  ratio,  diminish  the  fraction  that  is  to  be  rep 
resented  in  our  electoral  college.  And  is  any  member  of 
this  House  willing  thus  to  dispose  of  this  important  influ 
ence  ?  Is  any  member  of  this  Senate  willing  that  the 
thirty-six  votes  of  New  York,  in  the  choice  of  a  chief 
magistrate  of  this  Union,  should  be  wielded  by  one- 
fourth  or  one-fifth  of  its  population  ;  that  this  important 
expression  should  be  anything  less  than  the  expression 
of  a  majority  of  the  electors  of  the  State?  Who,  sir, 
can  assure  us  that  some  particular  interest,  mercantile, 
agricultural,  manufacturing  or  commercial,  may  not 
unite  their  exertions,  and  by  their  combined  efforts, 
under  such  a  law,  seize  and  control  our  electoral  vote  ? 
No  man,  sir,  can  give  this  assurance.  Such  combinations 
would  be  formed.  Every  section  and  contending  interest 
would  be  put  in  requisition,  and  the  heavy  and  combined 
interests  of  the  State  would  not  be  represented.  Thus, 
then,  sir,  we  see  that  under  this  proposition  the  electoral 
vote  of  this  important  State  must  be  divided,  neutralized 
and  destroyed,  or,  if  kept  together,  that  only  a  minority 
of  the  State  can  be  represented. 

The  principles  of  a  district  bill,  it  is  confessed,  are 
more  democratic  than  those  of  any  other  proposition. 
Under  such  a  law,  every  section  of  the  State  would  be 
equally  represented ;  every  interest  would  be  properly 
and  proportionably  felt ;  and  every  elector  could  act 
under  standingly,  in  the  vote  he  would  give.  But  a  suffi 
cient  objection  to  this  system  is,  that  the  time  never  can 
occur  when  the  thirty -four  congressional  districts  of  this 
State  will  be  all  of  one  political  sentiment.  And  it  must 
ever  be  here,  under  such  a  law,  that  a  disputed  election 


52  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

would  be  a  division  of  our  strength  and  a  destruction  of 
our  electoral  vote. 

What,  then,  said  Mr.  W.,  would  be  the  eifect  of  the 
proposition  now  upon  your  table  \  Would  it  not  neces 
sarily  be  to  .restrict  the  number  of  candidates  to  two,  so 
far  as  this  State  is  concerned,  or  else  render  the  pros 
pect  of  an  election  by  the  people  of  any  of  the  electors 
hopeless  ?  And,  sir,  when  the  candidates  are  thus 
restricted,  where  is  the  difference  between  plurality  and 
majority  \  What  would  be  a  plurality  in  the  one  case 
must  be  a  majority  in  the  other. 

But  if  the  electors  of  the  State  will  not,  by  their  votes, 
determine  the  wish  of  the  majority,  then  where  is  that 
wish  to  be  better  ascertained  than  by  the  majority  of 
their  representatives  in  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature  \ 
Is  it  true,  sir,  that  the  voice  of  the  majority  of  these 
Houses,  jointly  expressed,  does  not  express  the  voice  of 
a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  State  ?  I  cannot  believe 
that  in  the  short  period  of  one  year  (and  within  every 
such  period  the  most  numerous  branch  is  elected)  the 
representative  forgets  the  will  of  his  constituents.  I 
cannot  believe  that  in  that  period  the  Legislature  ever 
ceases  to  express  the  wishes  and  interests  of  a  majority 
of  the  State.  And  then,  sir,  this  proposition  would 
ascertain  that  majority,  incase  the  people,  by  their  votes, 
did  not  declare  it. 

Another  reason  for  the  preference  of  the  proposition 
now  before  the  Senate,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  that  it  provides 
for  the  appointment  by  the  Legislature  of  the  two  elec 
tors  corresponding  to  the  two  Senators.  These  electors 
represent  the  State  sovereignties,  carried  into  our  electoral 
colleges,  and  consequently  ought  not,  in  strictness,  to 
be  chosen  by  the  people.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the 
organization  of  our  government  is  one  of  checks  and 
balances.  The  Senate,  composed  of  an  equal  representa 
tion  from  each  State,  are  the  guardians  and  representatives 


LIFE  AND  TIMKS  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  53 

of  the  State  sovereignties,  while  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  the  popular  branch,  are  the  immediate  represen 
tatives  of  the  people  individually. 

These  are  to  act  as  checks  upon  each  other,  and  to 
prevent  the  undue  influence  of  either.  And  that  these 
different  representatives  were  intended  to  be  carried  into 
the  electoral  colleges  in  the  same  proportion,  and  with  the 
same  influences  that  they  exert  in  the  National  Legisla 
ture,  will  be  evident  from  the  fact  that,  as  is  stated  by 
the  committee  in  their  report,  this  representation  in  our 
electoral  colleges  produces  an  inequality  between  the 
large  and  small  States  in  no  other  way  accounted  for. 
And,  if  I  am  right  in  this,  there  is  no  more  propriety  in 
giving  the  choice  of  these  two  electors  to  the  people,  than 
there  would  be  in  giving  the  choice  of  Senators  to  them, 
which  is  forbidden  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  And  may  there  not,  sir,  be  a  propriety  and 
necessity  in  this?  Is  it  impossible  that  jealousies  and 
differences  may  arise  between  these  two  branches  of  our 
National  Legislature,  and  that  these  jealousies  and  differ 
ences  may  be  made  the  important  questions  in  the  choice 
of  a  President  ?  Is  it  of  all  things  the  most  improbable 
that  the  sovereignties  of  the  States  may  become  the  sub 
ject  of  political  feeling  in  our  electoral  colleges  ?  And 
should  they  become  so,  is  it  not  only  proper,  but  highly 
important  that  they  should  there  be  distinctly  repre 
sented?  And  will  not  that  representation  then  form 
exactly  the  same  proportional  check  which  it  was  to 
form  in  the  organization  of  the  government  ?  Is  it  asked 
why  this  designation  has  not  before  been  made?  I 
answer,  because,  hitherto,  all  the  electors  of  this  State 
have  been  chosen  by  the  Legislature,  and,  consequently, 
such  designation  has  not  been  necessary. 

It  may  be  objected  to  the  proposition,  which  I  have 
had  the  honor  to  offer,  that  the  provision  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Legislature  is  an  unnecessary  increase  of 


54  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

expense  in  the  appointment  of  our  presidential  electors. 
But  it  will  be  observed  that  the  passage  of  a  law  upon 
the  principles  contained  in  that  provision  will  not  increase 
the  expense  attendant  upon  the  present  mode  of  appoint 
ment.  The  election,  being  held  at  the  time  of  holding 
the  annual  State  elections,  costs  nothing,  and  the  meeting 
of  the  Legislature,  under  that,  will  cost  110  more  than 
under  the  present  law ;  therefore,  while  it  will  not  be  a 
saving,  it  will  not  be  an  increase  of  expense. 

The  law  proposed  by  this  proposition  is  further  to  be 
preferred,  as  being  the  only  one  which  the  time  allowed 
by  the  law  of  Congress  for  making  the  election  will  per 
mit  to  be  carried  into  effect.  It  will  be  recollected  that 
the  electors  are  by  that  law  required  to  meet  on  a  day 
certain,  and  give  their  votes,  which  must  be  not  more 
than  thirty-four  days  from  their  election  or  appointment. 
This  renders  it  extremely  difficult  to  hold  an  election  in 
a  State  as  extensive  as  ours,  to  procure  a  return  and  can 
vass  of  the  votes,  to  notify  the  electors,  selected  as  they 
must  be  in  almost  every  county  in  the  State,  and  to  give 
them  time  to  assemble  within  the  short  period  of  thirty- 
four  days.  The  law  proposed  in  the  amendment  upon 
your  table  might,  in  some  degree,  relieve  this  difficulty, 
by  directing  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  at  as  early  a 
period  after  the  election  as  possible,  and  making  it  the 
duty  of  some  member  of  the  Legislature  from  each  county 
to  be  the  bearer  of  the  votes  of  his  county  to  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  where  they  are  to  be  canvassed. 
It  will  be  found  that  the  engrossed  bill  from  the  Assembly 
is  in  this  particular  palpably  defective.  The  bill  requires 
the  clerks  of  the  respective  counties  to  mail  the  certificate 
of  canvass  of  their  counties  on  Thursday  of  the  week ; 
that  if  these  certificates  do  not  reach  the  Secretary  of 
State  by  the  Monday  following,  he  shall  send  special 
messengers  to  the  respective  counties  for  the  same,  and 
that,  on  the  Monday  following,  the  State  Canvassers  shall 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  55 

proceed  to  canvass  such  of  the  votes  as  may  have  been 
received,  and  from  such  canvass  to  pronounce  the  choice  ; 
thus  only  allowing  four  days  for  the  votes  to  come  from 
the  extremes  of  the  State,  only  seven  days  to  send  a  special 
messenger  to  any  part  of  the  State  and  for  that  messen 
ger' s  return,  and  only  eleven  days  from  the  time  the 
clerks  of  the  counties  are  bound  to  make  their  certificates 
until  the  canvass  of  the  votes  in  this  city.  This  pro 
vision,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  too  palpably  absurd  to  need  com 
ment,  and  the  consequences  of  holding  an  election  under 
this  law  must  be,  that  the  votes  from  the  remote  counties 
in  this  State  would  not  be  received  or  taken  into  the 
canvass.  It  should  also  be  recollected  that,  if  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature  are  required  to  bring  the  votes  of 
their  respective  counties,  it  will  save  an  expense  of  special 
messengers  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  to  and  from  the  place  of  meeting. 

These,  sir,  are  some  of  the  reasons  which  have  inclined 
me  to  prefer  the  proposition  now  upon  your  table  to  any 
which  I  have  yet  heard,  or  which  I  have  myself  been  able 
to  devise. 

I  am  free  to  subscribe  to  much  of  the  reasoning  of  the 
committee  in  their  report.  I  believe  the  objections  they 
have  made  to  the  various  systems  they  have  examined 
well  taken.  But  I  cannot  tnink  they  have  derived  the 
correct  conclusion  from  that  reasoning.  It  is,  I  believe, 
sir,  a  fixed  principle  in  free  governments,  that  the  people 
should  themselves  exercise  every  right  which  can  be  as 
safely  exercised  by  them  as  by  delegates  by  them 
appointed.  And  I  must  think,  under  the  provision  of  the 
proposition  now  before  the  Senate,  the  great  body  of  the 
electors  of  this  State  may  as  safely  choose  their  electors 
of  President  and  Vice-President  as  to  delegate  their 
appointment  to  their  representatives  in  the  State  Legisla 
ture,  and  if  as  safely,  then  much  more  properly. 

I  have  now,  sir,  offered  every  reason  for  submitting  the 


56  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

proposition  upon  your  table,  and  for  my  preference  to 
it ;  and  I  must  add,  that  I  believe  the  present  existing 
law  far  preferable  to  any  system  which  shall  be  calculated 
to  divide  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State.  In  this,  sir,  I 
know  the  Senate  will  agree  with  me  ;  and  I  most  sincerely 
hope,  however  any  gentleman  may  differ  from  me  in  the 
provisions  of  a  law  to  accomplish  this  object,  that  we  shall 
proceed  calmly  and  frankly  to  discuss  a  subject  of  this 
deep  interest  and  importance. 

Much,  sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  has  been  said  on  the  subject 
of  our  responsibility  to  our  constituents.  I  am  not 
unmindful  of  that  responsibility.  I  am  aware  that  every 
member  of  this  House  rests  under  the  same  responsibility, 
and  must  account  to  his  constituents  for  the  course  he 
shall  pursue  in  relation  to  the  bill.  But,  sir,  I  protest 
against  acting  under  that  popular  enthusiasm  which  it 
has  been  the  object  of  designing  individuals  to  excite.  I 
disclaim  all  connection  with  frenzy  which  would  cut  to 
pieces  and  destroy  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State  of  New 
York  to  gratify  what  is  falsely  called  the  wish  of  the 
people.  I  too  well  know  my  constituents,  sir,  to  believe 
they  would  justify  me  in  promoting  the  passage  of  any 
law  which  should  fritter  away  the  voice  of  this  State  in 
the  choice  of  a  President  of  this  Union.  No,  sir,  they 
would  sooner  retain  the  present  law  unaltered  ;  nor  can 
I  consent  to  vote  for  any  law  which  shall  have  this  effect. 

After  ample  discussion  a  vote  was  taken  upon  Mr. 
WRIGHT'  s  proposed  amendment,  which  found  little  favor 
in  the  Senate.  It  received  only  three  votes  besides  his 
own,  to  wit,  Bronson,  Mallory  and  Stranahan. 

Mr.  Bronson,  who  was  a  Clay  man,  says  he  voted  for 
the  proposition  in  order  to  have  New  York  present  an 
undivided  front,  and  command  her  rightful  influence, 
commensurate  with  her  population,  in  the  election  of 
President  and  Vice-President.  Others  may  have  given 
their  votes  to  secure  like  results. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  &ILAS  WRIGHT.  57 

The  vot 4  on  the  amendment  proposed  by  Mr.  Redfield, 
to  elect  by  congressional  districts,  was  as  follows : 

Ayes — Burt,  Cramer,  Earll,  Gardiner,  Greenby,  Morgan,  Ogden, 
Uedfield,  Thorn,  Wlieeler— 10. 

Nays — Bowman,  Bowne,  Bronson,  Burroughs,  Clark,  Dudley, 
Green,  Ilaight,  Keyes,  Lefferts,  Livingston,  Lynde,  Mallory, 
McCall,  Mclntyre,  Nelson,  Stranahan,  Suydam,  Ware,  Wooster, 
WRIGHT — 21. 

These  various  votes  were  given  after  full  discussion 
and  ample  deliberation.  There  was  no  other  mode  of 
electing  proposed,  or,  apparently,  thought  of.  After  so 
much  discussion,  considering  the  extent  and  intensity  of 
the  excitement  in  and  out  of  the  Senate,  there  was  no 
expectation,  or  even  hope,  that  these  votes  could  be 
changed,  or  any  new  proposition  presented  or  adopted. 
Harsh  words,  crimination  and  recrimination,  and  impeach 
ment  of  motives  had  accomplished  their  usual  results. 
Under  such  circumstances,  men  seldom,  if  ever,  change 
their  positions,  or  lend  a  willing  ear  to  the  rebukes,  or 
even  persuasions,  of  their  adversaries.  All  hope  of  carry 
ing  either  of  the  rejected  propositions  had  disappeared. 
No  one  manifested  a  disposition  to  yield  his  views,  as 
shown  by  his  vote,  to  favor  the  change  proposed  by  others. 
Each  had  become  fixed  in  his  opinions,  like  contestants 
in  a  battle,  who  honestly  believing  themselves  right, 
become  more  intensified  the  longer  and  fiercer  it  rages. 
To  yield  at  all  under  such  circumstances  would  create  a 
suspicion  of  weakness  or  bad  faith.  No  one  expected 
another  to  retrace  his  steps,  to  take  a  new  departure. 
Everything  pointing  to  such  a  result  was  hopeless. 

It  was  when  matters  thus  presented  themselves  that 
Mr.  Ogden  moved  to  commit  the  bill  and  report  to  the 
committee  of  the  whole.  Mr.  Livingston  thereupon 
moved  to  postpone  the  further  consideration  of  the 
report  and  bill  to  the  first  Monday  of  November,  prior 
to  which  the  existing  law  required  the  Legislature  to 


58  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

appoint  electors.  Before  taking  a  vote  on  this  motion, 
Mr.  WRIGHT  addressed  the  Senate  on  the  subject,  and 
his  remarks  are  thus  reported  in  the  Albany  Argus  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  had  had  the  honor  of  offering  a  propo 
sition  giving  to  the  people  the  choice  of  electors,  by  general 
ticket,  and  by  a,  majority  of  votes,  which  he  had  supposed  the 
only  safe  system  to  be  adopted.  He  had,  however,  been  unfor 
tunate  enough  not  to  be  able  to  induce  but  three  members  of 
the  Senate  to  think  with  him,  after  all  the  reasons  he  could  offer 
in  favor  of  the  proposition.  A  proposition  had  then  been  made 
to  make  the  choice  by  districts,  which,  after  being  fully  and 
ably  discussed,  received  but  two  votes.  And  now,  said  Mr.  W., 
we  have  rejected  the  proposition  to  choose  by  general  ticket  and 
plurality  of  votes.  Divisions  have  been  taken  upon  all  these 
propositions,  and  the  name  of  every  member  of  the  House  stands 
recorded  upon  our  journals,  with  his  vote  on  each  proposition 
distinctly  given.  These,  Mr.  W.  said,  were  all  the  propositions 
he  had  heard  suggested,  nor  had  he  ingenuity  enough  to  suggest 
or  devise  a  fourth.  He,  therefore,  despaired  of  even  a  hope  that 
the  Senate  could  agree  upon  a  law,  as  he  did  not  believe  that 
members  trifled  with  their  votes  upon  this  important  subject,  or 
were  prepared  to  change  their  names  as  they  already  stood  upon 
the  journals.  These  being  his  views,  Mr.  W.  said  he  should  vote 
for  the  postponement,  unless  he  could  hear  some  reasons  to  con 
vince  him  that  his  conclusions  were  not  correct.  The  resolution 
(Mr.  Cramer's)  just  taken  could  not  be  made  effective,  as  both 
the  majority  and  plurality  systems,  by  one  of  which  alone  it 
could  be  made  so,  had  been  deliberately  rejected,  and  he  saw  no 
good  reason  for  spending  more  time  on  the  subject." 

A  vote  was  thereupon  taken  on  the  postponement, 
which  resulted  as  follows  : 

Ayes — Messrs.  Bowman,  Bowne,  Bronson,  Dudley,  Earll, 
Greenby,  Keyes,  Lefferts,  Livingston,  Mallory,  McCall,  Redfield, 
Stranahan,  Suydam,  Ware,  Wooster,  WRIGHT 17. 

Nays— Messrs.  Burrows,  Burt,  Clark,  Cramer,  Gardiner,  Green, 
Haight,  Lynde,  Mclntyre,  Morgan,  Nelson,  Ogden,  Thorn, 
Wheeler— 14. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WUHIIIT.  59 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CLAMOR  ABOUT  THE  POSTPONEMENT  OF  THE  ELECT 
ORAL  VOTE 

The  disposition  made  of  the  subject  intensified  the 
excitement  concerning  the  electoral  law,  and  tended  to 
strengthen  the  new  party.  The  charge  of  forfeited 
pledges  resounded  through  the  State.  The  seventeen 
senators  who  voted  for  the  postponement  were  denounced 
as  "infamous,"  and  their  names  were  printed  in  the 
papers  of  the  "  People's  party,"  in  broad,  black  letters, 
and  those  of  Messrs.  WEIGHT  and  Mallory,  who  had 
voted  for  the  general  proposition  of  Mr.  Cramer  in  favor 
of  passing,  at  that  session,  a  law  giving  the  people  the 
choice  of  electors  by  general  ticket,  in  very  large  black 
letters.  Handbills,  thus  printed,  were  conspicuously 
placed  in  lawyers'  offices,  taverns,  stores,  groceries  and 
other  places. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  was  singled  out  as  a  special  object  of 
attack.  He  was  hung,  and  often  burnt  in  effigy  ;  and  at 
Ogdensburgh  he  was  hung  and  burned  by  the  side  of  the 
village  liberty -pole,  on  the  banks  of  the  Oswegatchie.  It 
was  claimed  by  his  adversaries  that  he  cheated  the  voters 
in  making  a  pledge  to  secure  his  election,  and  had  infa 
mously  violated  it.  In  the  vocabulary  of  hard  epithets, 
there  was  scarcely  one  that  was  not  applied  to  him.  But 
it  has  been  shown,  and  will  be  hereafter  conclusively 
proved,  that  he  made  no  pledge.  If  one  had  been  given, 
as  assumed,  he  gave  no  vote  in  violation  of  it.  All  who 
conversed  with  him  understood  that  he  was  unchange 
ably  in  favor  of  a  change  by  a  general  ticket.  To  this  he 
adhered  to  the  last.  The  congressional  district  system 


60  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

commanded  but  two  votes,  in  a  Senate  consisting  of  thirty- 
two  members.  He  had  never  said  or  intimated  that  he 
would  favor  a  general  ticket  with  a  plurality.  No  one 
pretended  to  have  ever  conversed  with  him  on  that  sub 
ject.  Nor  has  any  person  claimed  to  have  spoken  with 
him  whether  he  was  in  favor  of  electing  by  majority  or 
plurality.  This  was  left  an  open  question,  and,  as  such, 
he  had  the  same  right  to  decide  it  for  himself,  in  favor  of 
requiring  a  majority,  as  others  had  in  favor  of  a  plurality. 
It  is  not  known,  or  believed,  that  one  member  of  the 
Legislature  entered  the  Capitol  publicly  committed  on 
that  subject.  The  people's  party  had  no  plank  on  this 
subject  in  their  platform.  Every  member  had  the  power 
to  act  as  he  chose  concerning  it,  and  was  free  to  do  so, 
antrammeled  by  party  usages  or  resolves.  Why  should 
Mr.  WRIGHT  be  called  upon  to  change  his  views,  and  leave 
Mr  Cramer  and  others  to  enjoy  and  carry  out  theirs? 
They  were  all  sworn  to  perform  their  duties  according  to 
the  best  of  their  ability.  His  motives  were  as  much 
i '  1 1 1  i  1 1  <  '(1  to  respect  as  theirs.  It  is  undeniable  —  nay,  it  is 
conceded  now  — that  the  object  of  the  Adams,  Clay,  Jack 
son  and  Clinton  men  was  to  change  a  law  of  long  stand 
ing,  to  increase  the  chances  of  their  favorites  for  the  pre 
sidency,  and  diminish  those  of  Mr.  Crawford,  who,  a  few 
days  before,  had  been  nominated  by  a  congressional 
caucus  for  the  presidency.  They  wished  to  make  a 
change  to  injure  the  competitor  of  their  friends.  They 
sought  to  deprive  him  of  the  advantage  he  had  under  the 
existing  law,  and  to  make  a  new  one  to  accomplish  that 
purpose.  Making  laws  to  confer  special  favors  upon 
others  has  never  been  recognized  as  an  American  prin 
ciple.  If,  as  the  law  then  stood,  Mr.  Crawford  had  an 
advantage,  upon  what  principle  of  morals  could  his  com 
petitors  claim  the  right  to  legislate  him  out  of  it «  The 
Legislature  had  been  elected  to  perform  certain  duties 
under  the  old  law.  They  were  by  it  required,  on  a  cer- 


LlVK   AND    TlMKX    OF  tf/LAS    WlfldllT.  61 

tain  clay,  to  choose  electors.  The  majority  of  them  were 
democrats,  and  it  was  the  general  expectation  that  they 
would  conform  to  the  usages  of  that  party,  and  choose 
electors  favorable  to  its  candidate,  who  should  be  pre 
sented  in  the  usual  way. 

All  the  candidates  but  one,  although  claiming  to  be 
democrats,  declined  to  submit  their  pretensions  to  the 
tribunal  that  had  selected  and  presented  Jefferson,  Madi 
son  and  Monroe,  twice  each,  for  the  suffrages  of  the 
people,  as  democrats.  The  friends  of  these  candidates 
denounced  Mr.  Crawford,  who  had  been  selected  in  the 
usual  way,  and  confessedly  a  democrat  of  high  character, 
and  demanded  that  his  friends  should  participate  in 
making  a  law  to  legislate  his  prospects  and  hopes  away; 
and  denounced  them  with  great  bitterness  because  they 
would  not  consent  to  do  so.  Their  right  to  demand  Mr. 
Crawford's  friends  should  yield  the  point  was  no  greater 
than  that  of  his  friends  to  require  them  to  yield.  Neither 
had  the  least  possible  right  to  insist  upon  such  a  claim. 
If  Mr.  Crawford's  adversaries  had  changed  places  with 
his  friends,  would  they  have  yielded  it  to  him  ?  As  his 
opponents,  if  they  possessed  the  vantage  ground  would 
they  have  yielded  it  to  him  3 

Why  the  young,  quiet,  inoffensive  Mr.  WRIGHT  should 
be  selected  as  the  target  for  the  shafts  of  the  adversaries 
of  Mr.  Crawford  can  only  be  accounted  for  upon  the 
ground  that  falsehood  and  calumny  had  secretly  done 
their  detestable  work  and  could  continue  to  be  more  suc 
cessfully  employed  against  him  than  older  men  more 
extensively  known.  He  and  his  friends  had  the  same  right 
to  claim  that  he  was  honest  and  sincere,  in  what  he  said 
and  did,  that  they  and  others  had.  His  record  was  without 
spot  or  blemish,  and  his  character,  in  all  respects,  above 
reproach.  Whether  he  was  wise  in  his  course  is  not  the 
question.  Was  he  honest  and  sincere  ?  Did  he  violate 
a  pledge  \  Nearly  all  of  those  who  then  most  loudly 


62  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

denounced  him  as  dishonest,  insincere  and  a  violater  of 
pledges,  have  since  discovered  their  error  and  have  given 
him  their  hearty  support  for  higher  positions.  Mr.  Ham 
mond,  in  the  last  volume  of  his  Political  History  of  New 
York,  withdrew  the  charges  made  in  his  second  volume, 
as  having  been  founded  upon  erroneous  information,  and 
this  relieves  him  from  the  odium  formerly  heaped  upon 
him.  In  this  volume,  at  page  50,  he  says  : 

"  It  now  affords  us  sincere  pleasure  to  say,  that  we  are  con 
vinced  that  we  had  formed  an  erroneous  opinion  of  him,  and  that 
instead  of  being  addicted  to  plot  and  contrivance  he  was  frank 
and  sincere  ;  and  although  we  earnestly  wish,  that  on  the  subject 
of  the  electoral  law,  and  in  the  attempt  to  choose,  or  rather  the 
effort  to  avoid  choosing,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  his  con 
duct  had  been  different,  we  are  entirely  satisfied  his  motives  were 
pure  and  honorable.  Our  reasons  for  arriving  at  this  conclusion 
are  these  :  Mr.  WKIGHT  honestly  and  sincerely  believed,  whether 
erroneously  or  rightly  is  not  now  a  subject  of  inquiry,  that  the 
ascendency  of  the  democratic  party  in  this  State  and  nation 
would  best  secure  the  liberties  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  the 
people.  Hence,  he  regarded  as  a  dereliction  of  duty  any  con 
sent  to  support  men,  or  measures,  the  consequence  of  which  he 
had  reason  to  apprehend  would  produce  the  overthrow,  or  cause 
a  diminution  of  that  party." 

Mr.  Hammond  refers  to  the  evidence  on  which  he 
changed  his  opinion  concerning  Mr.  WKIGHT.  It  con 
sisted  mostly  of  confidential  letters  addressed  to  the  late 
Judge  Fine,  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  by  Mr.  WRIGHT;  of 
these  he  says  : 

"These  letters  afford  internal  evidence  that  the  sentiments 
they  contain  were  directly  from  the  heart,  and  evince  such  an 
entire  devotedness  to  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged,  so  total 
an  absence  of  all  selfish  considerations,  and  such  perfect  disin 
terestedness,  and  at  the  same  time  so  much  frankness,  candor  and 
liberality,  even  toward  political  opponents,  that  we  cannot  for 
one  moment  believe  that,  on  the  occasion  to  which  we  have 


A //•'/•;  AND  TIMKK  OF  STL  AS  WKKUIT.  63 

alluded,  he  was  influenced  by  any  other  motive  than  a  desire  to 
sustain  and  promote  the  great  and  paramount  interests  of  the 
State  and  nation.  His  error,  as  a  public  man,  if  it  be  an  error, 
in  our  judgment,  arose  from  his  uniform  devotion  to  the  great 
interests  of  the  party  to  which  he  belonged,  on  whose  ascend 
ency,  we  have  heretofore  stated,  he  sincerely  believed  depended 
the  prosperity  of  his  country." 

He  then  indorses  this  remark  of  Governor  Seymour  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  a  great  man,  an  honest  man  ;  if  he  com 
mitted  errors,  they  were  induced  by  his  devotion  to  his  party. 
He  was  not  selfish ;  to  him  his  party  was  everything  —  himself 
nothing." 

Mr.  WRIGHT  fully  believed,  and  acted  on  that  belief, 
that  if  the  State  and  Federal  governments  were  not 
administered  upon  purely  democratic  principles,  which 
would  restrain  the  action  of  those  administering  them 
within  the  clear  boundaries  of  their  Constitutions,  both 
would  ultimately  fail  in  accomplishing  the  objects  for 
which  they  were  created.  He  often  avowed  this  belief, 
which  was  the  pole-star  of  his  life.  Fidelity  to  it  ever 
governed  all  his  actions.  The  ascendency  of  the  demo 
cratic  party  was  the  object  of  incessant  labor.  His  own 
interests  were  ever  made  to  yield  to  it,  as  will  be  here 
after  shown,  on  many  occasions. 

The  following  letters  to  his  trusted  friend,  Minet  Jeni- 
son,  clearly  and  truthfully  show  the  motives  which  actu 
ated  him  on  the  subject  of  the  electoral  law  : 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"ALBANY,  l<2th  Feby.,  1824. 

"  DEAR  SIR. — I  received  last  night,  by  mail,  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Joseph  Barnes,  inclosing  the  within  draft  in  favor  of  Andrew  C. 
Barton,  which,  I  suppose,  is  intended  to  pay,  so  far,  the  judgment 
of  Fisher  against  him.  I  have  written. a  receipt  on  the  back  of 
the  draft,  which,  if  Barton  will  sign,  you  may  give  him  the 
Langdon  note,  unless  you  know  some  good  reason  why  it 


64  TjIFK   AND    TlMKS    OF  SlLAS   WRIGHT. 

should  not  be  given  up.  I  wish  you  to  see  Boynton  sign  the 
receipt,  and  then  deliver  the  note  to  him  or  his  order.  I  expect 
Mr.  Barnes  is  to  have  it,  but  the  draft  will  not  authorize  me  to 
deliver  the  note  to  Barries  unless  Barton  directs  it.  If  you  have 
received  the  money  on  the  note  before  you  get  this,  it  will  be 
tlu-  same  thing  as  the  note,  and  need  the  same  disposition. 

"  I  have  nothing  new  to  write,  nor  do  I  hear  from  you.  Where 
is  the  letter  I  was  to  receive  from  you,  Lem.  and  Day?  Mr.  Day 
lost  one  of  his  sons  while  here,  I  have  learned,  but  which  one  I 
have  not  heard.  How  come  you  on  with  county  meetings  and 
the  People's  business  ?  I  have  heard  that  rather  a  farcical  meet 
ing  was  held  at  Canton  lately.  Tell  our  democrats  to  look  out, 
and  not  let  these  new-fashioned  republicans  get  too  much  the 
start  of  them.  They  may  depend  upon  it,  Clinton  is  the  meaning 
of  all  this.  The  electoral  law  has  not  yet  been  acted  upon, 
but  will  before  long,  probably.  In  the  meantime,  my  friends 
must  not  get  suspicious  of  Win  slow  and  myself  until  we  act, 
and  then,  if  we  do  not  act  right,  it  will  be  their  duty  to  tell  us 
of  it.  But  if,  in  acting,  we  should  not  please  the  restless  Clin- 
tonians  and  old  federalists,  even,  of  our  own  county,  I  should 
not  myself  be  willing  to  take  that  as  an  evidence  that  we  had 
acted  wrong.  But  really,  my  friend,  I  do  not  find  that  being  a 
grave  Senator  makes  much  difference  with  old  Silas.  As  near 
as  I  am  able  to  calculate,  he  is  about  the  same  thing  yet,  —  gets 
mad,  and  scolds  and  swears  (I  must  say  it,  for  it  is  true)  about 
as  easy  as  usual,-  and  mixes  about  the  same  quantity  of  laugh 
with  it.  Remember  me  particularly  to  my  friends  there,  and 
break  out  in  a  letter  forthwith.  I  will,  through  you,  now  pro 
mise  a  letter  to  old  Lem.  and  Jose  Barnes. 

"  Yours  till  death, 

•'S.WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  To  Mr.  M.  JENISON." 

"ALBANY,  llth  March,  1824. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR. — Yesterday  the  Senate  again  committed  one 
of  those  aristocratical  acts  which  have  so  often  characterized  that 
body.  The  electoral  law  was  again  brought  up  on  Monday  morn 
ing  and  occupied  that  House  until  three  o'clock  on  Wednesday, 


LIFK  AM>   TIMKU  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  ()f> 

when  it  was  postponed  until  the  first  Monday  of  November  next. 
The  first  proposition  was  offered  by  me,  that  the  electors  should 
be  chosen  by  general  ticket  and  by  a  majority  of  votes,  recurring 
to  the  Legislature  in  case  no  choice  was  made.  This  was  debated 
until  three  o'clock  Monday  afternoon,  and  voted  down  27  to  4. 
On  Tuesday  morning  another  proposition  to  elect  by  districts 
was  made,  and  occupied  all  that  day  and  the  next  day  till  noon, 
when  it  was  voted  down  21  to  10.  Then  another  proposition  to 
elect  by  general  ticket  and  plurality  of  votes  was  made,  and 
after  much  debate  was  also  voted  down  18  to  13.  These  being  all 
the  modes  that  could  possibly  be  suggested,  and  all  lost  by  con 
siderable  majorities,  a  motion  was  made  to  postpone  the  subject 
to  the  first  Monday  of  November  next,  which  was  carried  17  to 
14.  I  am  aware  this  result  will  make  much  noise,  and  I  presume 
will  excite  much  hard  feeling  against  me;  but  I  have  done  all  in 
my  power  to  procure  what  I  believed  would  be  a  safe  law,  and  not 
being  able  to  effect  it,  I  voted  to  postpone  the  subject.  The 
truth  is,  Mr.  Clinton  and  his  friends  are  the  most  clamorous  here 
for  the  alteration  of  the  law,  and  have  no  doubt,  if  the  law  had 
been  ^o  altered  as  to  let  a  plurality  elect,  he  would  now  have 
been  nominated  as  the  federal  candidate  for  president,  and  vio 
lently  supported  in  this  State  by  all  his  old  political  friends.  1 
have  acted  on  this  subject  as  I  believed  was  for  the  best  interests 
of  the  democratic,  party  of  this  State,  and  by  that  party  it  will 
be  determined  whether  I  have  acted  rightly,  and  by  that  deter 
mination  I  am  willing  to  be  judged.  I  want  to  hear  from  your 
town  meeting,  and  expected  a  letter  to-day.  I  hope  the  feeling 
with  which  you  wrote  is  allayed  by  a  successful  issue  of  that 
meeting,  but  I  hope  with  fear.  I  shall  be  with  you,  I  think,  ia 
a  month.  Remember  me  to  all  my  friends,  and  when  you  hear 
the  political  curses  which  will  probably  fall  upon  me,  laugh,  and 
say  they  are  the  pay  I  deserve  for  putting  myself  out  of  my 
business.  Look  at  The  Argus  and  you  will  see  the  report  of  the 

proceedings. 

"  In  great  haste, 

"S.  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  Mr.  MINET  JKNISON." 


66  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

FAILURE  OF  THE  ATTEMPT  TO  CENSURE  MR.  WRIGHT  FOR 
NOT  OPPOSING  MR.  CRAWFORD. 

A  feeble  attempt  was  made  to  censure  Mr.  WEIGHT  for 
not  opposing  Mr.  Crawford.  Those  making  it  soon  saw 
that  persisting  in  it  would  damage  themselves.  The  facts, 
upon  which,  alone,  it  could  be  based  and  proved,  neces 
sarily  showed  that  the  course  of  those  differing  with  him 
was  dictated,  not  by  a  controlling  desire  to  give  the 
people  the  choice  of  the  electors,  but  their  acts  were 
designed  to  destroy  the  prospects  of  Mr.  Crawford  and 
promote  those  of  his  rivals.  The  attempted  censure  was 
not  long  persisted  in.  Although  it  had  been  announced 
at  the  time  of  his  nomination,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Judson 
elsewhere,  that  Mr.  Crawford  was  not  his  favorite  candi 
date,  he  had  stated  that  it  did  not  become  him  to  "  commit 
himself  by  any  pledges  resulting  from  his  own  individual 
partialities  or  prejudices  ;"  "  but  should  he  ever  be  called 
upon  to  act  in  a  public  capacity,  he  would  be  governed 
exclusively  by  a  regard  to  the  public  interests  and  the 
support  of  republican  principles."  Nothing  could  be 
more  frank  or  less  selfish.  From  these  avowals  it  is  quite 
clear  that  he  intended  not  to  act  exclusively  upon  his 
personal  opinions  and  wishes,  but  to  harmonize  and  act 
with  his  political  friends  in  the  support  of  democratic 
principles.  His  accusers  acted  upon  a  similar  principle. 
They  did  so  with  reference  to  sustaining  their  respective 
political  friends,  and  to  support  the  principles  which 
actuated  them.  In  one  thing  they  did  not  conform  to 
the  principle  which  controlled  the  action  of  Mr.  WEIGHT. 
He  was  ready,  and  did  sacrifice  his  personal  preferences 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  MIL  AX  WRKIHT.  67 

and  conformed  to  the  usages  of  the  democratic  party. 
This  they  refused  to  do,  and  each  struggled  to  secure  the 
election  of  him  who  had  won  their  partialities.  This 
principle  was  the  controlling  one  governing  their  action 
throughout  the  entire  controversy.  They  spurned  the 
usages  of  the  democratic  party,  which,  from  its  organiza 
tion  during  John  Adams'  administration,  and  which 
brought  Jefferson  and  his  successors  into  power,  and, 
down  to  1824,  had  commanded  the  respect  of  all  support 
ing  that  party.  They  refused  to  be  bound  by  them, 
while  each  presidential  aspirant  challenged  all  his  com 
petitors,  and  entered  the  field  of  combat  alone  on  his  own 
account,  except  when  a  common  purpose  occasioned  a 
union  and  concert  of  action  to  crush  a  dreaded  rival,  as 
in  the  Legislature  of  New  York.  The  democratic  usages 
which  overthrew  John  Adams,  sustained  Jefferson  and 
Madison  in  their  conflicts  with  the  federal  party,  and 
which  enabled  them  to  strangle  secession  and  disunion  in 
New  England,  were  denounced  as  incipient  treason, 
organized  and  combined  to  overthrow  or  crush  our  liber 
ties.  The  old-fashioned  efforts  made  to  concentrate, 
combine  and  secure  the  triumph  of  the  democratic  party 
were  denounced  and  stigmatized  as  the  invasions  of 
"King  Caucus."  Great  valor  was  displayed  in  fighting 
this  imaginary  king,  and  great  guns  and  little  guns  united 
in  firing  hard  words  at  him  and  his  friends.  The  ' '  king ' ' 
was  killed  and  few  mourners  attended  his  funeral,  but  a 
numerous-headed,  irresponsible  successor  has  so  con 
ducted  affairs,  that  very  many  of  those  who  charged  and 
aimed  the  fatal  guns  which  brought  him  to  the  dust,  have 
loudly  repented  their  want  of  appreciation  of  his  useful 
and  effective  qualities.  They  are  equally  anxious  to 
dethrone  his  successor  for  conceded  faults  and  question 
able  action. 


68  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"ALBANY,  2d April,  1824. 

"My  DEAR  SIR. — I  can  write  you  but  one  word.  Your  letter 
has  just  come  to  hand,  and  the  friendship  you  manifest  gives  me 
trouble.  Not  because  I  do  not  value  it,  but  because  the  noise 
that  is  made  in  your  neighborhood  on  my  account  gives  you 
more  trouble  than  it  does  me.  I  have  not  time  to  explain  on 
the  subject  of  the  electoral  law.  Suffice  it  to  say,  I  am  satis 
fied  with  my  course,  and  can  look  any  man  in  the  face  who 
blames  me,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  facts,  and  tell  him  he  is 
not  honest.  That  his  blame  is  cast  where  his  conscience  tells  him 
it  is  not  deserved,  and  that  the  clamor  he  creates  is  selfish,  corrupt 
and  wicked  in  its  intent.  I  am  sick  of  politics.  Not  because  I 
have  been  abused  by  those  whose  abuse  alone  could  compliment 
me,  but  because  I  have  found  no  honesty  in  any  party  that  pleases 
me.  Yet  I  must  tell  you  I  have  found  some  ten  or  twelve  honest 
men  who  are  democrats  to  the  bone,  but  who  will  not  sell  their 
birthright,  and  we  have  quarreled  with  all  parties  and  now 
stand  firm  and  undaunted  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  ready  to  sink,  if 
fortune  so  determines,  but  not  to  say  we  have  forfeited  our  faith 
and  conscience  to  serve  this  man  or  that.  My  time  is  gone. 
Tell  the  St.  Lawrence  '  People '  that  I  am  ready,  when  the 
democracy  of  the  county  or  the  4th  Senate  district  ask  it,  to  lay 
my  honors  at  their  feet  and  thank  them  for  the  use,  and  retire 
with  all  the  content  I  entered  on  their  business.  This  is  truth, 
and  when  I  get  home  I  will  do  it,  under  that  condition,  with 
more  joy  than  I  shall  again  return  to  this  city.  But  enough,  I 
shall  see  you  by  the  20th,  and  in  the  meantime 

"  I  remain  your  friend,  &c., 

"S.  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"Mr.  MINET  JENISON." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  69 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CONGRESSIONAL    CAUCUS    IN    1824. 

For  a  long  series  of  years,  the  democratic  members  of 
Congress,  at  the  session  before  a  presidential  election,  had 
held  a  caucus  to  nominate  candidates  to  be  supported  by 
the  party.  At  these  gatherings,  the  merits  and  prospects 
of  presidential  aspirants  were  publicly  considered  and 
more  or  less  discussed,  and  the  concentrated  action  given 
to  the  world.  This  mode  of  selecting  and  presenting 
candidates  had  been  common  in  State  Legislatures,  both 
with  reference  to  presidential  candidates,  and  those  to  be 
supported  for  State  offices,  affecting  a  whole  State. 
Tennessee  and  Pennsylvania  had  thus  presented  the  name 
of  General  Jackson.  The  opponents  of  Mr.  Crawford,  in 
Congress,  refused  to  go  into  caucus  and  submit  their 
claims  to  its  determination.  Each  candidate  feared  that 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  might  form  a  combination 
with  those  of  some  other  candidate  and  thus  strengthen 
him  and  thereby  weaken  himself.  If  there  should  be  no 
caucus  no  such  purpose  could  be  accomplished.  The 
refusal  to  go  into  caucus,  according  to  the  usages  of  the 
party,  was  considered  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  as 
an  act  of  bad  faith.  They,  however,  vainly  hoped  that 
refractory  members  enough  would  attend  to  make  a 
majority  if  a  meeting  should  be  called.  A  notice  was 
issued,  calling  one  at  the  Capitol  on  the  14th  of  February, 
1824.  There  were  then  262  Senators  and  Members  in 
Congress.  Of  these,  sixty-six  attended  the  meeting. 
Benjamin  Ruggles,  a  Senator  from  Ohio,  was  chairman, 
and  Ela  Collins,  of  New  York,  secretary.  William  H. 
Crawford  was  unanimously  nominated  for  President  and 


70  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Albert  Gallatin  for  Vice-President,  Mr.  WEIGHT  felt 
bound  by  this  nomination,  thus  made  in  conformity  with 
the  usages  of  the  democratic  party.  He  believed  it  his 
duty  to  conform  to  the  action  of  his  political  friends, 
taken  in  the  ordinary  way.  Whatever  his  personal  pre 
ferences  might  be,  he  deemed  it  right  to  surrender  and 
bury  them,  and  sustain  the  nomination  of  his  party, 
whether  wisely  or  unwisely  made.  He  did  not  attempt 
to  set  up  his  individual  opinion  against  those  of  his 
friends,  who,  in  the  usual  way,  had  presented  candidates 
and  had  invited  the  democratic  party  to  support  them. 
From  this  time  he  was  considered  a  supporter  of  Mr. 
Crawford,  and  went  with  the  friends  of  that  gentleman 
when  their  measures  did  not  conflict  with  the  views  he 
had  so  often  and  frankly  avowed  on  the  electoral  law. 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  insisted  that  the  friends 
of  his  competitors  had  manifested  great  unfairness,  in 
refusing  to  conform  to  the  usages  of  the  democratic  party 
to  which  they  claimed  to  belong,  by  declining  to  go  into 
caucus  and  submit  the  pretensions  of  all  the  candidates 
to  the  friends  of  all,  and  to  allow  them  to  select  a  com 
mon  standard  bearer  for  the  whole  party.  A  candidate 
thus  selected  would  be  sure  to  be  elected,  as  the  old  fed 
eral  party  had  lost  its  organization  and  had  been  dis 
banded.  The  Crawford  men  claimed  that  they  were 
acting  strictly  within  the  recognized  usages  of  the  demo 
cratic  party,  and  that  their  opponents  were  setting  them 
at  deiiance,  breaking  up  its  organization  and  endangering 
its  ascendency.  They  insisted  that  those  who  would  not 
adhere  to  its  usages  were  not,  at  heart,  true  democrats, 
and  that  those  who  sought  to  deprive,  by  legislation,  a 
democratic  candidate  of  the  advantages  which  existing 
laws  gave  him,  and  to  confer  them  upon  those  who  refused 
to  be  bound  by  the  time-honored  usages  of  the  party,  had 
no  claims  upon  them  for  assistance.  They  said  that  those 
who  thus  set  the  usages  of  the  party  at  defiance  had  no 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  71 

claims  upon  them  for  help  or  forbearance,  and  that,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  they  were  leagued  with  and  were 
acting  in  subserviency  with  the  old  federalists.  The  times 
were  thus  made  vocal  with  crimination  and  recrimination. 
During  all  this  time  the  people's  party,  as  they  called 
themselves  in  New  York,  was  increasing  in  numbers, 
without  openly  avowing  any  preference  for  any  one  of 
the  presidential  aspirants,  but  were  open  in  their  hostility 
to  Mr.  Crawford,  although  they  professed  to  be,  in  fact, 
democrats  in  principle.  They  insisted  that  their  contro 
versy  was  exclusively  concerning  choosing  electors.  The 
sequel  will  show  otherwise,  or  that  their  purposes  were 
changed,  as  those  of  political  men  sometimes  are. 


LIFE  AND  TIMKS  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

REMOVAL  OF  DE  WITT  CLINTON  AS  CANAL  COMMISSIONER. 

Prior  to  this  removal,  the  two  political  parties  in  the 
State  were  respectively  christened,  by  their  adversaries, 
as  "Bucktails"  and  "Clintonians,"  the  former  from  a 
badge  worn  by  the  members  of  the  Tammany  Society  in 
their  caps,  and  the  latter  for  their  support  of  Mr.  Clinton. 
Matters  connected  with  the  formation  of  the  new  Consti 
tution,  in  1821,  had  lowered  the  ascendency  of  Mr.  Clin 
ton's  star,  and  resulted  in  the  election  of  Governor  Yates, 
in  1822,  without  opposition.  But  he  still  had  numerous 
and  powerful  friends,  who  stood  ready  to  serve  him. 
Most  of  these  hoped  that  a  law  choosing  electors  by 
general  ticket  and  plurality  would  be  passed,  under 
which  he  might,  amid  the  numerous  candidates,  secure 
a  plurality  of  votes.  Although  these  would  not  elect 
him,  they  would  indicate  his  standing  and  influence  in 
the  State,  and  might  lead  to  important  and  significant 
consequences.  His  friends  were  bitterly  opposed  to 
Mr.  Crawford,  and  acted  in  concert  with  those  of  his 
competitors.  Mr.  Crawford's  friends  charged  them  with 
forming  a  coalition  with  the  people's  party  to  defeat 
him.  They  sought  to  make  them  openly  support  Mr. 
Clinton,  or  to  cause  a  breach  between  them  and  his 
friends.  In  the  former  event  it  was  expected  to  induce 
those  Bucktails  who  were  opposing  Mr.  Crawford  to 
leave  the  people's  party  and  join  the  friends  of  the  latter, 
which  would  materially  improve  his  prospects.  If  it 
produced  a  division  between  the  Clintonians  and  people's 
party,  the  same  object  would  be  accomplished.  The 
plan  was  plausible,  being  based  upon  the  principle  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  Wiuaur.  73 

divide  and  conquer.  The  division  might  be  so  extensive 
as  to  fully  accomplish  the  desired  result.  It  might  be 
the  means  of  defeating  the  enemies  of  Mr.  Crawford,  and 
giving  him  the  thirty-six  electoral  votes  of  the  State. 
The  means  of  accomplishing  this  purpose  was  to  remove 
Mr.  Clinton  from  the  office  of  Canal  Commissioner,  on 
political  grounds,  as  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  been  removed 
from  the  office  of  Attorney -General,  and  as  numerous 
other  officers,  high  and  low,  had  been  removed  by  Mr. 
Clinton  and  his  friends.  The  principle  of  action  was 
not  new,  but  had  been  long  practiced  upon  in  both  the 
State  and  Federal  governments.  It  has  since  been,  and 
now  is,  practiced  daily  by  both.  On  the  last  day  of  the 
session,  a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  Senate,  by  Mr. 
Bowman,  to  remove  Mr.  Clinton  from  the  office  of  Canal 
Commissioner.  The  vote  was  immediately  taken,  with 
out  debate,  and  the  question  carried  by  the  following 
vote : 

Ayes — Bowman,  Bowne,  Bronson,  Burt,  Dudley,  Earll,  Green, 
Greenly,  Haight,  Keyes,  Livingston,  Malloiy,  McCall,  Redfield, 
Stranahan,  Thorn,  Ward,  Wheeler,  Woostcr,  WRIGHT — 20. 

Nays — Cramer,  Mclntyre,  Morgan — 3. 

In  the  Assembly  it  was  concurred  in  by  a  vote  of  sixty  - 
four  to  thirty- four, — Messrs.  Wheaton,  Tallmadge  and 
others  of  the  people's  party  voting  in  the  affirmative. 

Notwithstanding  the  promising  appearances  of  this 
movement,  it  failed  to  accomplish  the  purpose  designed, 
to  any  considerable  extent.  It  introduced  a  new 
element  into  the  political  complications  in  the  State, 
which  had  been  an  enigma  which  few  understood,  and 
especially  those  residing  at  a  distance.  Out  of  this  a 
new  and  popular  side-issue  was  adroitly  framed,  which 
was  managed  with  dexterity  and  skill.  On  the  trial  it 
was  made  to  swallow  up  all  others  presented  by  Mr. 
Crawford's  friends,  however  clear  they  might  be  in  his 


74  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

favor.  While  it  served  to  kill  off  some  of  the  people's 
party  who  voted  for  the  resolution,  it  enabled  Mr. 
Clinton's  friends  to  raise  the  cry  of  persecution.  They 
insisted  that  he  was  a  martyr,  struck  down  by  political 
bludgeons  in  the  hands  of  wicked  men.  They  claimed  that 
he  had  been  fiendishly  pursued,  when  he  was  gratuitously 
serving  the  State  in  the  completion  of  the  great  works  of 
internal  improvement,  of  which  his  friends  insisted  he 
was  the  father.  He  was  nominated  and  elected  Governor 
by  an  immense  majority,  thus  proving  that  his  friends 
and  the  people' s  party  had  coalesced,  as  the  friends  of 
Mr.  Crawford  had  charged. 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Clinton  denounced  Mr.  WEIGHT  for 
voting  for  his  removal,  and  declared  that  it  could  neither 
be  justified  nor  palliated.  They  seemed  to  forget  that  it 
was  made  distinctly  upon  political  grounds,  and  upon  a 
principle  that  Mr.  Clinton  had  often  acted  upon,  and 
which  they  had  justified.  This  principle  is  as  old  and 
wide-spread  as  political  parties.  Abraham  Yan  Vechten 
and  Thomas  Addis  Emmett,  as  well  as  Martin  Van  Buren, 
had  been  removed  from  the  office  of  Attorney- General. 
Eutgers  Van  Rensselaer  and  John  Van  Ness  Yates  had 
been  displaced  as  Secretaries  of  State.  A  host  of  others 
had  been  removed  in  the  same  way.  No  party  has  ever 
existed,  in  this  country,  which  has  not  displaced  adver 
saries  and  appointed  friends.  Those  who  removed  Mr. 
Clinton  believed  that  he  was  their  political  adversary. 
The  event  proved  that  such  belief  was  well  founded.  He 
harmonized  with  their  enemies,  and  became  their  stan 
dard  bearer.  It  was  well  known  that  the  removal  was 
not  made  at  all  on  personal  grounds.  No  imputations 
were  made  upon  him  personally,  and  the  removal  did  not 
imply  any.  It  was  evidence  of  but  one  thing  — that,  as 
political  men,  those  who  removed  him  deemed  him  a 
political  enemy,  whom  they  ought  to  remove  purely  upon 
political  grounds,  which  would  do  him  no  injury  as  a 


LTFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  75 

citizen.  It  was  doing  by  him  as  he  had  done  by  others, 
and  as  he  would  do  by  them  if  he  had  the  power.  His 
friends  claimed  that  his  public  services  had  been  so  great 
that  he  should  be  exempt  from  the  application  which 
applied  to  other  party  men,  which  his  adversaries  denied. 
T/ey  claimed  that  among  political  men  the  same  rule 
should  apply  to  all,  and  that  his  personal  merit,  however 
great,  should  not  create  an  exception  in  his  favor.  They 
affirmed  that  they  were  not  bound  to  search  out  the  evi 
dence  of  an  officer's  services  and  determine  the  extent  of 
services  which  should  create  the  exception,  and  that  this 
had  never  been  done  by  any  party,  but  that  the  issue  was 
not  personal,  but  merely  political,  and  had  ever  been  so 
in  such  cases.  Such  were  the  grounds  upon  which  Mr. 
WRIGHT  acted,  and  justified  what  he  did.  He  went  with 
his  political  friends,  whose  wisdom,  experience  and 
patriotism  he  respected,  although  the  result  proved  that 
they  had  not  accurately  calculated  the  consequence  of 
their  acts,  at  least  to  a  great  extent.  That  he  acted  from 
honest  motives,  with  the  intention  of  promoting  the  suc 
cess  of  democratic  principles,  is  now  almost  universally 
admitted.  No  selfish  motive  entered  into  the  act,  as  is 
clear  from  the  fact  that  in  no  way  could  he  derive  any 
personal  advantage  from  it. 

Mr.  Hammond,  in  his  History,  says  :  "In  the  Assem 
bly,  as  well  as  in  the  Senate,  nearly  all  the  members 
belonging  to  the  people' s  party,  who  were  supporters  of 
Mr.  Adams,  voted  for  the  resolution,  while  some  of  the 
Crawford  men  voted  against  it."  The  motives  of  the 
Adams  men  in  this  vote  are  not  disclosed.  It  is  probable 
that  the  dissenting  Crawford  men  deemed  the  measure 
unwise  and  impolitic. 

On  returning  home,  Mr.  WRIGHT  found  many  of  those 
who  promoted  his  election  dissatisfied.  But  nearly  all 
the  democracy  approved  his  acts.  In  time  the  entire  demo 
cratic  party  and  many  others  gave  him  their  confidence 


76  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  became  his  admirers  and  supporters.  Even  many  of 
the  leaders  and  most  ardent  of  the  people' s  party  became 
his  friends,  and  defended  and  justified  his  course  upon 
the  grounds  above  suggested.  His  vote  for  Governor  is 
confirmatory  evidence  of  the  correctness  of  these  con 
clusions.  His  honor,  and  the  uprightness  of  his  inten 
tions,  his  frankness  and  sincerity,  were  then  proverbial. 
On  these  subjects  he  was  then,  as  his  memory  to  this  day 
is,  cherished  and  made  a  common  standard  of  comparison. 
To  say  of  a  man  that  he  is  "  as  honest,  upright,  frank 
and  sincere  as  SILAS  WRIGHT,"  is  deemed  the  strongest 
affirmation  that  can  be  made  in  his  favor. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  77 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

LEGISLATIVE    CAUCUS,  NOMINATION  FOR   GOVERNOR   AND 
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. 

On  the  3d  of  April,  1824,  a  legislative  caucus  was  held 
to  nominate  candidates  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor.  Gov.  Yates  and  Col.  Samuel  Young  were 
the  leading  candidates.  Mr.  WRIGHT  took  ground  in 
favor  of  the  renomination  of  Gov.  Yates.  He  and 
Mr.  Flagg  insisted  that  if  he  had  erred,  it  was  through 
the  advice  of  the  party  to  which  he  belonged,  and  that 
he  ought  not  to  be  sacrificed  for  acting  with  his  party. 
On  the  other  hand,  Col.  Young  was  a  favorite  of  the 
people's  party,  and  they  had  concerted  measures  for  his 
nomination,  and  for  a  new  paper  in  Albany  to  support 
him.  Caucuses  were  held  on  the  subject,  at  which  Messrs. 
Cramer,  Wheaton  and  Monell  attended.  At  one  of  these, 
it  was  finally  resolved  to  call  a  State  convention  of  dele 
gates  to  nominate  him.  But  this,  though  suspected,  was 
not  known  at  the  time  of  this  legislative  caucus,  and  Col. 
Young  was  nominated  by  a  small  majority.  The  chagrin 
of  Gov.  Yates  at  his  defeat  was  exceedingly  great,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  induced  him  to  take  the  course  he  sub 
sequently  pursued  during  the  residue  of  his  official  term. 

The  legislative  caucus  of  the  people's  party  resulted 
in  calling  a  State  convention  of  delegates,  on  the  21st  of 
September,  at  Utica,  to  make  nominations  for  Governor 
and  Lieutenant- Governor. 

Gov.  Yates  was  induced  to  issue  a  proclamation  on  the 
second  of  June,  convening  the  Legislature  on  the  second 
of  August,  under  this  clause  in  the  State  Constitution, 
"The  Governor  shall  have  power  to  convene  the  Legisla- 


78  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ture  on  extraordinary  occasions."  He  stated,  in  his 
proclamation,  that  Congress  had  made  no  provision  for 
changing  the  mode  of  selecting  the  electors,  and  added 
that  "the  people  were  justly  alarmed  with  the  apprehen 
sion  that  their  undoubted  right  of  choosing  the  electors 
of  President  and  Vice-President  would  be  withheld  from 
them."  It  was  charged,  and  believed  at  the  time,  that 
the  Governor  took  this  extraordinary  step  with  the  hope 
of  securing  a  nomination  from  the  people's  convention, 
thereafter  to  be  held.  If  this  was  so,  he  was  doomed  to 
a  second  disappointment  on  the  subject  of  his  nomination. 
He  had  no  chance  whatever  in  that  convention.  This 
calling  the  Legislature  together,  under  the  circumstances, 
lost  him  the  confidence  of  those  who  had,  in  the  legisla 
tive  caucus,  manfully  sustained  him.  These  things  ended 
his  official  life. 

When  the  Legislature  convened,  on  the  second  of 
August,  they  resolved  that  nothing  had  occurred  since 
the  previous  adjournment  authorizing  the  Governor  to 
call  an  extra  session,  and  adjourned  to  meet  according 
to  law.  Mr.  WRIGHT  voted  for  these  resolutions,  upon 
the  ground  that,  the  Legislature  having  just  considered 
and  acted  upon  the  only  question  presented  by  the 
Governor  in  his  proclamation  and  message,  that  subject 
could  not  possibly,  so  soon  thereafter,  become  an  "  extra 
ordinary  occasion,"  within  the  meaning  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  so  as  to  authorize  convening  the  two  Houses.  This 
view  was  then  and  ever  since  has  been  deemed  the 
true  one.  This  proclamation,  session  and  adjournment 
served  only  to  increase  the  agitation,  and  inspire  active 
partisans  with  increased  zeal  and  greater  activity.  The 
war  of  words  became  intensely  absorbing  and  excessively 
bitter.  The  charges  of  violated  pledges  and  rights  with 
held  from  the  people  soon  gave  place  to  charges  of  bargain 
and  corruption  in  the  election  of  President  by  the  House 
of  Representatives,  the  accusations  coming  freely,  and 


LlFK    AND    TlMKS    OF  SfLAH    \YlUUHT.  79 

mainly  from  the  other  side  ;  the  accused,  in  turn,  becom 
ing  the  accusers. 

At  the  convention  of  the  people's  party,  Mr.  Tallmadge, 
who  had  expected  the  nomination  for  Governor,  was 
defeated,  and  Mr.  Clinton  nominated  by  a  very  large 
majority.  It  is  not  remembered  that  Mr.  Clinton  openly 
avowed  his  preference  for  either  presidential  candidate, 
although  he  was  then  really  and  soon  afterwards  was 
known  as  a  supporter  of  Gen.  Jackson.  Col.  Young,  in 
a  published  letter,  declared  that  Mr.  Clay  was  his  first 
choice,  and,  in  substance,  that  he  disapproved  of  the 
course  of  those  who  were  charged  as  hostile  to  a  change 
of  the  electoral  law  ;  which  gave  great  offense  to  many, 
and  to  some  who  helped  nominate  him,  and  lost  him  the 
active  support  of  many  Crawford  men. 

Mr.  Clinton  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  16,906  votes. 
Mr.  WEIGHT  supported  Col.  Young,  in  good  faith,  as  the 
democratic  candidate.  He  believed,  however,  that  he 
had,  by  his  letters  and  conversation  concerning  the  elec 
toral  law  and  the  candidates  for  the  presidency,  damaged 
his  support,  if  he  did  not  thereby  occasion  his  own  defeat. 
Mr.  WRIGHT,  and  many  others,  doubtless,  felt  the  sting 
of  his  shrinking  from  the  responsibility  of  the  course  of 
many  who  participated  in  his  nomination.  They  also 
thought  that,  having  been  nominated  by  a  State  legisla 
tive  caucus,  he  ought,  in  good  faith,  to  have  supported 
the  candidate  selected  by  a  national  legislative  caucus, 
and  that  deserting  it  and  declaring  for  Mr.  Clay  was  an 
act  of  bad  faith  to  the  democratic  party.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
ever  attributed  these  acts  of  Col.  Young  to  his  conforming 
to  the  advice  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Cramer,  instead  of  follow 
ing  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment,  which  was  honest 
and  usually  very  sound. 


80  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

APPOINTING    ELECTORS    FOR    PRESIDENT    AND    VICE- 
PRESIDENT. 

On  the  2d  of  November,  1824,  the  Legislature  convened, 
according  to  law,  to  choose  presidential  electors.  In  the 
Senate,  the  Clay  and  Adams  tickets  each  received  seven 
votes,  and  the  Crawford  ticket  seventeen.  In  the  House, 
the  Clay  ticket  received  thirty-two  votes,  the  Crawford 
ticket  forty- three,  and  the  Adams  ticket  fifty.  The  Clay 
and  Adams  men  agreed  upon  a  compromise,  and  electors 
were  nominated  accordingly ;  but  upon  joint  ballot  of 
the  two  Houses,  owinp;  to  blank  votes,  only  thirty-two  of 
them  were  elected.  Upon  a  second  ballot,  four  Crawford 
men  were  chosen.  It  was  alleged  that  these  four^were 
elected  by  the  aid  of  Adams  men.  Their  election  caused 
Mr.  Crawford  to  be  one  of  the  three  highest  from  whom 
the  House  of  Representatives  had  to  choose,  and  pre 
vented  Mr.  Clay  being  one  of  the  three.  It  was  then  well 
understood  that  the  election  would  go  into  the  House, 
where  Mr.  Clay  presided  as  Speaker,  and  was  deemed 
all-powerful.  Hence  the  belief  that  the  Adams  men,  by 
design,  deprived  Mr.  Clay  of  the  means  of  becoming  a 
competitor  in  the  House.  No  other  explanation  has  been 
given. 

Mr.  WEIGHT  voted  for  the  Crawford  electors.  Aside 
from  considering  himself  bound  by  his  nomination  by 
the  congressional  caucus,  the  course  of  events  subse 
quently  to  his  entering  the  Senate  had  induced  him  to 
distrust  all  the  other  candidates,  except  Gen.  Jackson, 
who  had  no  organized  party  in  the  State,  or  show  of 
strength  in  the  Legislature,— Mr.  Wheeler,  of  the  Assem- 


LIFE  AND  TIM  us  OF  SILAS  \\'I;H;HT.  81 

bly,  being  his  only  avowed  supporter  in  it.  When  the 
electors  cast  their  votes  for  President,  Mr.  Pierre  A.  Bar 
ker,  who  was  chosen  as  an  Adams  man,  cast  his  for  the 
General.  Twenty-six  votes  were  cast  for  Mr.  Adams  and 
four  for  Mr.  Clay.  For  Vice-President,  Mr.  Calhouri 
received  twenty-nine,  and  Nathan  Sanford  seven.  Thus 
ended  the  great  contest  in  New  York. 
6 


82  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

CHANGING    THE    ELECTORAL    LAW. 

At  the  November  session  of  the  Legislature  a  law  was 
passed  concerning  choosing  electors,  submitting  to  the 
people  the  question  as  to  how  the  choice  should  be  made. 
It  provided  for  ballot-boxes  at  the  next  general  election, 
in  which  the  voter  might  deposit  a  ballot  upon  which  the 
mode  of  his  choice  should  be  inscribed.  It  might  be  for 
chosing  "by  districts,"  "general  ticket  and  plurality," 
or  "general  ticket  and  majority." 

Without  waiting  for  the  advice  of  the  people,  on  the 
15th  of  March,  1825,  the  new  Legislature  passed  an  act 
for  electing,  by  ' '  districts, ' '  as  many  electors  as  the  State 
might  be  entitled  to  members  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  and  these,  when  assembled  to  vote  for  President 
and  Vice-President,  to  choose  two  electors  to  correspond 
with  the  two  Senators  to  which  the  State  was  entitled, 
and  to  fill  any  vacancies  which  might  then  exist.  This 
act  was  not  supported  by  Mr.  WRIGHT.  Under  this  law 
the  people  elected,  in  1828,  thirty-four  Presidential 
electors,  eighteen  in  favor  of  Gen.  Jackson,  and  six 
teen  for  Mr.  Adams.  Thus,  the  people  of  the  whole 
State  gave  but  two  effective  votes.  The  eighteen  Jackson 
electors  chose  two  to  represent  the  senatorial  vote,  so  that 
the  vote  of  the  State  was  twenty  for  Gen.  Jackson  and 
sixteen  for  Mr.  Adams.  In  effect,  New  York  was 
dwarfed  down  to  the  size  of  Rhode  Island,  and  less  than 
New  Jersey.  Results  like  this  had  been  anticipated  by 
Mr.  WEIGHT,  and  urged  as  a  reason  why  the  district 
system  should  not  be  adopted.  The  people  of  the  State 
thereupon  took  the  same  view.  They  felt  humiliated  to 


LIFE  AND    TJ  AIL'S    OF  Ml  LAS    W  RKi  HT.  8& 

see  the  power  of  the  State  thus  thrown  away  and  her 
importance  in  a  presidential  election  reduced  to  substan 
tially  nothing.  Those  who  had  felt  proud  of  New  York 
and  gloried  in  her  power  and  influence  in  national  elec 
tions,  at  once  abandoned  the  district  system,  and  came 
out  in  favor  of  a  general  ticket  and  plurality.  On  the 
15th  of  April,  1829,  the  Legislature  passed  a  law  repeal 
ing  the  district  system,  and  adopting  that  of  a  general 
ticket  for  the  whole  State,  a  plurality  making  a  choice, 
which  law  still  exists.  Although  still  preferring  the 
majority  system,  Mr.  WEIGHT,  not  then  in  the  Senate, 
yielded  his  private  opinion  and  concurred  with  his  friends 
and  the  public  generally,  in  this  action  of  the  Legislature. 

ME.  WEIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"WEYBEIDGE,  VT.,  Dec.  9,  1824. 

"  MY  DEAK  SIE.  — The  traveling  is  so  bad  and  the  time  to  the 
annual  session  so  short,  that  I  have  given  up  the  expectation  of 
returning  home  this  vacation  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the 
receipt  I  have  from  Mrs.  Smith  Willard  : 

'"Received,  Albany  November  27,  1824,  of  S.  WEIGHT,  Jr., 
fifty-six  dollars  fifty  cents,  to  be  applied  on  the  account  of  Joseph 
Ames,  and  Ames,  Walker  &  Adams. 

"  (Signed)  « SMITH  WILLARD.' 

"  This  was  the  sum  I  found  on  my  memorandum,  to  be  paid  on 
the  l()th  of  December.  We  adjourned.  Soon  after  I  received  my 
pay,  and  immediately  paid  the  money.  It  was  more  than  enough 
to  balance  the  account  of  Ames,  individually,  and  the  residue 
was  applied  on  the  account  of  the  old  firm  of  Ames,  Walker  & 
Adams.  Mr.  Ames  will  therefore  pay  to  Mr.  Hasbrouck,  on  my 
land  contract,  $56.50,  as  of  the  27th  November,  and  we  shall  be 
even.  The  first  payment  on  the  contract  falls  due  on  the  first 
January  next,  and  I  wish  this  payment  made  by  that  time.  I  have 
nothing  new  to  write.  Our  calculations  as  to  the  election  were 
not  more  disappointed  than  those  of  wiser  men  and  more  inte 
rested  politicians.  The  State  has  taken  a  kind  of  political  somer- 


84  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

set,  which  I  think  will  be  thrown  back  next  year.  I  have  nothing 
new  to  write,  but  what  the  newspapers  of  the  day  have  taken  to 
you.  Our  last  session  has  been  interspersed  with  storms  and  sun 
shine  like  the  others.  I  send  you  a  copy  of  our  electoral  [law], 
together  with  the  report  of  the  committee  on  that  subject,  of 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  be  a  member. 

"  In  confidence  I  inform  you  that  my  friend  Earll,  the  Onondaga 
Chief,  laid  the  plan  and  drew  the  report,  etc.  The  opposition 
cu,-se  the  plan  and  call  it  ours  ;  say  we  had  better  belong  to 
another  seventeen,  etc.,  etc.  We  think  the  plan  rather  cunning, 
as  it  is  sound  in  principle,  peoplish  in  its  character,  and  furnishes 
a  safe  retreat  for  the  seventeen.  All  our  friends  must  take  at  once 
the  district  ground,  as  that  is  the  democratic  ground  beyond  all 
question.  You  will  think  this  is  contrary  to  my  ground  of  last 
winter.  It  is,  but  it  is  more  democratic,  and  the  keeping  of  the 
vote  of  the  State  together  anyway,  when  dishonest  men  try  to 
divide  it,  is  impracticable.  On  the  district  ground  we  shall,  at 
the  ballot-boxes,  whip  the  Clintonians,  as  they  will  take  the 
general  ticket  plurality  ground.  I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  Chemi 
cal  Bank  evidence.  The  report  of  the  committee,  you  have  in 
The  Argus.  Read  them  together,  and  let  them  circulate.  They 
will  go  to  prove  the  characters  of  some  men  what  I  have  declared 
them  to  be.  After  this  document  has  been  read  by  our  friends 
in  Canton,  I  wish  you  to  send  it  to  Allen  for  his  reading,  but  get 
it  back  and  keep  it  safe.  Give  my  respects  to  all,  particularly  to 
Messrs.  Sackrider  &  Barnes,  and  tell  them  to  read  this  treatise 
on  chemistry.  Stoors  will  also  read  it,  I  think. 

"  In  haste,  your  friend, 

"S.  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"Mr.  MINET  JENISON." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  85 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

SUCCESSOR     OF     KUFUS     KING. 

The  term  of  Kufus  King,  whose  long  and  successful 
public  service  is  so  well  known,  was  to  expire  on  the  3d  of 
March,  1825.  His  great  age  and  enfeebled  health  induced 
him  to  decline  a  re-election.  The  first  day  of  February 
was  the  time  fixed  by  law  for  the  appointment  of  a  suc 
cessor.  The  people' s  party  and  Clintonians  had  elected  a 
large  majority  to  the  Assembly.  Ambrose  Spencer,  a 
distinguished  jurist,  was  their  first  choice  to  succeed  Mr. 
King,  and  they  accordingly  nominated  him.  In  the 
Senate  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  who  was  the  presiding 
officer,  and  Senators  Ogden,  Burrows,  Gardiner  and 
others,  as  well  as  the  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford,  were 
opposed  to  his  election.  Ten  Senators  nominated  Mr. 
Spencer.  James  Tallmadge,  Edward  P.  Livingston,  Vic 
tory  Birdseye,  Samuel  Young  and  John  W.  Taylor, 
received  two  nominations  each  ;  Mr.  WRIGHT  nominating 
Victory  Birdseye.  Eleven  other  Senators  nominated  each 
a  separate  candidate.  No  one  had  a  majority.  A  reso 
lution  was  then  offered  declaring  Mr.  Spencer  duly  nomi 
nated,  but  failed,  eleven  to  twenty.  Similar  resolutions, 
declaring  James  Tallmadge  and  Col.  Young  respectively 
nominated,  were  offered,  but  laid  on  the  table.  One 
nominating  John  W.  Taylor  was  lost,  nine  to  twenty-two. 
The  Senate  then  adjourned. 

As  no  one  had  a  majority,  the  two  Houses  could  not 
meet  and  compare  nominations,  and,  if  they  did  not  agree, 
elect  by  joint  ballot.  The  election  failed,  as  the  voting 
could  not  be  again  commenced  on  another  day  without  a 
change  of  the  law. 


86  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS 

Although,  it  was  conceded  that  the  Senate  was  legally 
authorized  to  scatter  its  vote  so  as  not  to  make  a  nomina 
tion,  the  twenty-one  Senators  who  did  not  so  act  as  to 
concentrate  their  nomination,  to  the  end  that  the  two 
Houses  could  meet  and  act  by  joint  ballot,  were  severely 
censured  by  the  Clintonians  and  people's  party  gener 
ally.  Mr.  Jenkins,  in  his  biography  of  Mr.  WRIGHT, 
gives  the  probable  causes  of  Mr.  Spencer's  defeat  as 
follows : 

"  The  Crawford  men  opposed  him  because  he  was  friendly  to 
Mr.  Adams.  The  adherents  of  Gen.  Tallmadge  imagined  that 
he  could  be  appointed  by  a  joint  resolution,  in  case  no  election 
was  made  in  the  customary  manner;  a  portion  of  the  Adams 
men  would  not  concur  in  anything  approved  by  Gov.  Clin 
ton;  and  another  portion,  headed  by  Thurlow  Weed,  of  Monroe 
county,  also  rejoiced  at  his  defeat,  because  they  hoped  it  might 
lead  to  the  selection  of  Albert  H.  Tracy,  of  Buffalo.  Resolutions 
were  subsequently  passed  in  the  Senate,  with  the  vote  of  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  nominating  Gen.  Tallmadge  and  Mr.  Tracy.  The 
House  refused  to  concur,  on  the  ground  that  that  mode  of 
appointment  was  unknown  to  the  laws  of  the  State  ;  but  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  their  legal  scruples  would  never  been  heard  of,  had 
the  name  of  Judge  Spencer  been  inserted  in  one  of  the  resolu 
tions. 

"At  the  time,  Mr.  WEIGHT  and  his  friends  insisted  that  the 
majority  of  the  people  were  opposed  to  the  appointment  of  Judge 
Spencer.  The  result  of  the  fall  election  showed  that  this  was  the 
case;  and  it  is  some  little  gratification  to  know  that  the  electors 
of  the  State  ratified,  in  the  end,  the  conduct  of  their  Senators  in 
1825." 

Notwithstanding  his  great  learning  and  superior  ability 
as  a  jurist,  Judge  Spencer,  it  is  alleged,  was  never  person 
ally  popular.  He  was  considered  a  severe  politician, 
somewhat  arrogant  and  overbearing  in  his  manners,  and 
resentful  and  vindictive  in  his  dislikes.  He  had  been  a 
rigid  democrat,  but  had  left  his  old  friends  and  joined 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRKJI/T.  &7 

their  adversaries,  and  manifested  the  usual  zeal  of  new 
converts.  In  the  convention  for  revising  the  Constitu 
tion,  he  sought  to  retain  the  old  Council  of  Revision  and 
Appointment,  composed  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  where  he  presided,  and  of  the  Chancellor,  and 
had  there  fought  for  the  retention  of  the  old  odious  pro 
perty  qualification,  to  entitle  a  citizen  to  vote  for  Gover 
nor  and  Senators.  Throughout  that  convention  he  had 
acted  with  Kent,  Van  Vechten,  and  other  leaders  of  the 
federal  party.  At  that  time  New  York  was  really  demo 
cratic  at  the  core,  as  the  next  general  election  fully 
demonstrated.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  not 
strange  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  and  those  who  acted  with  him 
assumed,  and  acted  upon  the  assumption,  that  the  people 
did  not  wish  Mr.  Spencer  to  be  made  United  States  Sena 
tor,  which  would  enable  him  to  control  political  affairs  in 
the  State,  especially  in  national  matters,  and  to  gratify  his 
resentments  and  disposition  to  rule  in  things  both  per 
sonal  and  political.  They  believed  that  the  majority 
of  the  people  would  approve  their  resorting  to  all  lawful 
means,  as  legislative  bodies  daily  do  to  stave  off  ques 
tions  and  kill  bills,  to  defeat  a  candidate  against  whom 
so  many  objections  were  raised  and  sustained  by  proof. 
The  fall  elections  of  that  year  showed  that  he  had  rightly 
anticipated  the  wishes  of  the  people.  After  the  people 
spoke,  Mr.  Spencer  was  not  heard  of.  In  the  next  Legis 
lature  —  the  political  character  of  the  Assembly  having 
been  changed  —  the  accomplished  Nathan  Sanford,  then 
Chancellor,  was  almost  unanimously  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  to  supply  the  vacancy  occasioned 
by  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  the  venerable  and 
patriotic  Rufus  King,  whom  Mr.  Adams  soon  after  sent 
to  England  as  minister.  Mr.  WRIGHT  voted  for  Mr. 
Sanford. 


88  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"ALBANY,  3d  March,  1825. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR.  —  You  will  not  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you 
that  your  letter  did  not  reach  me  until  I  had  spoken  hard  things 
against  you  for  your  silence.  The  liberality  with  which  you 
account,  in  this  letter,  induces  me  to  fear  that  you  must  have 
troubled  your  own  friends  to  have  made  out  the  money.  As  to 
politics,  I  am  not  surprised  at  your  account.  I  was  much  disap 
pointed  in  the  result  of  the  election,  as  well  in  the  State  as  in 
our  county,  but,  after  learning  the  result,  I  expected  to  hear  that 
our  friends  at  Canton  were  as  hidden  and  in  silence.  As  to 
them,  I  will  now  say  to  you  this  State,  and  nearly  this  Union,  is 
in  a  perfect  state  of  chaos.  Adams  is  President,  and,  although  I 
was  rather  pleased  than  otherwise  with  the  result,  there  is  much 
reason  to  believe  that  his  administration  will  be  anything  but 
republican.  He  seems  determined  to  unite  all  interests  in  his 
cabinet,  seeming  to  think  that  he  shall  thus  unite  all  parties  in 
his  favor.  But  Mr.  Adams  ought  to  be  old  enough  to  know  that 
it  is  easier  to  deserve  a  man's  friendship  than  to  buy  it,  and  that 
it  is  not  always  the  most  prudent  general  who  enlists  the  soldiers 
of  an  enemy  rather  than  fight  them.  It  is  true,  in  the  organiza 
tion  of  a  new  cabinet,  Mr.  Adams  must  have  united  some  one  of 
the  different  interests  with  his.  This  might  have  been  easily 
done,  but  all  can  never  be  united,  and,  by  putting  all  into  the 
cabinet,  he  will  keep  them  all  alive,  and,  however  they  may  differ 
among  themselves,  they  will  all  agree  in  this  one  thing  of  putting 
him  out  of  the  way  at  the  end  of  four  years.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  the  prospect  now  is,  that  he  will  select  very  weak  individuals 
from  the  several  parties.  All  things  here,  and  all  parties  I  may  say 
here  too,  are  waiting  to  determine  whether  they  are  to  support 
or  oppose  the  national  administration.  Mr.  Clinton,  you  will 
have  seen,  has  been  offered  the  appointment  of  minister  to 
London.  It  is  now  said  he  will  refuse  the  appointment  and 
declare  war  against  Adams ;  but  that  is  uncertain  yet.  That  Mr. 
Adams  should  have  taken  this  man  to  his  bosom  and  confidence, 
was,  to  me,  the  unkindest  cut  of  all.  I  confess  to  you  I  am 
heartily  sick  of  politics,  but  have  not  yet  entirely  concluded  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  89 

relinquish  the  little  notion  I  formerly  had  of  being  an  honest 
man.  I  therefore  intend  to  do  my  duty,  to  the  best  of  my  ability, 
while  I  remain  in  my  present  high  station,  without  much  refer 
ence,  as  I  now  feel,  to  future  popularity,  but  with  the  utmost 
care,  at  all  times,  to  defeat  and  thwart  the  intentions  of  the 
political  jugglers  that  are  so  plenty  in  this  State.  In  doing  this 
I  shall  necessarily  incur  the  ill-will  or  abuse  of  the  same  kind  of 
men  at  home.  But  be  it  so.  If  I  can  gratify  no  other  passion, 
I  can  and  will  gratify  my  indignation  on  these  political  pharisees. 
And  I  will  engage  that,  while  I  hold  the  purse-strings,  these  fel 
lows  get  few  fat  offices  with  my  consent. 

"  Where  is  my  friend  Allen  ?  I  fear  that  the  result  of  the  elec 
tion  has  blown  him  off  the  coast.  I  have  not  heard  a  word  from 
him  since  I  left  St.  Lawrence.  Our  friend,  V.  D.  H.,*  gets  along 
but  badly,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  with  his  canal,  and  you  know, 
since  the  use  they  made  of  it  at  the  last  election.  I  must  feel  dis 
posed  to  help  him  along  as  fast  as  possible.  He  has  been  in  New 
York  most  of  the  time  of  the  session,  but  I  believe  he  keeps  one 
printing  press  constantly  going  here,  for  his  productions,  at  his 
own  expense.  Write  often  and  I  will  answer  us  usual. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  S.  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"Mr.  MINET  JENISON." 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  PARLEY  KEYES,  ONE  OF  THE  CELEBRATED 
SEVENTEEN  SENATORS. 

"  CANTON,  29th  Nov.,  1825. 

"MY  DEAR  SIR.  — I  write  for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  of  you 
whether  Ambrose  Spencer  is  a  Senator  from  this  State,  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States.  If  you  are  able  to  answer  the 
question,  I  wish  you  would  communicate  the  information  to  the 
Hon.  John  C.  Spencer,  of  Ontario  county,  in  this  State,  who  pro 
bably  has  some  anxiety  to  know.  I  have  looked  in  my  next 
year's  almanac,  and  cannot  find  his  name  among  the  list.  If 

*  Jacob  A.  Van  Den  Heuvel,  in  the  Assembly  from  St.  Lawrence,  elected 
with  the  expectation  that  he  would  secure  the  construction  of  a  canal  from 
Ogdeiisburgh  to  Lake  Champlain. 


90  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Spencer  is  not  senator,  what  are  the  prospects  of  the  BucJctail 
candidate.  General  T.  ?  Again  ;  if  four  adjoining  counties  have 
this  year  elected  all  Bucktail  members  to  the  Assembly,  and  they 
form  our  congressional  district,  will  they  elect  federal  congress 
man  next  year  ?  But,  seriously,  my  friend,  were  ever  men  so 
badly  whipped  as  the  allies  in  this  State,  this  year  ;  and  was  ever 
an  event  so  fortunate  ?  The  blood  of  the  martyrs  may  now  be 
truly  said  to  be  the  seed  of  the  Church,  and  the  Magnus  must 

wish  the  d 1  had  the  memories  of  his  darling  people.     I  know 

what  the  feelings  of  yourself  and  our  Lewis  friends  are,  as  to  our 
member  elect,*  and  you  know  what  my  fears  are.  But  suffice  it 
to  say  that  he  was  the  only  man  we  could  have  elected,  and 
still  an  election  so  nearly  upon  old  party  grounds  has  not  been 
known  here  for  ten  years.  The  rest  of  our  ticket  was  undoubted, 
and  we  elect  the  whole,  except  our  poor  friend  Hitchcock,  who  is 

lost  by  the  d d  treachery  of  Raymond,  our  late  high-minded 

sheriff.  He  nominated  himself  for  clerk,  and  made  too  strong  a 
diversion  from  Hitchcock. 

"  Our  friend  Danvers,  too,  in  Washington  county,  is  lost,  and  is 
now  candidate  for  clerk  of  the  Assembly,  with  Young,  etc.,  to 
support  him.  He  wishes  me  to  write  you  on  the  subject,  and 
request  you,  if  consistent,  to  give  him  a  lift.  That  he  is  perfectly 
competent,  you  will  not  doubt  ;  that  he  is  a  true  and  stern  demo 
crat,  we  know ;  and  I  have  heard  of  no  candidate  T  would  feel 
so  strongly  interested  for.  He  says  he  will  not  conflict  with  Liv 
ingston,  if  he  is  a  candidate,  but  he  thinks  he  will  not  be.  If 
you  have  no  other  candidate  you  prefer,  I  hope  you  will  extend 
your  favor  to  him.  Please  let  me  hear  from  you,  and  say  when 
you  will  be  at  Denmark,  on  your  way  down,  and  I  will  meet  you 
there.  I  now  intend  to  be  there  on  the  twenty-third  or  twenty- 
fourth.  Do  not  fail  to  let  me  know. 

"  Truly,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"Hon.  PARLEY  KEYES." 

*  Baron  S.  Doty,  formerly  from  Lewis  county. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT.  91 


CHAPTER  XX1IL 

AMENDING     THE     STATE     CONSTITUTION. 

By  the  Constitution  of  1821,  the  right  of  suffrage  was 
limited  to  those  who  paid  taxes,  performed  duty  in  the 
militia,  or  served  in  fire  companies.  Justices  of  the  peace 
were  appointed  by  the  judges  of  the  county  courts  and 
boards  of  supervisors.  These  provisions  were  the  subject 
of  loud  and  extensive  complaint.  The  Legislature  of 
1825  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution  on  these 
subjects,  which  were  agreed  to  by  two  thirds  of  that  of 
1826,  and  ratified  at  the  November  election.  Under  these, 
citizenship  and  residence,  except  as  to  colored  people, 
who  were  required  to  own  real  estate  to  the  amount  of 
$250,  were  the  only  conditions  of  voting.  Justices  of  the 
peace  were  made  elective,  like  other  town  officers.  These 
changes  received  the  support  of  Mr.  WEIGHT,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  salutary  improvements,  and  much 
preferable  and  more  democratic  than  the  old  provisions. 


92  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIOHT. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

STATE  BANK  CHARTERS. 

The  powers  of  aggregated  capital,  in  the  form  of  banks, 
with  the  privilege  of  issuing  a  paper  currency,  was  felt 
in  New  York  at  an  early  day.  As  places  of  discount 
and  deposit,  banks  are  of  great  convenience  to  those 
engaged  in  trade  and  commerce,  by  enabling  them  to 
anticipate  the  payment  of  good  business  paper.  The 
holder  sells,  the  bank  buys,  and,  if  the  maker  is  good 
and  performs  his  duty,  the  transaction  is  substantially 
ended  when  it  is  begun.  Making  paper  to  sell  is  simply 
a  means  of  borrowing,  and  is  essentially  different  from 
anticipating  existing  means.  New  York  bank  charters 
not  only  authorized  loaning  the  capital  paid  in,  but  lend 
ing  their  credit,  in  the  form  of  bills,  to  once  and  a  half 
that  sum.  A  bank  having  $100,000  capital  could  loan, 
including  its  own  bills,  $250,000.  This  capacity  of  self- 
expansion  made  bank  stock  a  favorite  investment. 
Hence,  the  Legislature  was  annually  besieged  by  appli 
cants  for  new  charters.  Had  banking  been  left  free,  like 
other  business,  the  inducements  to  enter  into  it  would 
have  been  limited  and  controlled  by  competition.  But, 
in  1804,  when  there  were  but  six  banks  in  the  State  —  three 
in  New  York,  one  in  Albany,  one  in  Hudson  and  one  at 
Waterf  ord,  or  near  there  —  the  power  of  combined  capital 
was  concentrated  upon  the  Legislature,  which  passed  the 
"  restraining  act,"  which  gave  the  incorporated  banks  a 
monopoly  of  discounting  notes.  It  made  it  a  penal 
offense  to  contribute  capital  to  any  company  or  associa 
tion  to  be  used  in  making  discounts,  or  transacting  any 
other  business  which  banks  usually  transact,  or  to  receive 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  93 

money  on  deposit,  and  declared  all  notes  arid  securities 
received  in  such  business  to  be  void.  This  impolitic  and 
anti-democratic  law,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  when  in  the  State 
Senate,  in  1814,  sought  to  repeal.  This  act  gave  the 
banks  a  monopoly  of  the  business  in  which  they  were 
engaged,  and  by  concentrating  their  strength  in  its  favor 
they  were  enabled  to  prevent  its  repeal  until  the  adoption 
of  the  free  banking  system  in  1837.  It  was  this  law 
which  caused  bank  charters  to  be  sought  by  every  means 
at  the  hands  of  the  Legislature.  The  broader  the  powers 
conferred  the  more  valuable  the  charter.  Skillful  and 
unscrupulous  men  were  often  thrown  into  the  Legisla 
ture  to  promote  schemes  for  securing  bank  charters.  As 
a  member  of  Assembly  from  the  city  of  New  York, 
Aaron  Burr  had  carried  through  it  the  Manhattan  Bank, 
so  disguised  as  to  be  unknown,  in  a  bill  for  "  supplying 
the  city  of  New  York  with  pure  and  wholesome  water." 
Dilapidated  politicians  sold  their  services  and  professed 
influence  as  lobbyists,  for  which  they  were  often  liberally 
rewarded  when  their  labors  proved  successful.  While 
the  restraining  law  existed,  the  stock  of  banks  newly 
chartered  would  be  above  par,  and  could  be  sold  at  a 
large  profit.  These  stocks  were  distributed  by  commis 
sioners  named  in  the  charters,  thus  enabling  them  to 
become  the  mediums  of  rewarding,  through  advantageous 
sales,  those  who  were  promised  rewards  for  votes  and 
influence.  These  distributions  were  usually  so  made  as 
not  to  disclose  the  real  beneficiary.  On  some  occasions 
the  applicants  for  charters  raised  funds  for  distribution 
among  members  and  lobby  agents,  but  to  be  reimbursed 
from  the  advance  of  stocks  controled  by  the  managers. 
Offices  in  and  the  management  of  a  new  bank  were  among 
the  means  of  rewarding  those  who  had  lent  valuable 
assistance  in  obtaining  charters.  Securing  such  charters 
became  a  means  of  corrupting  the  Legislature,  and  of 
rewarding  those  who  were  the  paid  agents  of  corruption. 


94  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Applicants  for  bank  charters  commenced  swarming 
around  the  Legislature  as  early  as  18.23-24.  The  pressure 
became  intense  in  1825,  when  there  were  some  forty 
applications  for  new  bank  charters.  The  appetite  for 
bank  charters  increased  by  being  fed.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
never  voted  for  a  bank  charter.  He  was  looked  upon 
as  the  leader  of  those  opposed  to  increasing  their  num 
ber.  Great  efforts  were  made  to  induce  him  to  yield 
his  opposition,  but  all  to  no  effect.  The  gratification 
of  ambition,  cupidity  and  vanity  were  held  out  without 
success,  but  tending  to  increase  his  unyielding  opposi 
tion.  A  distinguished  constituent  of  his,  who  had  been 
in  Congress,  and  then  held  a  high  federal  office,  was 
selected  to  approach  him.  The  answer  which  he  received 
was  a  combination  of  reason,  scorn  and  contempt,  which 
withered  him,  and  forever  closed  his  mouth  on  the  sub 
ject.  His  contingent  fee  for  securing  an  important  vote 
was  more  than  lost.  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  not  communica 
tive  on  the  subject.  The  occupant  of  an  adjoining  room 
described  it  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  scenes 
which  ever  occurred.  Mr.  WRIGHT  not  only  denounced 
the  indignity  and  insult  of  gray  hairs  seeking  to  corrupt 
and  destroy  one,  of  half  the  tempter' s  years  —  to  disgrace 
his  professions  of  democracy  and  bring  odium  upon  the 
democratic  party,  and  administered  a  keen  rebuke  to 
the  crawling  miscreant  who  had  sold  himself,  and  who 
professed  to  make  merchandise  of  the  votes  of  others, 
and  all  with  a  stinging  contempt  without  a  parallel. 
The  intruder  quailed  under  the  eye  of  insulted  integrity 
and  independence,  and  sought  forgetfulness  where  wrong 
doers  never  find  it  —  in  the  wine- cup. 

Mr.  Hammond  says  :  "Mr.  WRIGHT  took  a  firm  stand 
against  the  extension  of  exclusive  privileges,  and  main 
tained  it  resolutely,  mauger  the  blandishments  of  politi 
cal  friends  and  the  threats  of  opponents.  During  that 
session,  sixteen  bank  charters  passed  the  Assembly,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  95 

fourteen  were  originally  introduced  into  the  Senate, 
which  passed  to  a  third  reading.  The  greater  part  of 
these  failed  of  obtaining  a  constitutional  vote  in  the 
Senate  ;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  that  failure  was, 
in  most  cases,  produced  by  the  personal  efforts  arid 
influence  of  Mr.  WRIGHT." 

The  Legislature  had  been  in  session  but  a  few  days 
before  more  than  forty  applications  for  new  banks  were 
presented  and  pressed  by  applicants,  and  sagacious  and 
skillful  agents.  The  pressure  upon  Mr.  WRIGHT  was 
very  great.  Its  effect  upon  him  is  shown  in  the  following 
anecdote  related  by  Mr.  Hammond. 

"To  show  with  what  painful  anxiety  this  cornhination  of  hank 
applicants  hore  upon  the  mind  of  Mr.  WEIGHT,  we  heg  leave  to 
relate  an  anecdote  communicated  to  the  author  hy  a  gentleman 
who  lodged  in  the  same  room  with  Mr.  WRIGHT,  during  the 
winter  of  1825.  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  occasionally  subject  to  restless 
nights,  or  rather  his  sleep  was  sometimes  unquiet.  One  night, 
which  succeeded  a  day  when  some  of  the  bank  bills  had  been 
discussed  in  the  Senate,  after  Mr.  WRIGHT  had  been  asleep  some 
time,  he  sprung  from  his  bed  to  the  floor,  being  still  asleep,  and 
exclaimed,  with  a  loud  voice,  'My  God!  the  combination  is  too 
strong,  —  every  bank  will  pass.'  When  he  awoke,  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  his  nervous  system  could  be  so  far  quieted 
as  to  enable  him  to  obtain  any  more  rest  that  night." 

Nothing  could  show  more  conclusively  how  deeply  he 
felt  the  force  of  the  principles  which  were  involved  and 
he  was  seeking  to  defend.  There  are  few  upon  whom 
the  subject  of  their  official  duties  makes  so  deep  an 
impression. 

The  case  of  Jasper  Ward,  a  Senator  from  the  first  dis 
trict,  became  the  subject  of  great  interest.  He  was 
accused  of  corrupt  conduct,  as  a  Senator,  in  the  passage 
of  an  amendment  to  the  Chatham  insurance  act,  and  an 
act  incorporating  the  ^Etna  Insurance  Company,  thus 
conferring  special  legislative  favors  like  bank  charters. 


96  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  session  of  1825,  Mr.  Ward 
informed  the  Senate  that  he  had  been  accused  of  improper 
conduct  in  relation  to  these  acts,  and  demanded,  at  the 
hands  of  the  Senate,  an  investigation  in  relation  to  the 
charges.  His  communication  was  referred  to  a  select 
committee  consisting  of  Messrs  WRIGHT,  Spencer,  Bur 
rows,  McCall  and  Haight. 

Four  days  afterwards  Mr.  WRIGHT  offered  the  follow 
ing  resolution,  which  was  adopted : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the 
communication  of  Jasper  Ward,  made  to  the  Senate  on  the  third 
instant,  be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  truth  of  the  charges 
contained  in  the  New  York  American  and  New  York  Evening 
Post,  sometime  during  the  month  of  July  or  August  last,  in  rela 
tion  to  the  conduct  of  Jasper  Ward  in  effecting  the  passage  of 
an  amendment  to  the  act  incorporating  the  Chatham  Fire  Insur 
ance  Company,  and  the  passage  of  the  act  incorporating  the 
^Etna  Fire  Company,  and  into  other  improper  conduct  in  the 
passage  of  either  of  said  bills,  in  which  the  said  Jasper  Ward 
shall  appear  to  have  been  directly  or  indirectly  concerned." 

The  investigation  of  the  committee  was  laborious  and 
thorough.  The  testimony  was  all  taken  down  minutely 
by  Mr.  WRIGHT,  with  his  own  hand,  and  the  report  was 
drawn  by  him.  The  depositions  and  report  occupy 
seventy  large  folio  pages  in  the  Senate  Journal.  The 
report  states  that  several  of  the  charges  made  were  wholly 
unsustained  by  proof.  But  the  evidence  authorized  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  on  the  28th  of 
February,  to  oifer  the  following  resolution  : 

"Itesolved,  That  the  conduct  of  Jasper  Ward,  a  Senator  from 
the  first  district,  and  the  means  used  by  him  in  obtaining  the 
passage  through  the  Legislature  of  the  act  entitled  'An  act  to 
amend  the  Chatham  Fire  Insurance  Company,'  and  also  his  con 
duct  and  the  means  used  by  him  in  obtaining  the  passage  of  '  An 
act  to  incorporate  the  ^Etna  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  New 
York,'  were  a  violation  of  his  duties  as  a  Senator,  affording  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  97 

pernicious  and  dangerous  example,  tending  to  corrupt  the  public 
morals,  and  to  impair  the  public  confidence  in  the  integrity  of 
the  Legislature,  and  that  his  conduct  in  these  respects  deserve* 
and  should  receive  severe  reprehension  ;  therefore, 

"Jfaolved,  That  said  Jasper  Ward,  Senator  as  aforesaid,  be, 
and  he  hereby  is,  expelled  the  Senate." 

The  Senate  laid  this  resolution  upon  the  table,  and 
ordered  that  Mr.  Ward  should  be  heard,  on  a  certain 
day,  by  counsel.  On  the  next  day  the  presiding  officer 
of  the  Senate  received  the  following  communication  from 
him : 

"SiR.  —  Unwilling  to  retard  the  business  of  the  honorable  the 
Senate  by  anything  that  concerns  me  individually,  I  have,  upon 
mature  reflection,  concluded  to  waive  the  indulgence  granted  me 
to  appear  before  the  Senate  by  counsel.  I  do  this  from  the  con 
viction  that  the  honorable  body  over  which  you  preside  is  fully 
competent  to  decide  on  the  merits  of  my  case,  as  justice  may 
require,  without  the  agency  of  counsel.  At  the  same  time,  per 
mit  me  to  request  you  to  inform  the  Senate  that  I  hereby  resign 
my  seat  as  a  member  of  their  body. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"JASPER  WARD." 

Here  the  action  of  the  Senate  ended.  Mr.  Ward  had 
anticipated  its  probable  action,  and  expelled  himself 
without  a  hearing. 

Mr.  Spencer  had  first  moved  in  the  matter,  and  he  and 
his  friends  complained  of  Mr.  WRIGHT  being  made  chair 
man  over  him.  It  was  insinuated  that  Mr.  Ward  was  to 
be  screened  and  protected  through  the  agency  of  Mr. 
WKIGHT  and  his  political  friends  on  the  committee.  But 
the  industrious,  able  and  fair  manner  in  which  he  per 
formed  his  duties  silenced  all  complaint,  and  Mr.  Spencer 
ever  after  honored  and  respected  Mr.  WEIGHT,  as  did 
other  careful  observers.  This  course  proved  that  where 
7 


98  LIFE  ASD  TIMES  OF  tiiLAs  WEIGHT. 

duties  were  to  be  performed,  personal  and  political  feel 
ings  must  yield.  Mr.  Ward  had  won  the  esteem  of  his 
brethren  in  the  Senate ;  but  it  is  due  to  Mr.  WRIGHT  to 
say  that  he  had  noticed  in  him  a  careless  and  half  reck 
less  manner  of  doing  and  saying  things  that  were  dis 
tasteful  to  him,  which  somewhat  diminished  the  pain 
that  he  must  otherwise  have  felt  during  these  proceed 
ings.  Mr.  Ward  was  not  probably  a  bad  man  at  heart, 
but  the  course  of  events  about  the  Legislature,  in  relation 
to  bank  and  corporation  charters,  had  familiarized  the 
minds  of  men  to  practices  which  no  one  could  defend.  In 
the  beginning  the  practiced  wrongs  were  small  and  not 
alarming.  They  grew,  day  by  day,  until  the  public 
became  amazed  and  demanded  the  punishment  of  all 
such  offenders.  Obtaining  bank  charters,  to  make 
profits  by  the  advance  of  their  stocks,  continued,  to  a 
large  extent,  until  the  free  banking  law  of  1837  rendered 
all  such  enterprises  hopeless. 

Mr.  WEIGHT  was  never  the  owner  of  bank  stock,  or 
otherwise  interested  in  banks.  He  admitted  their  con 
veniences,  while  he  regretted  their  defects  and  their 
inability  to  aid  the  public  when  assistance  was  most 
needed.  Instead  of  dealing  in  real  money,  they  exchanged 
credits  with  their  customers,  exacting  interest  upon  their 
own.  Under  such  circumstances,  when  panics  and  finan 
cial  storms  came,  they  struggled  to  protect  their  own 
credit,  outstanding  in  the  form  of  bills.  Instead  of 
increasing  the  volume  of  the  currency,  they  actually 
diminished  it.  They  lent  freely  when  money  was  plenty, 
and  collected  it  in  from  their  customers  when  it  is 
scarce.  Banks  of  issue  expanded  and  contracted  the 
circulating  medium  at  the  wrong  times.  ~No  such  objec 
tions  exist  to  banks  of  discount  and  deposit,  dealing 
in  constitutional  currency.  To  such  banks  Mr.  WEIGHT 
did  not  object. 

This  opposition  to  granting  special  legislative  favors, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  99 

through  bank  charters,  and  his  admiration  of  "Benton 
mint  drops"  and  opposition  to  the  United  States  Bank, 
induced  the  very  general  belief  that  he  was  a  "  hard 
money"  man,  and  opposed  to  all  banks.  This  belief 
sprang  up  soon  after  he  entered  the  State  Senate,  and 
expanded  while  he  remained  there.  As  a  whole,  the 
banks  were  unfriendly  to  him.  They  were  at  the  bottom, 
and  caused  a  portion  of  the  difficulties  which  disrupted 
the  democratic  party  in  the  State,  and  which  led  to  the 
formation  of  combinations  with  other  interests,  which 
pursued  him  to  his  grave.  An  account  of  these  will  be 
given  in  another  place. 


100  LIFE  AXD  TIMES  OF  SUAS  WRIGHT, 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  NEW  YORK  CANALS. 

The  New  York  canals  were  commenced  in  1816.  The 
Erie  and  Champlain  were  completed  near  the  time  Mr. 
WRIGHT  entered  the  State  Senate.  They  occasioned 
wonderful  changes  in  the  value  of  real  estate  throughout 
their  length,  and  especially  in  certain  prominent  locali 
ties.  This,  and  their  usefulness,  aroused  an  unregulated 
spirit  of  speculation,  resulting  in  applications  for  canals 
in  almost  every  corner  of  the  State.  There  was  a  perfect 
mania  for  canals.  The  State,  by  constructing  them,  was 
expected  to  make  everybody  residing  near  them  rich. 
The  applicants  often  controlled  local  elections.  St.  Law 
rence  county,  by  an  immense  majority  in  the  fall  of  1824, 
elected  Jacob  A.  Vanden  Heuvel  to  the  Assembly,  under 
the  expectation  that  he  would  cause  the  construction  of 
a  canal  from  Ogdensburgh  to  Plattsburgh  or  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  But  owing  to  the  refusal  of  the  water  to  run  up 
hill,  over  the  Chateaugay  mountains,  and  his  want  of 
success  in  procuring  land  of  the  British  Government  in 
Canada,  so  as  to  avoid  them,  the  work  was  never  com 
menced  or  authorized. 

In  his  annual  message  to  the  Legislature,  in  1825,  Gov. 
Clinton  discussed,  at  great  length,  the  subject  of  canals, 
and  their  great  advantages.  He  especially  enumerated 
a  large  number  of  localities  where  canals  might  be  con 
structed,  and  called  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to 
them.  At  that  session,  the  Legislature  responded  to  his 
views  by  making  provision  for  surveying  seventeen  of 
the  routes  recommended  by  him.  These  things  flattered 
the  hopes  and  excited  and  increased  the  efforts  of  those 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  o#  rSir/As  WRIGHT.  101 

residing  near  these  localities,  or  who  owned  lands  in  the 
neighborhood  of  them.  Thousands  of  men  confidently 
expected  to  be  made  rich  by  the  legislation  of  the  State 
in  constructing  canals. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
canals.  To  secure  his  favorable  action  seemed  all-import 
ant,  and  pressure  of  every  possible  variety  and  form  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  him.  Flattery  and  hopes  of  pre 
ferment, —  of  becoming  a  second  Clinton  and  guiding  the 
affairs  of  the  State,  were  largely  resorted  to.  Threats  of 
political  destruction  often  played  a  part  in  the  efforts  to 
control  the  young  Senator.  Personal  considerations 
produced  no  effect  upon  him.  He  reflected  with  a  fall 
conscientiousness  of  the  momentous  importance  of  the 
subject,  and  formed  opinions  for  life  which  have  success 
fully  stood  the  scrutiny  of  time.  Instead  of  temporizing, 
he  sought  occasion  to  present  his  conclusions  to  the 
Senate,  and  through  it  to  the  people  of  the  State. 
The  application  of  David  E.  Evans  and  others  for  the 
construction,  by  the  State,  of  a  branch  from  the  Erie 
canal,  by  way  of  Tonawanda,  to  Olean,  on  the  Alleghany 
river,  presented  one.  Their  petition  was  referred  to  the 
committee  on  canals,  consisting  of  two  besides  the  chair 
man.  Cadwallader  D.  Golden,  from  the  first  district,  a 
distinguished  lawyer  in  the  city  of  New  York,  a  gentle 
man  of  talents,  high  character  and  standing,  a  warm  and 
efficient  Clintonian,  and  an  ardent  internal  improvement 
man,  was  second  on  the  committee.  He  was  a  ' '  speedy 
impulse"  man,  but  a  fair-minded,  candid  and  prudent 
one.  The  third  was  Jacob  Haight,  from  the  third 
district,  a  person  of  intelligence  and  high  personal  char 
acter,  who  belonged  to  and  acted  with  the  people's  party. 
The  hearing  before  this  committee  was  long,  patient  and 
fair. 

On  this  application,  the  committee,  through  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  made  a  long  and  able  report,  which  remains  a 


102       *  *  '    i/f-fisr  A*ta  .r«ES  *OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

monument  of  his  labor,  candor,  fairness  and  financial 
wisdom.  The  Erie  and  Champlain  canals  had  been  com 
pleted.  The  canal  debt  was  large,  but,  by  applying  the 
proceeds  of  the  canal  fund  and  canal  tolls  to  its  pay 
ment,  it  was  rapidly  decreasing,  thus  authorizing  the 
expectation  that  it  would  be  fully  extinguished  within 
a  few  years.  The  question  presented  was  that  between 
the  debt-paying  and  debt-contracting  systems.  If  this 
petition  was  granted  many  others  must  follow,  and  the 
public  debt  be  largely  increased.  If  denied,  the  canal 
debt  would  soon  be  canceled,  and  the  Legislature  would 
then  be,  under  the  Constitution,  authorized  to  apply  the 
proceeds  of  the  canals  to  making  such  internal  improve 
ments  as  the  best  interests  of  the  State  required,  without 
becoming  burdened  with  debt.  Its  solution  involved  the 
principles  upon  which  such  improvements  should  be 
made. 

These  principles  were  fully  and  clearly  stated  in  the 
report,  to  which  Mr.  WEIGHT  adhered  through  life. 
They  were  approved  by  the  leading  men  of  the  State, 
and  were  fully  indorsed  by  the  majority  of  the  electors 
at  the  time.  They  led  to  his  appointment,  in  1829,  to 
the  office  of  Comptroller,  to  the  anti- debt  policy  of  the 
act  of  1842,  the  financial  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
of  1846,  and  the  amendments  of  1867.  These  principles 
are  thus  stated  in  the  report : 

"  The  great  principles,  then,  which  the  committee  suppose  must 
be  determined  by  the  Legislature,  before  they  will  authorize  the 
construction  of  any  new  canals  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  are: 

"  First.  The  practicability  of  making  a  canal  upon  the  route 
proposed,  and  of  obtaining  a  supply  of  water  sufficient  for  its  use. 

"  Second.  The  ability  of  the  State  to  sustain  the  expense,  or  the 
resources  from  which  the  work  is  to  be  carried  on. 

"  Third.  The  importance  of  the  work,  and  the  promise  of  the 
utility  and  consequent  income  to  reimburse  the  treasury  for  the 
expense  of  making  it. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  103 

"And,  unless  the  committee  can  make  an  affirmative  and  cer 
tain  application  of  these  principles  to  the  project  of  the  peti 
tioners,  they  do  not  consider  themselves  at  liberty  to  ask  the 
Senate  to  adopt  it." 

The  report  takes  strong  grounds  against  resorting  to 
the  credit  of  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  making  further 
improvements.  It  says  :  "That  the  State  has  borrowed 
money  for  the  construction  of  canals  is  true,  and  that  it 
can  again  do  it  the  committee  do  not  doubt.  But  that  it 
has  paid  the  money  so  borrowed  is  not  true ;  that  the 
most  hazardous  part  of  this  experiment,  the  payment  of 
the  debt  due  for  this  splendid  improvement,  has  yet  been 
tested  is  not  true." 

The  canal  debt  was  then  $7,884,770.99  ;  on  the  30th 
September,  1869,  it  was  $12, 564, 780,  having  been  increased 
$5,680,009.01,  or  almost  doubled  in  amount.  The  whole 
State  debt  is  now  (1871)  $43, 265,  c  06. 40. 

Had  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  policy  been  pursued,  our  canal  debt 
would,  many  years  since,  have  been  paid,  the  Erie  canal 
enlarged,  and  other  public  works  been  constructed,  and 
the  State  without  a  debt  occasioned  thereby.  This  report 
defeated  the  anticipations  of  those  who  had  built  high 
hopes  based  on  expected  legislation.  The  principles 
upon  w^hich  it  was  based  became  an  element  in  the  poli 
tics  of  the  State.  The  democrats,  almost  unanimously, 
adopted  them  ;  those  who  did  not,  became  parties  to  the 
combinations  which  occasioned  his  defeat  in  1846,  when 
a  candidate  for  re-election  as  Governor.  Forty -four  years 
have  rolled  by,  and  many  non -paying  canals  have  been 
constructed  by  the  State,  and  the  canal  debt  immensely 
enlarged,  and  the  State  staggering  under  an  enormous 
indebtedness,  all  tending  to  demonstrate  the  wisdom  of 
the  policy  marked  out  in  this  report  by  Mr.  WEIGHT. 


104  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

LEGISLATIVE     CAUCUS    ADDRESS. 

From  the  organization  of  the  federal  government  to 
1824,  presidential  candidates  had  been,  with  one  or  two 
early  exceptions,  nominated  by  a  caucus  of  members  of 
Congress,  at  the  session  next  previous  to  the  elections. 
Candidates  for  Governor,  Lieutenant- Govern  or  and  other 
officers,  voted  for  throughout  the  whole  State,  had  been 
selected  by  State  legislative  caucuses  in  the  same  way, 
each  party  acting  by  itself.  The  want  of  harmonious 
action  when  Mr.  Crawford  was  nominated  in  1824,  and 
the  unfavorable  result  when  Col.  Young  was  presented 
by  a  legislative  caucus  in  the  State  of  New  York,  led  to 
the  abandonment  of  nominating  caucuses  for  the  action 
of  the  electors.  The  system  of  calling  State  conventions, 
to  select  candidates  to  be  supported,  followed,  as  better 
calculated  to  collect  and  combine  the  wishes  and  inte 
rests  of  the  masses  of  a  party.  Under  the  caucus  system, 
districts  and  counties  represented  by  political  adversa 
ries  had  no  voice  in  the  selections  made,  and  were  com 
pelled  to  yield  to  the  representatives  of  other  districts 
and  counties. 

A  caucus  of  the  democratic  members  of  the  Legislature 
of  New  York,  at  its  winter  session  in  1826,  was  called, 
when  the  best  mode  of  nominating  candidates  to  be  sup 
ported  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant- Governor  was  among 
the  subjects  of  consideration.  It  appointed  a  commit 
tee  to  prepare  and  report  resolutions  and  an  address. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  was  a  member  of  this  committee,  and 
prepared  those  which  were  reported  at  an  adjourned 
meeting,  which  were  unanimously  adopted.  These  are 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  105 

so  important,  and  the  reasons  so  strong  and  conclusive  in 
favor  of  changing  from  the  caucus  to  the  convention  sys 
tem,  which  exercised  so  wide  an  influence  and  were  so 
satisfactory  to  all  his  political  friends,  that  we  give  the 
resolutions  and  address  entire.  The  mode  then  recom 
mended  now  prevails  throughout  the  entire  Union,  by  all 
political  parties. 

REPUBLICAN  LEGISLATIVE  MEETING. 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  republican  members  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  held  at  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the 
Capitol,  in  the  city  of  Albany,  on  the  13th  day  of  April,  1826, 
Jacob  Haight,  Esq.,  Senator  from  the  third  district,  in  the  chair, 
and  Robert  Monell,  Esq.,  of  the  Assembly,  from  the  county  of 
Chenango,  Secretary. 

The  following  resolutions  and  address  were  unanimously  agreed 
to  : 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  republican  electors 
of  the  several  counties  of  this  State  to  choose  delegates,  equal 
to  the  number  of  representatives  in  the  Assembly  to  which  they 
may  be  respectively  entitled,  to  meet  at  the  village  of  Herkimer, 
on  the  first  Wednesday  of  October  next,  to  nominate  candidates 
to  be  supported  for  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  at  the 
ensuing  election. 

"  Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  republican  electors 
of  the  several  towns  in  each  county  to  choose  delegates,  to  meet 
in  county  convention,  to  appoint  their  delegates  to  the  State 
convention. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  be  signed  by 
the  republican  members  of  this  Legislature,  and  published. 

"JACOB  HAIGHT,    Chairman. 

" ROBERT  MONELL,  Secretary" 

"To  the  .Republican  Electors  of  the  State  of  New  York: 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS.  —  The  time  has  again  arrived,  when,  accord 
ing  to  the  long-established  usages  of  the  republican  party,  your 
representatives  in  the  Legislature  would  be  called  upon  to  dis- 


106  LIFE  AND  TJMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

charge  the  responsible  duty  of  nominating  for  your  acceptance,  and 
offering  for  your  support,  candidates  for  the  offices  of  Governor 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State.  The  number  of  years 
through  which  the  practice  of  a  legislative  nomination  of  these 
distinguished  officers  has  been  adhered  to  by  the  republican 
party,  the  success  which  for  so  large  a  portion  of  the  time  has 
attended  that  party  under  it,  arid  the  several  distinguished  officers 
who  have,  through  the  intervention  of  such  a  nomination,  been 
from  time  to  time  elevated  to  the  highest  and  most  responsible 
stations  in  the  government,  are  the  best  proofs  that,  in  these 
nominations,  the  public  will  has  been  consulted,  the  public  inte 
rests  regarded,  and  the  great  object  of  all  nominations,  the  selec 
tion  of  fit  and  suitable  candidates  for  office,  satisfactorily  attained. 
"  We  are  aware  that  the  mode  of  nomination  has  been  assailed ; 
that  it  has  been  pronounced  bad  in  principle  and  arbitrary  in 
practice  ;  that  management  and  intrigue  have  been  said  to  govern 
its  proceedings,  and  the  elevation  of  a  favorite  to  mark  its  results; 
that  its  supporters  have  been  charged  with  a  blind  obedience  to 
imperial  dictation,  and  the  actors  in  it  with  the  most  flagrant 
abuse  of  usurped  power.  These  charges  and  allegations  we  have 
often  heard.  The  evidences  of  their  truth  we  have  not  seen. 
On  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  the  democracy  of  the  State  sup 
porting,  and  successfully  supporting,  candidates  for  offices  thus 
nominated.  We  have  seen  the  government  of  the  State  satisfac 
torily  administered  by  officers  thus  nominated,  thus  supported 
and  thus  elected.  We  have  seen  the  rights  of  the  citizen  pro 
tected,  his  privileges  extended,  and  the  safety  of  his  person  and 
property  secured  to  him  under  the  administration  of  such  officers. 
We  have  seen  the  State  defended  from  the  attacks  of  her  enemies 
without,  and  protected  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace  and  tranquillity 
within,  under  such  administrations.  We  have  seen  her  rising  to 
a  proud  pre-eminence  among  her  sister  States,  and  giving  strength 
and  confidence  to  the  national  government  under  such  an  admin 
istration.  Nay,  we  have  seen  the  same  individual,  at  one  time 
elevated  to  the  highest  executive  office  in  the  State  from  such  a 
nomination,  and  at  another  time  from  a  nomination  made  in  a 
different  manner.  Nor  have  we  been  able  to  discover  that  the 
pride  of  power  or  the  consequence  of  office  were  more  sensibly 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  107 

felt  or  more  boldly  manifested,  when  the  former  mode  of  nomi 
nation  was  the  stepping-stone  to  the  office,  than  when  a  different 
nomination  effected  the  same  object.  Experience,  then,  has  as 
yet  exhibited  no  dangers  to  the  State  or  the  citizen,  arising  from 
this  mode  of  proposing  candidates  for  office.  The  agents  in 
making  these  nominations  are  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
carrying  with  them  the  strongest  evidence  of  public  confidence, — 
a  voluntary  election  by  a  majority  of  their  immediate  constituents. 
Principle,  then,  cannot  be  violated  while  these  constituents  ask 
of  them  the  performance  of  this  duty,  or  whilst  their  interest  or 
the  interests  of  the  public  can  be  subserved  by  a  prompt  dis 
charge  of  it.  Nothing,  therefore,  but  the  strongest  reasons  of 
policy  and  expediency  can,  at  this  time,  excuse  the  republican 
members  of  the  Legislature  from  following  the  course  which  has 
been  so  long  and  so  successfully  pursued  by  the  republican  party. 
But  those  reasons,  they  do  believe,  at  this  time  exist,  and  to  give 
them  in  the  most  plain  and  undisguised  manner  to  their  con 
stituents  is  the  object  of  this  address. 

"  Formerly  our  annual  elections  were  in  the  spring,  and  followed 
close  upon  the  adjournment  of  the  Legislature.  The  minds  of 
the  electors  were  drawn  to  the  subject  of  the  officers  to  be 
elected,  and,  if  a  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  were  of  the 
number,  the  public  mind  of  the  whole  State  was  occupied  in  can 
vassing  the  merits  of  the  several  individuals  who  might  chance 
to  be  named  for  those  distinguished  offices ;  and  ordinarily, 
before  the  members  of  the  Legislature  were  called  together  to 
name  the  candidate,  the  public  feeling  had  marked  the  man  to 
receive  that  honor  too  strongly  to  be  mistaken.  But  if  at  any 
time  this  may  not  have  been  the  case,  yet  that  same  feeling 
would  be  in  a  state  of  preparation  to  have  its  doubts  and  per 
plexities  resolved,  by  the  naming  of  one  from  the  number  of 
persons  who  might  be  too  nearly  balanced  in  the  public  mind 
to  enable  the  superior  qualifications  of  either  to  produce  a  pre 
ponderance  in  his  favor.  Then,  too,  all  the  conflicting  candi 
dates  for  those  offices  were  put  before  the  public  at  about  the 
same  period,  and  their  respective  qualifications  were  weighed 
with  a  reference  to  the  relative  merits  and  defects  of  each ;  an 
entire  view  of  the  persons  from  which  a  choice  was  to  be  made 


108  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

was  presented  to  the  elector  at  once,  and  his  judgment  was 
formed  from  a  comparative  estimate  of  all  the  candidates.  Now 
the  annual  elections  are  in  the  fall,  and  nearly  seven  months 
from  the  time  at  which  a  nomination  must  be  made,  if  made  by 
the  republican  members  of  the  Legislature  in  the  usual  manner. 

"  Hence  the  candidate  is  named  at  a  time  when  the  public  mind 
is  not  aroused  by  the  excitements  of  an  approaching  election  ; 
when  no  immediate  interest  is  felt  in  a  question,  the  determina 
tion  of  which  is  so  remote  ;  when  the  great  body  of  the  commu 
nity  cannot  be  drawn  to  an  attention  of  the  real  interests  they 
have  in  such  a  designation,  and  when  the  majority  of  the  electors 
of  the  State  have  neither  pointed  to  the  man  who  should  be  put 
in  nomination,  or  weighed  the  merits  of  the  respective  competi 
tors  for  so  high  a  distinction.  In  the  meantime,  no  candidate  is 
nominated  in  opposition  to  the  one  thus  selected  until  a  short 
time  before  the  election  ;  but  the  individual  receiving  this  early 
mark  of  the  confidence  in  his  political  friends  is  put  to  the 
necessity  of  bearing  the  test  of  public  scrutiny  against  himself  ; 
of  having  his  positive  and  negative  qualifications  canvassed  and 
discussed  by  the  partial  pens  of  political  opponents,  whilst  the 
standard  by  which  he  is  compared,  instead  of  being  an  opposing 
candidate  for  office  —  human  and  erring  like  himself  —  is  that 
ideal  perfection  with  which  the  human  mind  is  so  apt  to  deceive 
itself,  and  which  we  rather  wish  than  expect  to  find  in  men.  He 
stands  alone,  for  half  the  year,  before  the  public,  inviting  the 
scrutiny  of  his  political  friends  and  the  criticism  of  his  political 
enemies,  while  his  antagonist,  by  a  comparison  with  whom  he 
might  bear  the  one  and  rise  superior  to  the  other,  is  unnoticed, 
because  he  is  unknown. 

"The  merits  of  men,  if  merits  they  can  be  called,  exist  mostly 
by  comparison,  and  few  indeed  can  be  found  who  are  able,  for 
so  great  a  length  of  time,  without  the  benefit  of  this  comparison, 
to  endure,  uninjured,  the  storm  of  political  opposition,  interested 
in  the  destruction  of  that  character  which  it  has  been  well  said 
'  is  tarnished  by  too  much  handling.'  Hence,  prepossessions  and 
prejudices  are  formed  against  the  candidate  who  stands  so  long 
alone  before  the  public,  which  preclude  the  possibility  of  an 
impartial  comparison,  when  a  counter-nomination  affords  the 


LiifK  AND  TIM  us  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  109 

opportunity.  Hut  on  the  contrary,  the  mind  of  the  elector, 
having  become  biased  against  the  candidate,  whose  defects  have 
been  exhibited  and  magnified  by  long  and  frequent  repetition, 
seizes  the  alternative  presented  by  a  fresh  nomination,  not  because 
the  faults  of  the  second  candidate  are  less,  but  because  they  are 
less  known  to  him. 

"Another  important  advantage,  which  we  give  to  our  oppo 
nents  by  so  early  a  nomination,  is  the  opportunity  of  forming 
combinations  of  local  feeling  and  local  interests  against  any  per 
son  we  might  put  in  nomination,  and  of  selecting  their  candidates 
with  reference  to  such  sectional  and  partial  interests,  to  the 
exclusion  of  a  fair  expression  of  the  electors  of  the  State  in 
reference  to  the  principles  of  the  person  to  be  elected.  That 
many  parts  of  the  State  are  more  or  less  affected  with  questions 
of  a  local  and  sectional  nature  will  always  be  true,  and  that  such 
questions,  whenever  they  may  exist,  and  whatever  may  be  their 
extent  or  importance,  should  not  be  made  the  engines  of  a  political 
party,  or  the  subjects  of  a  deceptive  encouragement,  given  for 
political  purposes,  is  also  true.  If,  then,  the  candidates  of  both  or 
all  political  parties  are  put  before  the  public,  at  nearly  the  same 
time,  all  have  an  equal  interest  in  refraining  from  or  attempting 
these  combinations  ;  all  select  their  candidates  with  a  knowledge 
of  the  same  facts,  and  all  have  an  equal  time  to  embody  their 
friends,  and  the  various  interests  of  every  part  of  the  State,  in 
favor  of  their  respective  candidates.  Hence  these  local  combina 
tions  must  be  far  less  partial,  and  consequently  the  evil  to  be 
apprehended  from  them  far  less  extensive.  These  are  some  of 
the  reasons  which  have  induced  the  republican  members  of  the 
Legislature  to  omit,  at  this  time,  making  the  nominations  of  the 
candidates  of  Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  in  the  manner 
heretofore  practiced. 

"  But  what  mode  of  nomination  of  these  offices  to  recommend  to 
their  constituents,  or  in  what  manner  candidates  shall  be  brought 
before  the  public,  has  been  a  question  of  somewhat  difficult  solu 
tion.  No  plan,  however,  has  been  suggested  which  seemed  so 
likely  to  produce  a  satisfactory  result  as  .that  of  calling  a  general 
State  convention,  and  they  have,  therefore,  unanimously  con 
cluded  to  recommend  to  the  republican  party  of  the  State  that 


110  LIFE  AJVD  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

mode  of  making  these  nominations.  That  substantial  objections, 
in  a  State  so  large  as  ours,  exist  to  this  recommendation,  they  are 
fully  sensible;  and  that  considerable  personal  sacrifices,  and,  in 
some  instances,  heavy  expenditures,  must  be  incurred  to  carry 
this  recommendation  into  effect,  they  are  equally  aware.  That 
some  counties  may  omit  to  appoint  delegates;  that  county  con 
ventions  in  others  may  be  thinly  attended,  and  that  delegates 
appointed  may,  in  some  instances,  fail  to  attend  a  State  conven 
tion,  are  also  evils  justly  to  be  apprehended.  But  objections 
may  be  found  to  the  most  perfect  of  human  institutions,  and 
your  representatives,  in  recommending  the  adoption  of  this  mode 
of  nomination,  feel  the  fullest  confidence  that  that  deep  and 
active  interest  which  is  felt  by  every  republican  in  the  preserva 
tion  and  success  of  his  party  and  his  principles,  will  induce  him 
to  meet  and  obviate  these  difficulties  with  the  same  cheerfulness 
with  which  he  must  repeatedly  have  encountered  other  and 
greater  evils. 

"The  approaching  election  is  an  important  one  to  the  republi 
can  party  of  this  State,  both  on  a  (-count  of  the  number  and 
importance  of  the  offices  to  be  elected,  and  on  account  of 
the  peculiar  effect  the  result  of  that  election  may,  and  pro 
bably  will,  have  upon  the  future  strength  and  prosperity  of 
the  party  itself.  The  history  of  the  last  two  years  furnishes 
all  the  instruction  necessary  to  direct  us  successfully  through 
the  coming  contest.  The  divisions  which  unfortunately  dis 
tracted  and  divided  the  republican  party  in  1824  were  created 
by  a  premature  enlistment  of  our  prejudices  and  partialities 
towards  the  several  distinguished  individuals  who  were  then 
before  the  public  as  candidates  for  the  presidency.  In  the  inten 
sity  of  those  prejudices  and  those  partialities,  and  that,  too,  when 
our  real  interests  were  the  same,  we  forgot  our  duty  to  ourselves, 
dissolved  the  strong  ties  which  had  so  long  bound  us  together, 
and  the  consequences  are  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  every  repub 
lican.  But  when  reflection  returned,  that  strong  attachment  to 
sound  principles  and  usages,  which,  when  left  to  its  free  exercise, 
lias  never  failed  to  insure  success,  again  restored  us  to  harmony 
and  gained  our  election.  Shall  we  not,  then,  profit  by  the  lessons 
which  experience  has  so  recently  taught  us  ?  Shall  we  again,  and 


LIFE  AM)  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  HI 

so  soon,  suffer  ourselves  to  be  divided  by  the  same  causes  that 
produced  our  former  divisions  —  to  be  defeated  by  the  same 
causes  that  produced  our  late  disunion  ? 

"It  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  prejudices  and  partialities, as  to 
the  next  presidential  election,  are  already  beginning  to  prevail; 
that  a  variety  of  interests  are  actively  engaged  in  preparing  for 
that  distant  struggle,  and  that  efforts  will  be  made  to  intermix 
those  prejudices,  those  partialities  and  those  interests  in  our  next 
State  election.  If  wisdom  is  to  be  learned  from  experience, 
republicans  will  be  cautious.  If  they  are  honest  to  themselves 
they  will  remain  united.  They  will  surrender  their  partialities 
for  men,  to  their  attachment  to  the  interests  of  the  party  and  the 
State.  They  will  select  as  candidates  for  office,  not  the  followers  of 
any  man,  but  the  followers  and  adherents  of  republican  principles, 
and,  without  inquiring  for  their  presidential  partialities,  they  will 
support  them  as  republicans.  In  choosing  delegates  to  the  conven 
tion,  let  it  be  a  subject  of  interest  to  the  yeomanry  of  the  respective 
counties  that  their  delegations  are  selected  from  the  sound 
democracy  of  their  county;  that  they  are  men  of  liberal  views, 
but  of  unshaken  constancy — men  who,  in  selecting  a  candidate 
for  the  office  of  Governor,  will  not  ask,  is  he  friendly  to  this  or 
that  man  for  the  presidency,  but  is  he  a  republican  ?  Has  he 
been  firm  in  his  adherence  to  republican  principles  and  the 
republican  cause?  Is  he  honest,  capable,  and  faithful  to  the 
Constitution  ?  In  a  convention  composed  of  such  delegates,  no 
divisions  are  to  be  apprehended;  but  the  selection  of  candidates 
who  would  unite  the  feelings  and  secure  the  support  of  the  whole 
party  would  be  the  certain  result.  Pursue  a  different  course  and 
our  former  divisions  are  renewed,  our  strength  divided,  and  our 
defeat  inevitable.  Republicans!  the  present  political  calm  in 
this  State  is  deceptive  and  portentous.  Suffer  not  yourselves  to 
be  deluded  by  it.  It  is  the  stillness  which  precedes  an  impending 
storm.  Permit  not  yourselves  to  sleep  till  you  are  swept  away 
by  its  fury.  Your  opponents  are  not  changed.  They  would 
fain  amuse  you  with  their  song  of  peace,  while  they  rally  from 
defeat  and  prepare  again  to  meet  you  at  the  polls.  But  let  the 
union  which  now  prevails  among  republicans  be  cherished  and 
preserved;  let  the  recent  prejudices  which  have  existed  pass 


112  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

away  with  the  causes  which  have  produced  them,  and  suffer  not 
others  of  a  similar  character  to  be  admitted  in  their  stead;  let 
your  candidates  for  office  be  carefully  and  judiciously  selected  - 
men  honest,  faithful  and  capable,  uniting  the  confidence  and 
feelings  of  republicans  —  and  you  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
consequences  of  such  a  meeting.  Consider  the  proposed  altera 
tion  in  the  manner  of  nominating  your  Governor  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor  not  as  an  abandonment  of  principles  and  usages  which 
have  heretofore  governed  and  sustained  the  democracy  of  the 
State,  but  as  an  alteration  rendered  necessary  by  the  change  in 
the  organization  of  your  government,  and  rather  as  an  additional 
inducement  to  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  principle  of  regular  nomi 
nations  by  delegated  conventions.  Let  your  town  conventions 
be  punctually  and  carefully  attended, —  your  county  conventions 
represented  by  a  sound,  a  judicious  delegation,  and  you  will  thus 
insure  a  State  convention  whose  proceedings  may  prove  that  the 
interests  of  the  party  are  bettered  by  the  change  in  the  mode  of 
nomination.  Your  last  election  proves  that  you  have  the  power 
to  succeed;  that  harmony  of  sentiment  and  concert  of  action  will 
render  you  irresistible;  in  short,  that  if  you  are  defeated,  you 
will  defeat  yourselves. 

"JOHN  BOWMAN.  JOSHUA  SMITH. 

JONAS  CLEAND.  LATHAM  A.  BUJBROWS. 

CHARLES  STEBBINS.  FRANCIS  COOPER. 

JAMES  BURT.  SHERMAN  WOOSTER. 

HENRY  B.  COWLES.  DAVID  GARDINER. 

SILAS  WRIGHT,  Jr.  THOMAS  CRARY. 

JONAS  EARLL,  Jr.  SAMUEL  YOUNG. 

DANIEL  CRUGER.  STUKELY  ELLSWORTH. 

ISAAC  R.  ADRIANCE.  THOMAS  DIBBLE. 

PETER  HAGAR,  2d.  DANIEL  D.  AKIN. 

BARON  S.  DOTY.  JACOB  HAIGHT. 

STEPHEN  ALLEN.  ROBERT  ELDRIDGE. 

PARLEY  KEYES.  LEVI  BEARDSLEY. 

AUGUSTUS  FILLEY.  WELLS  LAKE. 

DAVID  BENEDICT.  JOSIAH  FISK. 

P.  R.  LIVINGSTON.  NATHAN  BENSON. 

WILLAM  FITCH.  JAMES  MALLORY. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


113 


PHILIP  BRASHER. 
JAMES  McCALL. 
JOHN  G.  FORBES. 
DAVID  W.  BUCKLIN. 
WILLIAM  NELSON. 
MALTBY  GELSTON. 
PHINEAS  STANTON. 
USHER  H.  MOORE. 
JAMES  HALL. 
WM.  TOWNSEND. 
WILLIAM  PIERCE. 
BENJ.  HENDRICKS. 
DAVID  TROPP. 
PETER  ROBINSON. 
FREBORN  G.  JEWETT. 
DANIEL  WARDWELL. 
AB'M  SH.ULTZ. 
TILLY  LYNDE. 
JAMES  WILEY. 
JOSEPH  SCOFIELD. 
MARTINUS  MATTICE. 
HEN.  WILLIAMS. 
WILLIAMS  SEAMAN. 
JAMES  W.  GLASHEN. 
DAVID  WOODCOCK. 
AVERY  SMITH. 
ISAAC  MINARD. 


ELIAL  T.  FOOTE. 
CHAUNCEY  BETTS. 
ARCH'D  MC!NTYRE. 
JOHN  FRENCH. 
JOSIAH  CHURCHILL. 
ROBERT  MONELL. 
E.  A.  G.  B.  GRANT. 
WM.  A.  TOMPSON. 
HORATIO  ORRIS. 
ISAAC  HAYES. 
JOHN  TRACY. 
JON.  E.  ROBINSON. 
OGDEN  HOFFMAN. 
EAMONA  YARNEY. 
ERASTUS  ROOT. 
MARTIN  LAWRENCE. 
GRATTAN  WHEELER. 
NICHOLAS  SCHUYLER. 
JOHN  LYNDE. 
DAVID  WILLARD. 
DANIEL  SCOT. 
HUDSON  M'FARLAN. 
J.  H.  WILLIAMSON. 
ALPIIEUS  SHERMAN. 
AMOS  MILLER, 
BENJ.  WOODWARD. 
JOHN  H.  SMITH." 


8 


114  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W MIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  VAN  BU11EN  LETTER. 

A  calm  survey  of  the  Held  of  battle  of  1824  furnished 
ample  materials  for  reflection  upon  the  past  and  specula 
tions  upon  the  future.  There  was  found  far  more  to  con 
demn  than  to  approve.  But,  to  active  and  aspiring  men, 
the  future  furnished  most  ample  ground  for  contempla 
tion.  It  was  believed  that  Mr.  Clinton  would  be  nomi 
nated  for  re-election  in  the  fall  of  1826,  and  that  he  had 
determined  that  he  would  support  Gen.  Jackson  at  the 
next  presidential  election.  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  then  in 
the  United  States  Senate  at  Washington,  and  it  was 
known  that  he  had  concluded  to  support  the  General. 
It  then  became  a  question  whether  the  democratic  party 
should  nominate  a  candidate  to  run  against  Mr.  Clinton 
for  Governor,  or  let  the  election  go  by  default.  It  was 
known  that  a  large  portion  of  those  formerly  designated 
as  Buck  tails  could  not  be  induced  to  vote  for  Mr.  Clinton. 
It  was  said  in  Albany  that  Mr.  Van  Buren,  under  the 
circumstances,  thought  that  no  nomination,  in  opposition 
to  Mr.  Clinton,  ought  to  be  made.  Mr.  WRIGHT  and 
others  there  looked  at  the  matter  from  another  stand 
point,  and  had  arrived  at  a  different  conclusion.  At 
Albany  it  was  thought  best  to  communicate  their  views 
to  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  and  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  selected  for  that 
duty. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  Alva  Hunt,  dated  the  20th  of 
September,  1844,  Mr.  WRIGHT  refers  to  this  subject  and 
says : 

"  This  is  a  sketch  of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  letter 
was  written.  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  President  by  the  House  of 


LlFK    AM)    TlMKS    OF  Si  LAS    Will  OUT.  H5 

Representatives,  in  February,  1825.  Mr,  Clay  had  supported  him 
and  taken  office  under  him,  and  Gen.  Jackson  had  been  announced 
as  a  candidate  against  him,  and  Mr.  Clinton  had  become  a  Jackson 
man.  His  object  was  to  retain  the  political  power  of  the  State,  and 
show  to  the  Union  that  he  held  it.  Our  democracy  had  been,  at 
the  election  of  1824,  much  divided  between  Adams,  Crawford, 
Clay  and  Calhoun,  there  being  no  party  for  Gen.  Jackson.  Those 
who  had  been  for  Adams  and  Clay  were  not  ready,  in  the  winter 
of  1 825-26,  to  come  out  against  Mr.  Adams'  administration,  and 
go  in  for  Gen.  Jackson,  though  the  policy  of  the  administration, 
then  being  developed  during  the  first  session  of  Congress  under 
it,  was  fast  making  them  see  that  Mr.  Adams  had  really  been  the 
federal  candidate.  The  republicans  who  had  been  friendly  to 
Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Calhoun  were  ready  to  range  themselves 
on  the  side  of  Gen.  Jackson.  Mr.  Clinton  wished  to  make  that 
question  at  the  approaching  Governor's  election,  to  be  the  Jackson 
candidate  for  Governor  himself  ;  knowing,  as  lie  did,  that  the 
federal  party  would  nominate  him  and  no  one  else,  as  they  did, 
early  in  the  season  ;  and  we  had  reason,  at  Albany,  to  believe 
that  Mr.  Van  Buren,  at  Washington,  was  entertaining  the  opinion 
that  we  had  better  make  no  nomination  of  Governor,  and  let  Mr. 
Clinton  run  alone. 

"  Gov.  Marcy,  Mr.  Flagg,  Judge  Keyes  and  myself,  with  almost 
all  our  other  friends  at  Albany,  entertained  a  different  opinion, 
and  by  the  particular  request  of  those  three  friends  I  wrote  the 
letter  and  showed  it  to  them,  and  sent  it  to  Mr.  Y.  B.  You  will 
see,  from  reading  it,  that  I  had  (in  view)  two  objects:  first,  that 
we  should  nominate  and  run  a  candidate  for  Governor,  against 

7         O 

Mr.  Clinton,  to  keep  our  party  in  the  State  together;  and,  second, 
that  we  should  not  make  the  presidential  question  at  that  elec 
tion,  because  it  would  divide  the  democracy,  and  I  was  confident 
that  time  would  bring  them  all  to  oppose  Mr.  Adams.  The  real 
offense  was,  and  is  yet,  that  the  letter  aided  to  break  up  another 
intrigue,  having  for  its  object  the  division  and  defeat  of  the 
democratic  party  in  the  State,  and  Mr.  Y.  B.  being  absent  at 
Washington,  and  not  having  the  opportunity  to  see  the  move 
ments  at  home,  \ve  feared  was  about  to  be  deceived  and  misled 
by  it." 


116  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

As  to  the  manner  of  this  letter  being  obtained  and 
made  public,  he  says : 

"  It  was  not  in  a  piece  of  furniture  sold  at  auction,  as  the  pub 
lishers  of  it  now  pretend  —  nor  was  that  the  first  pretense  —  but 
it  was  purloined,  Mr.  Y.  B.  never  knew  how  or  by  whom.  It 
was  a  private  letter,  and  bears  that  character  upon  its  face,  as 
published,  and  so  purloined  it  was  published;  and  I  have  many 
reasons  for  supposing  Jabez  D.  Hammond,  the  historian,  could 
tell,  if  he  should  choose,  as  much  about  the  whole  matter  as  any 
man  living.  All  the  stories  assume  that  the  letter  must  have 
left  Mr.  V.  B.'s  possession  when  he  removed  from  Albany,  upon 
his  appointment  as  Secretary  of  State,  under  Gen.  Jackson,  in 
the  spring  of  1829;  and  yet  it  was  not  published  until  the  fall  of 
1830,  having  been  retained  more  than  a  year  and  a  half,  and  over 
one  election." 

This  letter  was  dated  the  4th  of  April,  1826.  In  it, 
Mr.  WRIGHT  stated,  among  other  things,  that  great 
"alarm  had  been  excited  among  his  political  friends  in 
Albany,  because  Mr.  Noah,  of  the  National -Advocate,  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  editor  of  a  democratic  and  Craw 
ford  paper,  and  some  others  in  that  city,  had  come  out 
for  Mr.  Clinton  for  Governor  and  Nathaniel  Pitcher  for 
Lieutenant- Governor."  Mr.  'WEIGHT  contended  that 
such  a  policy  would  be  unwise  and  dangerous  ;  that  the 
Adams  party,  which  then  composed  a  large  portion  of 
the  democratic  party,  would,  if  no  candidate  in  opposi 
tion  to  Mr.  Clinton  was  regularly  nominated,  make  a 
nomination,  and  such  candidate,  he  said,  "the  great 
body  of  our  political  friends  throughout  the  State  would 
enlist  themselves  to  support  against  Mr.  Clinton." 

"  Should  we  decline  to  support  the  candidate  run  against  Mr. 
Clinton  because  he  was  friendly  to  Adams,  this  would  inevitably 
induce  the  friends  of  that  candidate,  two-thirds  of  whom,  so  far 
as  the  State  is  concerned,  would  be  our  friends,  not  only  to  run 
for  Congress,  Senate  and  Assembly  tickets,  but  to  run  them 
pledged  for  Adams.  In  any  event,  then,  from  this  state  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  117 

things,  it  does  appear  to  me  that  we  should  be  between  two 
fires,  without  the  least  prospect  of  escaping  the  flames,  instead 
of  bringing  of  the  spoils" 

This  last  sentiment  was  the  subject  of  severe  animad 
version,  and  especially  by  hypocrites  who  had  devoted 
their  lives  to  work  of  securing  political  "spoils."  Not 
one  of  those  who  were  loud  and  severe  in  these  denun 
ciations  failed  to  secure  spoils  to  the  greatest  possible 
extent.  The  principle  is  old,  and  the  practice  is  only  lim 
ited  by  unsuccessful  efforts  of  hungry  partisans. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  then  proceeds  to  consider  the  question  of 
who  should  be  nominated.  He,  under  the  seal  of  confi 
dence,  discusses  with  freedom  the  merits  of  several  gen 
tlemen  who  had  been  spoken  of  for  nomination.  Among 
these  was  William  B.  Rochester,  then  circuit  judge  of  the 
eighth  district,  and  Nathan  Sanford,  late  chancellor,  and 
others.  His  description  of  each  is  graphic  and  just,  both 
personally  and  politically.  He  finally  recommended  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Sanford. 

Mr.  Hammond,  in  his  History,  expresses  the  opinion 
that  Mr.  Van  Buren  brought  this  letter  with  him  when 
he  came  from  Washington  to  Albany,  in  January,  1829, 
to  be  inaugurated  Governor  of  New  York,  and  on  return 
ing  in  March,  to  become  Secretary  of  State  under  Gen. 
Jackson,  it  was  accidently  left  in  a  bureau  which  was  sold 
at  auction,  and  bid  in  by  one  Frederick  Porter,  a  mer 
chant  of  Albany.  He  adds,  that  Porter  brought  the 
letter  to  him,  and  that  he  advised  him  to  return  it  to  Mr. 
WEIGHT,  who  was  then  Comptroller  of  the  State.  This 
Mr.  Porter  allowed  the  letter  to  be  published  in  the  Work- 
ingmen's  Advocate,  an  an ti- democratic  paper.  Mr. 
Hammond  thus  accounts  for  his  having  the  knowledge  on 
this  subject  which  occasioned  the  remark  of  Mr.  WRIGHT 
in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Hunt.  It  does  not  seem  possible  that 
this  letter  was  sold  in  a  desk  at  auction,  and  retained  a 
year  and  a  half  by  the  purchaser  before  showing  it. 


118  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Why  did  not  Porter  act  on  Hammond' s  advice  ?  It  was 
doubtless  purloined,  but  whether  by  Porter,  or  who  else, 
there  is  no  evidence. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  design  of  this  publica 
tion  was  to  involve  Mr.  WEIGHT  in  difficulty  with  those 
whose  characters  and  positions  he  had  so  freely  but 
truthfully  discussed.  But  those  causing  the  publication 
of  this  confidential  letter  utterly  failed  in  accomplishing 
their  unjustifiable  and  malignant  object.  The  persons 
to  whom  he  referred  promptly  notified  Mr.  WEIGHT 
that  they  saw  nothing  wrong  on  his  part,  and  that  it 
should,  in  no  respect,  affect  their  friendly  relations.  The 
principal  effect  of  this  publication  was  to  show  to  the 
public  that  it  was  the  young  Senator  from  St.  Lawrence, 
instead  of  senior  politicians,  who  had  combined  and  led 
the  distracted  democratic  party  in  New  York  out  of  its 
entanglements,  and  enabled  it  to  make  Mr.  Van  Buren 
Governor  in  1828,  which  contributed  to  the  elevation  of 
Gen.  Jackson  to  the  presidency,  and  the  triumph  of  the 
democratic  party  in  the  State  for  a  long  series  of  years. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  119 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

NOMINATED   AND   ELECTED    TO    CONGRESS. 

No  public  officer  ever  more  rapidly  won  the  esteem  of 
his  associates  than  Mr.  WRIGHT  in  the  State  Senate. 
His  talents,  frankness,  candor  and  conciliatory  deport 
ment  commanded  the  respect  not  only  of  political  friends, 
but  even  of  his  adversaries  of  the  severest  kind.  The 
abuse  heaped  upon  him  by  the  Clintonians  and  people' s 
party,  in  relation  to  the  electoral  law,  excited  the  strong 
sympathy  of  the  entire  democratic  party  in  the  State, 
and  especially  in  northern  New  York.  Mr.  WEIGHT 
resided  in  the  twentieth  congressional  district,  consisting 
of  St.  Lawrence,  Jefferson,  Livingston  and  Oswego 
counties,  then  represented  by  Nicholl  Fosdick,  of  St. 
Lawrence,  and  Daniel  Hugunin,  of  Oswego,  elected  by 
anti- democrats.  The  democracy  of  the  district,  with 
entire  unanimity,  and  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of 
the  party  in  the  State,  nominated  him  for  Congress,  with 
Rudolph  Bunner,  of  Oswego,  for  a  colleague.  Mr. 
WRIGHT  was  the  first  of  the  distinguished  seventeen  who 
was  presented  to  the  people  for  their  suffrages.  It  was 
a  distinct  challenge  to  the  adversaries  of  the  democracy, 
who  nominated  Mr.  Fosdick  for  re-election,  and  Elisha 
Camp,  of  Jefferson,  as  his  associate.  The  contest  was  a 
most  animated  one,  calling  out  the  most  active  exertions 
of  the  friends  of  Mr.  WRIGHT  on  one  side,  and  occasion 
ing  a  most  determined  opposition  on  the  other.  A  more 
warmly-contested  congressional  election  had  never  been 
known  in  the  State.  Three  of  the  celebrated  seventeen 
resided  in  this  district,  and  one,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  was  a 
candidate  brought  forward,  in  part,  at  the  instance  of 


120  LIFE  AND  TJMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

the  other  two  —  Parley  Keyes,  of  Jeff erson,  and  Alvin 
Bronson,  of  Oswego  county.  Mr.  Bronson,  one  of  the 
fairest  and  best  of  men,  was  not  noted  as  a  politician ; 
but  Mr.  Keyes  was  esteemed  one  of  the  foremost  in  the 
State,  — though  without  education,  was  distinguished  for 
his  sound  sense,  great  shrewdness  and  untiring  energy. 
No  one  managed  a  political  contest  with  more  vigor  and 
skill.  He  was  an  ardent  and  sincere  friend,  and  con 
siderably  advanced  in  years.  Being  in  the  Senate  with 
him,  he  early  discovered  the  talents  and  good  qualities 
of  Mr.  WRIGHT,  and  soon  regarded  him  almost  as  a  son. 
This  called  out  his  best  exertions.  With  such  supporters 
the  effort  to  defeat  Mr.  WEIGHT  was  doomed  to  fail. 
Mr.  Bunner  was  a  most  excellent  man,  who  had  not  been 
in  public  life  so  as  to  become  a  special  target  to  be  aimed 
at.  The  contest  was  really  over  Mr.  WKIGHT.  Through 
him  the  democracy  triumphed.  He  and  Mr.  Bunner 
were  elected  by  over  500  majority.  Under  the  circum 
stances,  this  was  a  wonderful  triumph.  His  political 
enemies  had  expected  to  crush  him  out  and  destroy  all 
future  hope  concerning  him.  But  his  triumph  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  long  and  successful  career  in  public 
life,  during  which  he  commanded  the  esteem,  respect 
and  confidence  of  all  good  men  to  an  unequaled  extent. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  121 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

RETIRES  FROM  THE  STATE  SENATE. 

Under  his  election  to  Congress,  in  November,  1826,  Mr. 
WEIGHT  became  entitled  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  on  the  4th  of  March,  1827.  Between 
these  two  periods  he  continued  to  perform  his  duties  as 
Senator.  Some  of  his  most  important  services  were  then 
rendered.  His  great  report  on  the  canal  policy  was  then 
prepared.  Not  wishing  to  run  any  hazard  concerning  the 
action  of  Gov.  Clinton,  in  case  he  continued  in  the 
Senate  after  the  third  of  March,  he  resigned  his  senator- 
ship,  to  take  effect  on  the  fourth  of  March.  To  promote 
the  convenience  of  others,  and  without  profit  to  himself, 
he  had  continued  to  hold  the  office  of  postmaster  at  Can 
ton.  This  he  also  resigned,  to  take  effect  on  the  same 
day.  These  two  resignations  put  an  end  to  the  warmly 
agitated  question  of  the  Governor' s  declaring  his  seat  in 
Congress  vacant,  and  issuing  a  writ  of  election  to  fill  a 
vacancy. 

The  expressions  of  regret  on  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  retiring 
from  the  Senate  were  general  and  heartfelt.  Those  who 
differed  with  him  in  opinion  admired  his  candor  and 
frankness,  and  respectful  deportment  and  superior 
talents,  while  he  was  almost  idolized  by  his  political 
friends.  The  aged  parted  with  him  as  from  a  son, 
expressing  strong  hopes  and  expectations  of  his  future 
in  the  new  field  upon  which  he  was  about  to  enter,  and 
the  young  as  parting  from  a  kind,  unselfish  brother, 
whose  footsteps  it  was  safe  to  follow.  No  man  ever 
retired  from  a  legislative  body  more  esteemed  and 
respected  by  all 


122  LIFE  AI\D  TIMKS  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

WHAT    HE    OMITTED    TO    DO. 

The  immense  size  of  St.  Lawrence  county,  and  the 
expectation  that  the  county  buildings  would  be  removed 
from  Ogdensburgh  to  the  central  position  at  Canton,  has 
been  mentioned  among  the  inducements  for  Mr.  WEIGHT'S 
locating  at  that  place.  Under  such  circumstances  it 
might  have  been  expected  that  he  would  become  an  agi 
tator  of  that  question.  It  would  have  been  easy  for  him 
while  in  the  Senate  to  have  procured  the  passage  of  an 
act  requiring  the  removal,  after  having  made  suitable 
land  purchases  to  profit  by  it.  But  he  did  neither.  The 
selfishness  of  others  precipitated  action  when  it  occurred. 
People  in  Jefferson  county  sought  the  formation  of  a  new 
county  by  uniting  a  part  of  St.  Lawrence  with  a  portion  of 
Jefferson,  fixing  the  county  buildings  at  Ox-bow.  Others 
in  the  east  end  of  St.  Lawrence  wanted  the  county  divided, 
making  a  new  county,  with  public  buildings  at  Potsdam, 
leaving  the  old  county  with  the  court-house  at  Ogdens 
burgh.  These  schemes  were  manfully  resisted  by  the  people 
of  Canton  arid  other  places.  They  correctly  insisted  that 
the  influence  and  importance  of  the  county  would  be 
greatly  diminished  by  the  division.  Each  portion  would 
have  its  own  separate  interests,  in  which  the  other  would 
not  participate.  If  kept  together,  the  county  would  soon 
have  three  members  in  the  Assembly,  and  would  wield  a 
powerful  influence  in  the  politics  and  legislation  of  the 
State.  The  question  of  removal  became  one  of  controlling 
importance  in  the  local  election  of  1827,  and  was  decided 
by  the  people,  who  elected  Jabez  Willes  and  Moses  Row 
ley  to  the  Assembly,  as  friendly  to  that  measure.  On 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  28th  of  January,  1828,  when  Mr.  WRIGHT  had  been 
some  two  months  attending  to  his  duties  in  Congress,  and 
had  been  out  of  the  Senate  nearly  a  year,  the  act  for 
removal  was  passed.  At  that  time  he  had  made  no  pur 
chases  of  real  estate  or  other  preparations,  to  profit  one 
cent  thereby.  The  removal  was  in  pursuance  of  the  voice 
of  the  majority  of  the  voters  of  the  county.  It  was  the 
work  of  the  people,  and  not  of  Mr.  WEIGHT  through 
his  unbounded  influence  in  the  Legislature.  Nothing 
could  more  conclusively  demonstrate  that  he  was  utterly 
unselfish,  and  that  on  no  occasion  would  he  make  his 
official  position  the  means  of  improving  his  pecuniary 
affairs.  In  his  course  on  this  subject  we  have  the  clearest 
possible  evidence  that,  in  all  such  matters,  he  was  guided 
by  duty,  and  not  by  love  of  dollars. 


124  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

MR  WRIGHT  IN  THE  TWENTIETH  CONGRESS  AT  ITS  FIRST 

SESSION. 

Mr.  WEIGHT  took  the  Constitutional  oath,  and  a  seat 
in  Congress,  on  the  3d  of  December,  1827.  The  result  of 
the  presidential  election  of  1824  had  left  the  political 
situation  in  an  anomalous  condition.  The  number  of 
candidates  for  the  chair  of  State  had  been  reduced  to  two. 
Mr.  Crawford  had  retired  to  a  judgeship  in  Georgia.  Mr. 
Calhoun  was  enjoying  the  honors  of  the  Vice-Presidency. 
Mr.  Clay  had  been  absorbed  by  Mr.  Adams,  whom  he 
was  serving  as  Secretary  of  State.  Mr.  Adams,  without 
a  party  in  phalanx  agreeing  with  him  in  everything,  and 
ready  to  act  on  all  occasions  in  concert,  was  laboring  in 
the  presidency,  hoping  to  form  a  numerous  and  harmo 
nious  party.  Gen.  Jackson  was  enjoying  home  life,  at 
the  Hermitage,  leaving  to  his  friends  the  management  of 
his  political  fortunes.  The  great  issues  to  be  tried  by  the 
electors,  in  1828,  had  not  been  fully  developed  or  pre 
sented  in  tangible  form.  Each  of  the  former  candidates 
had  friends,  with  views  more  or  less  definite  on  political 
subjects. 

Their  numbers  were  sufficient  to  command  respectful 
attention.  But  the  labor  of  harmonizing  them  was  not 
easy,  if  it  was  not  a  hopeless  task.  Mr.  Adams  had 
selected  his  positions  in  his  messages,  leaving  Gen.  Jack 
son1  s  friends  the  advantage  of  general  objections  and  the 
choice  of  unoccupied  ground  to  stand  upon.  The  coun 
try  resembled  a  chess-board,  with  armies  arrayed,  with 
out  players  who  could  calculate  with  certainty  what 
service  each  individual  will  perform.  The  inducement 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  125 

which  would  bring  one  into  line  would  upset  and  drive 
another  away.  The  leading  players  studied  the  field 
with  reference  to  these  considerations.  Selfish  motives, 
founded  upon  local  interests,  were  oftener  appealed  to 
than  constitutional  and  patriotic  principles.  The  labor 
of  harmonizing  and  combining  such  elements  was  the 
task  committed  to  those  giving  direction  to  political 
opinion. 

It  was  conceded  the  New  England,  as  well  as  certain 
an  ti- democratic  States,  would  again  go  for  Mr.  Adams, 
and  that  certain  southern  and  western  States  would  vote 
for  Gen.  Jackson.  But  it  was  expected  that  the  votes  of 
New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  would  control  the 
result.  The  great  game  was  played  with  reference  to 
the  votes  of  these  States,  whose  wishes,  as  a  whole,  were 
unknown.  Neither  side  sought  concerted  action  through 
a  national  convention,  and  both  repudiated  caucuses. 
Each  claimed  to  be  democratic. 

A  tariff  to  protect  American  manufactures  was  passed 
in  1816,  by  the  votes  of  Lowndes  and  Calhoun,  of  South 
Carolina,  Tucker  and  Newton,  of  Virginia,  Forsyth,  of 
Georgia,  and  other  southern  gentlemen,  as  well  as  by 
Mr.  Clay  and  members  from  New  York,  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania.  Gov.  Yates,  in  1824,  and  afterward  in 
his  annual  messages,  took  ground  in  favor  of  encourag 
ing  domestic  manufactures  by  an  increase  of  duties  on 
foreign  importations.  This  theory  was  generally  received 
as  the  true  doctrine,  except  in  New  England,  where 
navigation  and  commerce  were  the  controlling  interests, 
manufactures  not  then  having  become  the  leading  busi 
ness  there. 

The  feeling  in  New  York  was  fully  indicated  by  reso 
lutions  introduced  into  the  Assembly,  on  the  28th  of 
January,  1828,  by  Daniel  Ward  well,  a  strong  Jackson 
man,  from  Jefferson  county,  an  excellent  and  good  man, 
who  subsequently  served  three  terms  in  Congress. 


126  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

fc<  Resolved,  That  the  Senators  of  this  State,  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  be  and  they  are  hereby  instructed,  and  the 
Representatives  of  this  State  be  requested,  to  make  every  proper 
exertion  to  effect  such  a  revision  of  the  tariff  as  will  afford  a 
sufficient  protection  to  the  growers  of  wool,  hemp  and  flax,  and 
the  manufacture  of  iron,  woolens  and  every  other  article,  so  far 
as  the  same  may  be  connected  with  the  interest  of  manufactures, 
agriculture  and  commerce. 

"Resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  Legislature,  That  the  provi 
sions  of  the  woolens  bill,  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
the  late  session  of  Congress,  whatever  advantages  they  may  have 
promised  to  manufacturers  of  woolen  goods,  did  not  afford  ade 
quate  encouragement  to  the  agriculturalist  and  growers  of  wool." 

Both  these  resolutions  passed  the  Assembly  and  Senate 
by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  were  transmitted  to  the  Sena 
tors  and  Members  in  Congress  from  New  York  by  the 
Governor. 

It  is  indicative  of  the  popular  feeling  that  they  passed 
without  dissent,  when  we  consider  that  it  is  not  probable 
that  one  in  ten  ever  read  the  woolens  bill  referred  to,  or 
had  any  precise  knowledge  on  the  general  subject 
embraced  in  the  resolutions.  The  country  was  excited 
upon  one  of  the  most  abstruse  subjects  known  to  politi 
cal  economy,  without  having  done  so  much  as  to  give 
the  subject  ua  sober  second  thought,"  if  they  had  given 
it  any  thought  at  all. 

But  these  resolutions  indicate  the  direction  in  which 
popular  opinion  was  setting  —  in  favor  of  the  farmer  and 
the  wool-grower,  as  much  as  of  the  manufacturer.  They 
pointed  out  the  ground  which  it  was  safe  for  a  New  York 
Member  of  Congress  to  occupy.  It  was  a  prudent  posi 
tion  for  Jackson  men  in  that  State  to  occupy.  They 
indicated  the  chord  which  might  be  safely  touched,  and 
the  music  which  it  might  be  expected  to  produce.  From 
this  brief  review,  the  reader  will  be  prepared  to  scrutinize 
and  understand  the  course  of  subsequent  events  for  the 


I IFE   AND    TlMKS   OF  SlLAS   WRIGHT.  127 

next  two  years.  Such  was  the  condition  of  things  when 
Mr.  WRIGHT  entered  upon  his  duties  in  Congress.  His 
reputation  for  talents,  industry,  and  many  other  good 
and  useful  qualities,  had  preceded  him. 

The  Committee  on  Manufactures,  though  not  first  in 
rank,  was  then  deemed  of  the  most  importance  politically. 
It  had  charge  of  the  all-important  subject  of  the  times. 
Rollin  C.  Mallory,  who  had  been  ten  years  in  Congress, 
from  Vermont,  and  an  able  and  ardent  protectionist,  was 
made  chairman  of  that  committee.  James  S.  Stevenson, 
of  Pennsylvania,  Lewis  Condit,  of  New  Jersey,  Thomas 
P.  Moore,  of  Kentucky,  SILAS  WEIGHT,  Jr.,  of  New 
York,  William  Stanberry,  of  Ohio,  and  William  I). 
Martin,  of  South  Carolina,  were  members  of  it.  All 
petitions  and  papers  relating  to  manufactures  and  the 
tariff  were  referred  to  it. 

On  the  31st  of  December,  Mr.  Mallory,  by  direction  of 
his  committee,  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

"  .Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Manufactures  be  vested  with 
the  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers." 

During  its  discussion,  Mr.  WRIGHT  thus  addressed  the 
House  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT,  of  New  York,  said  that,  as  he  had  been  honored 
with  a  situation  on  the  Committee  of  Manufactures,  he  felt  the 
more  entitled  to  ask  the  indulgence  of  the  House  in  offering  a 
few  statements  and  explanations,  in  reply  to  what  had  been  said 
on  the  other  side  ;  and  he  would  first  remark  it  was  three  weeks, 
and  not  four  weeks,  as  had  been  said,  since  the  members  com 
posing  that  committee  had  been  announced  to  the  House.  For 
some  days  after  their  appointment,  not  a  single  memorial,  either 
for  or  against  an  alteration  of  the  present  tariff  of  duties,  had 
been  laid  before  them.  Then  a  few  petitions,  very  briefly  and 
generally  expressed,  were  received  from  two  or  three  States  ;  and 
if  the  gentlemen,  who  seemed  to  censure  the  committee  for  negli 
gence,  had  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  these  documents,  they 
would  have  found  that  they  all  had  relation  to  what  had  been 


128  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

denominated  'A  National  Convention  in  Pennsylvania.'  Petitions 
of  this  kind  were  all  that  the  committee  had  before  them  for  a 
considerable  time.  When  he  said  this,  he  meant  officially  before 
them,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  committee  could  act  upon  them. 
He  admitted,  indeed,  that  the  members  of  the  committee  had, 
individually,  seen  a  pamphlet  which  had  been  freely  circulated, 
and  which  had  respect  to  the  doings  of  that  convention.  But  it 
was  never  officially  before  either  House  or  the  committee  until 
about  ten  days  ago.  This  was  all  the  time  the  committee  had 
had  to  deliberate  on  several  distinct  propositions  submitted  to 
them,  and  he  might  be  permitted  to  refer  to  the  proceedings  of 
this  House,  and  to  its  progress  in  business,  as  an  answer  to  the 
imputations  thrown  out  as  to  the  industry  of  the  committee.  The 
resolution  which  had  been  this  day  offered  had  been  resolved  on 
in  committee  some  days  ago,  and  it  was  presented  to  the  House 
on  the  very  first  opportunity  that  offered.  He  had  been  an 
advocate  for  its  adoption,  and  he  would  now  briefly  state  some 
of  the  reasons  that  had  influenced  him.  It  had  been  said  tl^at 
all  the  information,  necessary  to  a  right  decision  on  the  general 
subject,  is  already  before  the  House  and  the  committee.  This 
might  be  true  for  aught  he  knew.  His  own  experience  in  legis 
lation  had  been  very  short,  and  he  was  unable  to  say  what  amount 
of  knowledge  might  be  possessed  by  others  ;  but  for  himself, 
from  the  industry  which  he  had  been  able  to  bring  to  bear  within 
the  short  time  allowed  him  (and  he  had  examined  diligently  all  the 
public  documents  and  reports  of  former  committees  which  were 
said  to  contain  this  species  of  information),  he  found  himself  still 
greatly  at  a  loss  and  in  want  of  much  information  of  which  the 
public  documents  were  destitute.  The  whole  subject  stood  in 
need  of  the  exhibition  of  more  precise  detail.  Two  questions 
had  been  submitted  to  the  committee;  the  first  was,  are  any  alter 
ations  at  all,  in  the  existing  tariff,  at  this  time  necessary  ?  It 
had  been  said  that  on  this  point  the  public  mind  had  been  deeply 
interested,  and  the  public  sentiment  expressed  with  sufficient 
clearness  to  authorize  the  committee  in  coming  to  an  affirmative 
decision.  Should  this  be  admitted,  another  question  arose,  and 
that  was,  to  what  extent  is  this  alteration  necessary,  in  order  to 
attain  the  ends  in  view  ?  On  this  question,  gentlemen  might 


LlFK   AND    TlMKS    Ol<'  til  LAS   WRIGHT. 

examine  all  the  memorials  of  the  manufacturers,  all  the  reports 
of  the  Committee  of  Manufactures,  as  well  as  the  executive  com 
munications  (at  least  as  far  as  he  had  been  able  to  investigate 
them),  and  they  would  not  discover  anything  to  inform  them 
whether  five,  eight  or  fifty  per  cent  was  to  be  added  to  the  pre 
sent  rate  of  duties.  Now,  this  was  precisely  the  kind  of  informa 
tion  of  which  he  stood  in  need;  he  meant  to  be  understood  as 
referring  to  some  particular  branches  of  manufacture,  and  there 
were  others  of  a  similar  character  on  which  other  petitions  might 
yet  be  presented.  There  were,  however,  some  branches  to  which 
these  remarks  did  not  apply.  But  one  chief  subject  on  which  he 
felt  this  want  of  information  was  the  manufacture  of  woolens. 
The  Harrisburg  convention  had,  on  this  subject,  proposed  a 
series  of  minimums  to  constitute  a  scale  of  duties,  which,  accord 
ing  to  their  judgment,  was  requisite  and  proper  for  the  protection 
of  that  manufacture.  But  had  the  members  of  that  convention 
given  to  the  world  any  facts  calculated  to  show  that  the  rates 
they  proposed  were  such  as  precisely  to  furnish  the  degree  of 
protection  required,  and  neither  to  fall  short  or  to  exceed  it  ?  He 
could  not  find  this  in  their  pamphlet. 

"  In  what  situation  did  he  stand  ?  As  a  servant  of  the  House, 
he  was  commanded  to  examine  a  certain  subject,  to  bring  his 
mind  to  a  conclusion  with  respect  to  it,  and  report  a  bill  for  the 
action  of  the  House.  The  House  had  a  claim  upon  him  for  the 
performance  of  that  duty,  and  he  was  unwilling  to  be  compelled 
to  report  upon  the  subject  when  he  was  not  in  possession  of  the 
facts  requisite  to  form  a  decision.  If,  indeed,  the  House  should 
say  to  him,  go  on  and  do  as  well  as  you  can  with  such  lights  as 
you  have,  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  obey  them.  All  he  wished 
was  to  express  the  difficulty  under  which  he  labored  in  the  dis 
charge  of  his  duty,  and  to  ask  the  House  to  assist  him.  If  they 
should  be  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  not  improper  to  do  so,  he 
was  entirely  willing  to  proceed  with  such  means  of  knowledge  as 
were  in  his  power. 

"  To  the  questions  whether  this  was  a  novel  case,  and  whether 

the  power  now  asked  resided  in  the  House,  he  did  not  profess 

himself  able  to   decide  ;    his   parliamentary  experience  had  not 

been  such  as  to  enable  him  to  do  so.     He  would,  however,  sug- 

9 


130  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

gest  to  his  colleague  [Mr.  Oakley],  who  had  offered  the  amend 
ment,  that,  as  it  now  stood,  it  did  not  require  the  witness  who 
might  be  summoned  to  bring  with  him  any  papers.  Supposing, 
then,  that  the  committee  should  send  for  the  agent  of  some 
manufacturing  establishment,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  him 
in  relation  to  its  concerns,  would  not  the  witness,  in  order  to 
give  precise  replies,  want  the  books  of  the  establishment?  By 
referring  to  these,  his  information  would  be  rendered  specific. 
He  suggested,  therefore,  whether  the  amendment  ought  not  to 
be  so  modified  as  to  attain  this  object." 

The  resolution  was  amended,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Oakley, 
by  adding,  uwith  a  view  to  ascertain  and  report  to  the 
House  such  facts  as  may  be  useful  to  guide  the  judgment 
of  this  House  in  relation  to  a  revision  of  the  tariff  duties 
on  imported  goods." 

The  resolution  was  thoroughly  discussed,  and,  after 
being  thus  amended,  passed,  ayes  102,  nays  88. 

Clothed  with  such  ample  powers,  the  committee  pro 
ceeded  to  take  evidence.  Stenographers  were  not  then 
employed  by  committees,  and  the  evidence  was  all  taken 
down  by  Mr.  WEIGHT,  with  his  own  hand.  He  drew 
the  report  presented  by  the  chairman  and  the  bill  which 
accompanied  it.  These  things  involved  labor  from  which 
most  men  would  have  shrunk.  But  he  chose  to  perform 
it,  as  it  enabled  him  fully  to  master  the  subject  in  hand. 

The  bill  conformed,  in  a  very  great  extent,  to  the  New 
York  platform.  Mr.  Mallory  moved  to  strike  out  certain 
provisions  in  the  bill,  deemed  over-advantageous  to  the 
agriculturalist  and  wool-grower,  and  insert  others  of  a 
different  character.  Upon  this  motion  discussion  arose. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  then  gave  his  views  in  a  speech,  which  no 
one  at  the  time  answered,  or  attempted  so  to  do.  In 
this  speech  he  presents  the  principle  upon  which,  as  a 
member  of  the  committee,  he  acted  in  framing  the  report 
and  bill.  The  following  extracts  will  disclose  the  grounds 
upon  which  he  stood  : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  \ :}  \ 

"And  here,  sir,  it  is  my  duty  to  premise  that  it  has  been  my 
object,  and  I  believe  it  to  have  been  the  object  of  a  majority  of 
the  committee,  to  frame  a  bill  which  should  have  in  view  the 
protection  of  the  leading  interests  of  the  country.  I  have  sup 
posed  that,  in  all  laws  having  reference  to  the  protection  of  the 
domestic  industry  of  this  country,  agriculture  should  be  con 
sidered  the  prominent  and  leading  interest.  This  I  have  con 
sidered  the  basis  upon  which  the  other  great  interests  rest,  and 
to  which  they  are  to  be  considered  as  subservient.  Still,  this  is 
not  to  be  considered  as  entitled  to  protection,  exclusive  of  the 
manufacturing  interest.  I  do  not  believe  that  a  law  which  would 
be  injurious  to  manufactures  would  be  beneficial  to  agriculture; 
but  I  do  believe  that  protection  to  manufactures  should  be  given 
with  express  reference  to  the  effect  upon  agriculture,  and  that 
no  protection  can  be  wise,  or  consistent  with  the  policy  of  this 
government,  which  has  not  for  its  object  to  add  strength  and 
vigor  to  this  great  and  vital  interest  of  the  country.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  commercial  interest,  as  it  also  is  only  subser 
vient  to  the  great  interests  of  agriculture. 

"  But,  sir,  it  will  be  found  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  draw 
a  bill  intended  to  furnish  general  protection  to  the  domestic 
industry  of  this  country  which  will  not,  in  some  of  its  provisions, 
operate  injuriously  upon  some  one  of  the  interests  concerned, 
and  in  some  sections  of  the  country.  One  leading  principle, 
however,  which  operated  upon  my  mind  in  the  formation  of  the 
present  bill,  is  that  it  is  not  and  cannot  be  the  policy  of  this 
government,  or  of  this  Congress,  to  turn  the  manufacturing  capi 
tal  of  this  country  to  the  manufacture  of  a  raw  material  of  a 
foreign  country,  while  we  do  or  can  produce  the  same  material 
in  sufficient  quantities  ourselves. 

"  This  I  consider  to  be  a  rule  of  universal  application,  and  to 
extend  itself  not  only  to  the  same  raw  material,  but  to  any  which 
shall  be  equally  valuable,  and  may  be  substituted  for  the  raw 
material  imported;  and  I  cannot  suppose  that,  in  legislating  for 
the  protection  of  the  industry  of  the  country,  this  rule  should 
ever  be  lost  sight  of." 

Such,  were  the  views  entertained  by  Mr.  WEIGHT, 
which  he  urged  upon  Congress  in  a  very  elaborate  speech. 


132  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

He  followed  the  views  of  the  people  of  his  State  and 
district  on  the  question  of  protection,  without  investi 
gating  or  discussing  the  principle  involved  in  conferring 
it.  The  principle  of  making  agriculture  the  leading  sub 
ject  of  consideration  could  not  be  questioned,  although 
in  practice  our  government  has  done  little  or  nothing  to 
promote  its  interest.  In  refusing  to  give  the  manufacturer 
of  wool  a  preference  over  the  wool-grower,  Mr.  WRIGHT 
acted  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  a  large  portion  of 
the  people.  He  was  considered  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
fearless  champions  of  the  farmer  in  Congress.  This  led 
to  his  re-election  to  Congress  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1828. 

His  political  adversaries  manifested  their  chagrin  at 
seeing  Mr.  WRIGHT  take  so  prominent  a  part  on  this 
tariff  question,  and  rising  so  far  above  the  position 
assigned,  in  the  public  estimation,  to  their  friend,  Mr. 
Mallory,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Manufactures. 
Prior  to  the  publication  of  his  speech  in  defense  of  the 
agricultural  interest,  the  Adams  newspapers  attempted 
to  ridicule  his  effort,  and  described  him  as  a  man  of  no 
importance,  who  resided  "way  up  north,  beyond  the 
Chateaugay  woods."  The  speech  spoke  for  itself,  and 
placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  wise  and  thinking  men, 
and  an  able  debater.  No  one  had  examined  the  ques 
tions  involved  with  more  industry  or  discussed  them 
with  greater  ability.  By  common  consent  he  was 
assigned  a  high  position  in  Congress  and  among  his 
political  friends.  The  effort  at  ridicule  gave  place  to 
high  respect  and  often  to  sincere  admiration. 

Mr.  Mallory  failed  to  secure  the  amendment  which  he 
proposed.  The  bill  was  considerably  modified  in  the 
House  and  essentially  changed  in  the  Senate,  in  which 
shape  it  finally  passed,  nearly  all  the  southern  members 
voting  against  it. 

The  bill,  as  finally  passed,  was  avowedly  one  for  the 
protection  of  growers,  producers  and  manufacturers,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  133 

not  for  revenue.  The  southern  people  called  it  a  "bill 
of  abominations."  They  conceded  the  right  to  raise 
revenue  by  imposing  a  tariff  of  duties,  and  that,  as  an 
incident,  protection  might  be  given  ;  but  denied,  emphati 
cally,  the  right  otherwise  to  give  protection.  Impost 
duties  for  the  purpose  of  protection  have  long  since  been 
repudiated.  Even  Mr.  Clay,  the  great  champion  of  the 
"American  system,"  declared  that  he  would  no  longer 
sustain  a  tariff  for  protection  "for  the  sake  of  protec 
tion."  The  true  constitutional  principle,  as  subsequently 
presented  and  defended  by  Mr.  WRIGHT,  is  now  almost 
universally  admitted,  but  in  practice  is  continually  vio 
lated  by  Congress. 


134  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

ME.    WRIGHT    AND    MR.    BARNARD. 

The  position  of  Mr.  WRIGHT,  a  new  member,  in  sus 
taining  a  bill  which  did  not  command  the  support  of  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  who  reported  it,  was  peculiar 
and  embarrassing.  He  had  to  encounter  not  only  John 
Davis  and  Isaac  C.  Bates,  of  Massachusetts,  Elisha  Whit- 
tlesey,  of  Ohio,  and  many  other  experienced  members, 
but  John  W.  Taylor,  Dudley  Marvin,  Daniel  D.  Barnard 
and  Henry  R.  Stoors,  among  his  own  colleagues.  Each 
challenged  some  of  his  positions,  and  was  so  promptly 
and  conclusively  answered  as  to  render  an  effective  reply 
impossible. 

Mr.  Barnard,  then  representing  the  Rochester  district, 
took  the  bold  ground  that  he  was  for  such  protection  as 
would  become  "virtual  prohibition."  In  the  course  of 
a  long  speech  he  attempted  to  be  facetious  at  the  expense 
of  Mr.  WRIGHT.  Among  other  things  he  said  : 

"  I  understood  my  colleague  to  appeal  to  our  patriotism  for  the 
encouragement  of  coarse  wool,  because  the  sheep  which  produces 
it  is  a  native  of  this  country.  Indeed !  My  friend  and  colleague 
is  a  lawyer,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  have  him  inform  me  how  many 
generations  removed  from  their  merino  or  Saxony  ancestor,  intro 
duced  into  this  country,  a  flock  must  be  before  they  would 
become  naturalized  in  the  country,  —  before  they  would  become 
entitled  to  our  patriotic  protection  equally  with  those 

" '  whose  blood 
Has  crept  through  [natives]  ever  since  the  flood ! ' " 

The  following  caustic  reply  was  occasioned  more  by  the 
tone  and  manner  of  Mr.  Barnard,  than  by  what  he  is 
reported  to  have  said,  which  was  doubtless  designed  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  135 

annoy  and  occasion  ridicule.     In  his  reply  Mr.  WEIGHT 
said : 

"  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  are  we  to  enter  upon  this  doctrine  of 
monopoly  ?  Am  I  to  agree  that  this  is  the  only  and  correct  stop 
ping  point  in  the  protective  system?  I  had  supposed  that  when 
I  put  the  American  manufacturer  upon  a  par  with  the  foreigner, 
and  not  only  so,  but  left  against  the  foreigner  the  whole  of  the 
expense  and  charges  of  bringing  his  goods  to  our  markets,  I  had 
granted  a  fair  protection  to  our  manufacturer,  but  not  that  I  had 
thereby  granted  him  a  monopoly.  Such  protection,  and  more,  is 
furnished  by  the  bill  as  reported  by  the  committee.  But,  sir,  it 
is  not  monopoly,  and  hence  denunciations  against  that  bill. 
Hence,  too,  I  suppose,  the  arguments  of  the  gentleman  from  Ver 
mont  (Mr.  Mallory)  have  been  heard  against  the  proposition  of 
the  member  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Buchanan),  because  that 
proposition  will  not  effect  the  desired  monopoly. 

"  I  must  here  be  permitted,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  correct  a  misrep 
resentation  of  one  of  my  own  arguments  used  upon  a  former 
occasion.  I  was  represented  by  iny  colleague  (Mr.  Barnard)  as 
having  urged  the  protection  of  the  native  wool  of  this  country 
in  preference  to,  if  not  to  the  exclusion  of,  other  kinds  and  quali 
ties  of  wool.  Sir,  I  used  no  such  argument.  The  bill  makes  nO 
such  provision  ;  nor  has  any  such  distinction  been  suggested  by 
me.  But  the  terms  and  language  of  my  colleague,  in  making  this 
representation,  deserve  a  moment's  notice.  After  he  had  given 
this  turn  to  my  argument,  he  informed  the  House  that  I  was  a 
lawyer,  and  then  appealed  tome  in  that  character  —  and  in  a 
strain  of  eloquence,  to  which  he  was  aided  by  a  draft  upon  the 
poets  —  to  inform  him  how  far  removed  from  the  blood  of  the 
merino  a  sheep  must  be  to  entitle  it  to  protection  upon  my  prin 
ciples.  When  at  home,  sir,  I  bear  the  appellation  of  a  lawyer  ; 
and  whether  my  colleague  intended  to  apply  it  to  me  here 
reproachfully  or  not,  I  know  not  ;  but  I  have  not  considered  a 
place  in  that  respectable  profession  disgraceful.  I  have  already 
said  that  my  colleague  misrepresented  my  argument.  He  equally 
mistook  my  information.  I  will  assure  that  honorable  gentleman 
that  I  have  never  inquired  into  the  degrees  of  blood  of  sheep  or 


136  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

men.  No  part  of  my  education  has  led  me  to  these  inquiries. 
No  branch  of  the  profession  of  the  law  which  I  have  studied, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  fact  with  my  colleague,  has  fur 
nished  me  with  the  information  he  asks.  None  of  my  ambition 
is  drawn  from  considerations  of  blood,  and  it  therefore  never  has 
been  any  part  of  my  business  to  trace  the  blood  of  men  or 
beasts.  It  never  shall  be  any  part  of  my  business,  sir,  until  that 
system  of  monopoly  is  established  in  this  country  which  my  col 
league  so  ardently  wishes  and  so  loudly  and  so  boldly  calls  for 
from  this  committee.  When  that  time  shall  arrive,  his  blood 
may  rate  him  among  the  monopolists.  Then,  too,  sir,  the  degrees 
of  blood  of  my  kindred,  of  my  friends,  may  determine  whether 
they  are  to  labor  in  the  factories  or  be  ranked  among  the  monopo 
lists  ;  and  then,  if  my  honorable  colleague  will  make  this  appeal 
to  me  as  to  the  degrees  of  blood  of  these  relatives  and  these 
friends,  it  shall  be  my  duty  carefully  and  accurately  and  dis 
tinctly  to  answer  him." 

Mr.  Barnard  quailed  under  this  rebuke,  so  gently  but 
forcibly  given,  while  it  greatly  elevated  Mr.  WRIGHT  in 
the  estimation  of  all  who  heard  or  read  it,  to  whatever 
political  party  they  might  belong.  Mr.  Barnard  never 
again  invited  a  contest  with  Mr.  WRIGHT,  by  whom  he 
had  thus  been  so  signally  discomforted. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  137 

-'      CHAPTER  XXXIII.  : 

RE-ELECTION  TO  CONGRESS. 

In  the  fall  of  1828,  by  the  unanimous  approval  of  tlio 
entire  democracy  of  the  district,  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  nomi 
nated  for  re-election  to  Congress.  Parley  Keyes,  of  Jeffer 
son  county,  one  of  the  "seventeen,"  was  placed  on  the 
ticket  with  him,  both  avowed  supporters  of  Gen.  Jackson 
for  the  presidency.  The  Adams  party  nominated  Joseph 
Hawkins,  of  Jefferson,  and  George  Fisher,  of  Oswego. 
The  candidates  for  electors  in  that  district  were  Charles 
Dugan  and  Alvin  Bronson,  on  the  Jackson  side,  and 
Jesse  Smith,  of  Jefferson,  and  Augustus  Chapman,  of 
St.  Lawrence,  on  the  Adams  side.  The  latter  were 
elected  by  a  majority  of  102.  The  contest  was  a  sharp 
one,  and  called  out  much  bitterness  of  feeling.  Gen. 
Jackson  was  described  by  his  enemies  as  a  ferocious 
monster,  who  had,  without  the  authority  of  law,  hung 
six  militia  men,  as  well  as  committed  other  similar  crimes 
and  offenses.  Coffin  handbills  made  a  conspicuous  dis 
play,  and  sundry  citizens  avowed  their  determination,  if 
he  should  be  elected,  to  remove  to  Canada  to  get  beyond 
his  power.  Although  a  vigorous  attempt  was  made  to 
arouse  former  prejudices  against  Mr.  WEIGHT,  they  failed 
to  have  any  effect  adverse  to  him.  In  October,  before  the 
election,  he  reviewed  his  brigade  of  militia  —  the  149th, 
Twelfth  Division — which  included  the  wnole  of  St.  Law 
rence  and  a  part  of  Jefferson  county,  which  brought  him 
in  contact  with  nearly  half  of  the  voters  in  the  district. 
Free  intercourse  with  the  people  not  only  dispelled 
all  prejudice  against  him,  but  induced  many  political 
opponents  to  give  him  their  support.  His  political 
adversaries  over-acted  their  parts  in  describing  him.  The 


138  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

reaction  was  advantageous  to  Mm.  He  was  elected  by  a 
handsome  majority,  while  the  residue  of  the  democratic 
ticket  in  the  district  failed.  Mr.  Hawkins,  of  the  Adams 
ticket,  was  elected  to  Congress  over  Parley  Keyes. 
Owing  to  blunders  in  the  returns,  by  omitting  the  word 
"  Junior,"  in  several  towns,  a  certificate  of  election  was 
given  to  Gf-eorge  Fisher,  who  took  a  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Mr.  WEIGHT  gave  him  notice,  and 
took  evidence  proving  that  he  was  legally  elected,  which 
was  presented  to  Congress  and  promptly  acted  upon. 
The  committee  to  whom  the  petition  and  evidence  were 
referred  reported  in  favor  of  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  claim  to  a 
seat,  and  Mr.  Fisher  was  ousted  from  his,  after  serving 
eight  days,  from  the  7th  to  the  15th  of  December,  1829. 
Owing  to  his  having  been  appointed  Comptroller  of  the 
State,  Mr.  WEIGHT  did  not  take  his  seat,  but  immediately 
resigned.  At  the  next  election,  in  1829,  Jonah  Sanford, 
of  St.  Lawrence,  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  served 
through  the  second  session  of  the  twenty-first  Congress. 

The  result  of  the  election  in  1828  was  highly  gratifying 
to  Mr.  WEIGHT  and  his  friends.  It  proved  that,  after  all 
the  efforts  to  crush  him,  he  was,  in  his  district,  stronger 
than  his  party.  Instead  of  weighing  down  his  ticket,  he 
had  helped  to  lift  it  up,  which  showed  that  he  enjoyed 
not  only  the  confidence  of  his  political  friends,  but  the 
marked  personal  esteem  of  many  of  those  belonging  to 
the  adverse  party.  It  was  his  deserved  personal  high 
standing  that  secured  his  success  at  this  election.  No 
one  then  voting  for  him  ever  lived  to  regret  it.  On  the 
contrary,  all  were  proud  of  having  contributed  to  his 
elevation,  whenever  they  did  so. 

Mr.  WEIGHT,  in  the  fall  of  1828,  attended,  as  a  delegate 
from  St.  Lawrence  county,  the  democratic  State  conven 
tion  at  Herkimer  which  nominated  Martin  Van  Buren 
for  Governor  and  Enos  T.  Throop  for  Lieu  tenant- Gfover- 
nor,  both  of  whom  were  elected  in  November. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  139 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

ELECTED  COMPTROLLER. 

The  office  of  Comptroller  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
though  not  highest  in  rank,  is  one  of  very  great  import 
ance.  Like  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  federal 
government,  he  is  the  highest  financial  officer  of  the 
State,  not  subject  to  the  control  of  even  the  Governor. 
He  reports  annually,  direct  to  the  Legislature,  a  com 
plete  statement  of  the  funds  of  the  State,  and  estimates 
the  expenses  for  the  ensuing  year.  He  suggests  plans 
for  the  improvement  of  the  State  revenues,  settles  all 
accounts  in  which  the  State  is  interested,  not  otherwise 
provided  by  law,  and  draws  his  warrant  upon  the  Trea 
surer  for  payment.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Canal 
Board.  Such  an  office  is  of  the  highest  importance.  It 
had  been  held  by  the  ablest  men  of  the  State,  including 
Gov.  Marcy.  Originally  it  was  unimportant,  having 
little  authority  beyond  auditing  accounts.  Every  Legis 
lature  added  to  its  duties,  until  they  became  more  numer 
ous  and  diversified  than  those  of  any  other  officer  in  the 
State,  and  the  Comptroller  became,  in  fact,  the  principal 
officer,  and  exercised  more  power  and  political  influence 
than  even  the  Governor.  Gov.  Marcy  was  promoted  from 
that  office,  January  21,  1829,  to  be  one  of  the  three 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Upon  the  office  becoming 
thus  vacant,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1829,  while  in  Con 
gress,  at  Washington  —  he  having  taken  his  seat  at  the  sec 
ond  session,  which  commenced  December  4th,  1829  —  and 
without  any  solicitation  whatever  on  his  part,  Mr.  WRIGHT 
was  elected,  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  democrats  in 
the  Legislature,  to  this  important  office.  No  higher  evi- 


140  LIFE  AIVD  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

dence  could  be  furnished  of  the  confidence  of  his  political 
friends  in  his  ability,  sagacity  and  integrity.  He  had 
been  in  public  life  only  five  years,  in  which  short  period 
he  had  made  a  reputation  which  secured  universal  confi 
dence  in  his  fitness  for  this  high  office.  His  appointment 
was  an  emphatic  indorsement  of  the  financial  policy  pre 
sented  in  his  canal  report  while  in  the  Senate  two  years 
previous.  It  was  a  contemptous  repudiation  and  con 
demnation  of  charges  made  by  political  adversaries  of 
"violated  pledges."  A  higher  compliment  could  not 
have  been  paid  him.  His  financial  views  were  well  under 
stood,  and  this  election  was  designed  as  evidence  of  their 
approval,  by  the  democrats  in  the  Legislature  carrying 
out  the  undoubted  wishes  of  his  political  friends  in  the 
State.  A  more  acceptable  appointment  could  not  have 
been  made. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"ALBANY,  24th  May,  1830. 

"My  DEAR  SIR. — Your  very  acceptable  letter,  of  the  17th, 
was  received  this  morning,  and  I  have  yet  little  time  to  answer 
it,  hut  am  now  temporarily  at  leisure  to  what  I  have  heen  since 
the  last  of  March.  Never  have  I  found  myself  so  near  being 
overpowered  with  labor  as  during  my  late  sale  of  lands  for  taxes. 
We  are  now  about  .through,  but  it  has  thrown  the  ordinary  busi 
ness  of  the  office  so  far  back  that  our  press  is  yet  very  great.  I 
heard  often  from  you  during  your  illness,  and  sometimes  feared 
that  I  should  never  have  the  pleasure  of  reading  another  of  your 
letters.  I  am  happy  to  learn  that  you  are  on  the  gain,  and  still 
I  much  fear  that  you  need  some  one  nearer  than  I  am  to  caution 
you  not  to  get  well  too  fast.  You  have  little  constitution  and 
must  use  great  care  in  order  to  regain  your  ordinary  health. 

"The  news  from  my  poor  brother  (Plinney)  is  of  the  worst 
kind.  A  letter  received  on  Friday  last  tells  me  that  his  insanity 
is  evidently  increasing  upon  him,  and  that  his  health  is  failing, 
and  his  nerves  more  affected.  On  his  account  I  have  experienced 
feelings  and  anxieties,  during  the  last  five  months,  of  which  I 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  141 

have  never  before  known  anything.  But  I  think  I  must  give  it 
up.  Room  to  hope  is  hardly  left. 

"  I  had  hoped  to  be  at  Canton  during  the  next  month,  but  I 
probably  shall  not.  Indeed,  I  do  not  pretend  as  yet  to  fix  in  my 
own  mind  the  time  when  I  shall  be  there.  The  Legislature  have 
imposed  upon  me  the  duty  of  investigating  the  expenditure  of 
$100,000  of  public  money  in  draining  the  Cayuga  marshes,  in  the 
county  of  Cayuga,  and  in  which  great  abuses  are  alleged  to  have 
existed.  It  will  be  so  late  before  I  can  get  away,  that  I  shall 
have  to  go  there  before  I  can  visit  St.  Lawrence. 

"Do  not  give  youself  any  trouble  about  my  little  business  in 
your  hands.  Yet  I  wish  you  would  tell  Mr.  Alanson  Clark,  and 
also  Mr.  Holcomb  and  Day,  that  the  situation  of  my  unfortunate 
brother  is  such  that  it  is  indispensably  necessary  for  me  to  gather 
his  little  property  together  and  to  put  it  where  it  can  be  had  at 
any  call  to  answer  his  necessities.  They  know  it  was  his  money 
I  loaned  to  them,  and  I  shall  be  very  deeply  disappointed  when 
I  come  there  if  I  do  not  get  it. 

"  Of  political  news  we  have  very  little.  The  new  party,  called 
"the  workingmen's,"  or  "Fanny  Wright  party,"  is  one  of  the 
most  desperate  of  devices  of  the  old  enemy.  Among  those  who 
really  understand  it,  the  design  is  nothing  better  than  to  intro 
duce  at  once  among  us  the  principles,  and  of  course  to  follow 
them  with  the  practices,  of  the  French  revolution.  An  equal  dis 
tribution  of  property  is  avowed  as  the  object  of  those  who  want 
discretion,  but  the  great  and  leading  point  is  now  making  by  all 
to  introduce  what  they  call  "  republican  equality."  This  they 
propose  to  effect  by  a  system  of  laws  providing  that  all  children, 
from  infancy  to  maturity,  shall  be  boarded,  clothed,  lodged  and 
educated  at  the  public  expense,  and  that  every  child  shall  have 
just  such  board,  just  such  clothing,  just  such  lodging  and  just  as 
much  education  as  overy  other,  and  no  more.  Out  of  the  large 
cities  this  party  cannot  progress  any,  if  I  do  not  misjudge,  and  in 
them,  I  think,  the  extravagance  and  absurdity  of  their  notions 
will  soon  destroy  them,  in  this  city,  the  result  of  the  special 
election  held  in  the  second  ward,  on  -the  eighteenth,  has  given 
them  a  ruinous  blow.  You  will  have  seen  the  account  in  The 
Argus.  In  New  York  they  are  already  divided  into  three  fac- 


142  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

tions,  with  each  a  newspaper  advocating  different  doctrines  as 
the  true  principles  of  the  party.  It  is  true  that  Gen.  Root  has 
devised  the  notion  of  riding  this  hobby,  and  wants  to  be  Gover 
nor  any  way.  His  late  visit  to  New  York  has  helped  very  much 
to  destroy  what  little  hold  he  had  upon  the  good  feelings  of  his 
own  friends,  and,  I  suppose,  to  attach  him  more  firmly  to  the 
working  men.  It  is  also  true  that  Bucklin  and  Hitchcock  are 
foremost  in  the  new  party  and  in  their  abuse  of  the  "  regency." 
Root  is  now  at  Washington  and  Bucklin  is  with  him  ;  for  what 
object  is  unknown  to  us.  Root's  associates  are  entirely  composed 
of  men  like  these  and  the  old  lobby.  Little  is  to  be  feared  from 
him  or  them,  if  our  friends  in  the  country  keep  rational  and 
steady. 

"  You  will  have  seen  the  expose  in  The  Argus  of  Spencer's 
great  bugbear.  If  I  do  not  entirely  mistake  the  moral  sense  of 
our  population,  the  affair  will  help  Throop  materially.  Besides 
these  subjects,  there  is  nothing  new.  Anti-masonry  is  dying 
gradually.  I  will  write  again  soon. 

"  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"S.  WRIGHT,  JB. 
"  MINET  JENISON,  Esq.,  Sheriff,  etc." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAX  WRIGHT.  143 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

MR.     WRIGHT    AS    COMPTROLLER. 

On  receiving  notice  of  his  election  to  the  office  of  Comp 
troller,  Mr.  WEIGHT  resigned  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  the  twentieth  Congress,  and  took 
leave  of  that  body  and  proceeded  to  Albany,  took  the 
oath  of  office  and  immediately  entered  upon  his  new 
duties.  Here  he  found  literally  a  mountain  of  labor. 
Although  familiar  with  the  general  financial  condition  of 
the  State,  he  had  but  a  limited  knowledge  of  the  multi 
farious  duties  of  the  Comptroller's  office.  He  immedi 
ately  commenced  the  task  before  him.  A  perfect  set  of 
the  Session  Laws  from  1777  were  secured,  and  every  pro 
vision  relating  to  his  office  copied  therefrom  with  his  own 
hand.  This  brought  all  his  statute  duties  before  him  in 
a  small  compass,  convenient  for  consultation.  The  details 
were  far  more  minute  than  in  the  Revised  Statutes  which 
not  long  after  came  into  use.  He  was  soon  master  of  the 
details  as  well  as  the  general  duties  of  the  office. 

His  new  duties  brought  him  into  contact  with  an 
immense  number  of  people,  and  especially  with  those 
engaged  in  canal  transportation  and  other  business  con 
nected  with  or  growing  out  of  the  canals.  With  all  such 
he  was  attentive,  patient  and  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  aid 
those  who  needed  advice  and  assistance  in  the  presenta 
tion  and  management  of  their  business  of  a  meritorious 
character.  Few  canal  boatmen  fully  understood  all  the 
requirements  of  law  and  practice  so  as  to  present  every 
thing  right  at  first.  He  took  unwearied  pains  to  aid  all 
such  in  their  business.  The  blessings  invoked  upon  him 
for  such  labors  were  numerous  and  heartfelt.  They  all 


144  LIFE  AAD  T'IMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

expected  justice  from  him,  and  kindness  and  patience  in 
pointing  them  to  the  way  and  means  of  securing  it.  It 
was  these  men  and  their  descendants  and  friends  that 
came  to  the  rescue  at  the  election  in  1844,  when  he  carried 
a  political  weight  not  his  own. 

The  statute  required  the  Comptroller  to  make  an  annual 
report,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Legislatur  •,  concerning  the 
previous  year's  business,  and  to  propose  plans  for  the 
future  management  and  improvement  of  the  finances  of 
the  State.  This  duty  was  performed  by  communicating, 
on  the  21st  of  January,  1830,  a  full  and  clear  statement 
of  the  business  of  the  office  during  the  year  1829,  and  a 
minute  and  clear  statement  of  the  revenues  of  the  State 
and  from  what  source  derived,  and  the  expenses  of  the 
past  and  those  estimated  for  the  year  1830. 

An  account  of  each  of  the  funds  belonging  to  the  State 
from  which  revenues  were  derived  was  given,  showing  the 
items  of  which  each  consisted. 

There  were  four  important  funds  whose  conditions  he 
fully  described.  The  General  Fund,  the  School  Fund, 
Literature  Fund  and  the  Canal  Fund.  All  were  in  a  flour 
ishing  condition  except  the  first,  which  was  substantially 
exhausted.  In  this  report  he  proposed  a  plan  of  supply 
ing  the  means  necessary  to  place  this  fund  upon  a  proper 
footing.  The  extracts  which  we  give  below  clearly 
exhibit  his  views,  which  were  emphatically  opposed  to  the 
debt-contracting  system. 

As  Comptroller,  Mr.  WEIGHT  inflexibly  adhered  to  the 
financial  and  canal  policy  expressed  in  his  report  in  the 
Senate,  on  the  application  of  David  E.  Evans  and  others, 
in  1827.  In  this  first  report,  he  not  only  displayed  his 
ability  as  a  financial  officer,  but  his  peculiar  capacity  to 
present,  in  a  clear  and  lucid  manner,  abstruse  and  com 
plicated  subjects,  and  especially  those  of  a  financial 
character. 

Like  all  his  predecessors,  he  manifested  a  strong  solici- 


LIVE  AND    TlMUti    OF  SfLAS   W RIGHT.  145 

tude  for  the  preservation  of  the  "  General  Fund,"  mainly 
formed,  during  the  administration  of  George  Clinton,  in 
1791,  from  the  sales  of  lands  belonging  to  the  State, 
which  included  the  purchase,  of  Alexander  Macomb,  of 
3,635,200  acres,  at  eightpence  per  acre  While  that 
fund  was  kept  intact,  taxation  for  ordinary  State  pur 
poses  was  not  necessary.  Although  the  income  from  the 
canals  and  auction  and  salt  duties  more  than  equaled 
the  interest  on  the  canal  debt,  these  were  pledged,  by  the 
Constitution  of  1821,  for  its  payment.  A  deficit  in  the 
income  from  the  General  Fund  and  all  other  sources,  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  the  State  government,  it  was  shown, 
would  undoubtedly  occur  the  next  year.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
had  the  manly  firmness  to  recommend  a  tax  of  one  mill  on 
the  dollar  on  all  the  real  and  personal  property  in  the 
State,  to  supply  the  deficiency  in  the  income  of  the  Gene 
ral  Fund,  and  the  balance  to  be  employed  in  reimbursing 
that  portion  of  the  capital  which  had  been  taken  from 
it  for  various  purposes. 

EXTRACTS   FROM    COMPTROLLER'S   REPORT,  DATED  JANUARY  21, 

1830. 

"  The  Comptroller  has  bestowed  considerable  reflection  upon 
this  subject  [supplying  the  General  Fund  without  borrowing],  and 
the  result  of  his  deliberation  has  been,  that  a  general  tax  upon 
the  real  and  personal  property  of  the  State,  levied  according  to 
the  same  principles  of  taxation  which  govern  the  assessment  and 
taxation  of  town  and  county  taxes,  will  be  that  provision.  He 
is  fully  aware  that  to  recommend  the  adoption  of  this  measure 
would  be  odious,  if  it  had  not  become  an  imperative  duty.  But 
he  feels  entirely  confident  that  any  system  of  partial  taxation, 
intended  to  produce  a  revenue  for  the  ordinary  support  of  the 
government  in  time  of  peace  and  of  public  and  private  prosperity, 
would  be  much  more  odious  even  in  its  recommendation,  and 
certainly  in  its  execution.  Such  a  system  of  revenue,  too,  must 
always  be  an  uncertain  dependence,  as  the  objects  upon  which  it 
would  act  must  be  subject  to  the  fluctuations  of  trade,  or  depend- 
10 


146  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ent  upon  the  tastes  and  pleasures  and  pride  of  certain  classes  of 
the  citizens,  in  addition  to  the  evasions  and  frauds. 

"  That  some  measure  should  be  taken  by  the  Legislature  to 
meet  the  claims  upon  the  treasury,  without  incurring  a  public 
debt  for  that  purpose,  the  Comptroller  cannot  doubt  ;  and  that 
the  true  interests  of  the  State  would  be  consulted  by  adopting 
such  provisions  as  would  preserve  the  remainder  of  the  capital  of 
the  General  Fund,  and  as  might  tend  to  restore  that  fund  to  an 
ability  to  meet  the  now  reduced  ordinary  expenses  of  govern 
ment,  he  can  as  little  doubt.  In  these  opinions  he  has  been  fully 
confirmed  by  an  examination  of  this  fund  for  several  years  past. 

"A  tax  of  one  mill  upon  the  dollar  of  valuation  of  the  real 
and  personal  estate  within  the  State  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Comptroller,  not  only  supply  the  existing  deficiency  in  the  reve 
nue,  and  arrest  the  further  decline  of  this  (the  general)  fund 
after  the  present  year,  but  will  also  contribute  something  to  its 
resuscitation.  He,  therefore,  respectfully  recommends  to  the 
Legislature  the  imposition  of  such  a  tax.  In  doing  this,  he  is  but 
repeating  the  recommendation  which  was  made  from  this  office 
in  1826,  and  which  has  been  continued  in  nearly  every  annual 
report  since  that  time,  with  the  single  variation  of  the  amount 
of  tax  recommended." 

The  Legislature  had  not  the  courage  to  carry  out  this 
recommendation.  They  conceded  that  it  was  right  and 
just,  but  they  seemed  to  fear  that  their  constituents 
would  not  sustain  them  in  doing  what  was  right  and 
ought  to  be  done.  Mr.  WRIGHT  entertained  no  such 
fears. 

Gov.  Throop,  in  his  message,  fully  indorsed  Mr. 
WRIGHT'S  views. 

The  following  extracts  are  from  his  report  of  1831,  in 
which  he  reiterates  his  opinions  in  his  first  annual  com 
munication  as  above  given.  These  did  not  secure  a  more 
favorable  result  at  the  hands  of  the  Legislature  : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  147 

EXTRACT  FROM  REPORT,  DATED  IVTii  JANUARY,  1831. 

"  Among  the  duties  enjoined  by  the  law  requiring  this  report 
is  that  of  suggesting  plans  for  the  improvement  of  the  public 
revenues.  That  the  revenues  appropriated  to  and  derivable  from 
the  General  Fund  require  improvement,  to  answer  the  objects  for 
which  that  fund  has  been  instituted  and  hitherto  sustained,  is 
without  question.  That  collections  from  the  capital  of  this  fund 
cannot  be  made  to  answer,  for  any  considerable  period,  the  wants 
of  the  treasury,  is  equally  clear.  The  choice,  therefore,  of  the 
plans  for  improving  this  branch  of  the  public  revenues  would 
seem  to  be  confined  to  two  alternatives,  viz.,  that  of  borrowing 
money,  upon  the  credit  of  the  State,  to  meet  the  deficiencies 
which  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  found  to  exist  in  the  treasury ; 
or  that  of  adopting  some  mode  of  taxation  which  shall  eventu 
ally  supersede  the  necessity  of  other  aid  to  this  fund.  The 
opinions  of  the  Comptroller  upon  these  points,  formed  upon 
mature  deliberation,  and  after  much  examination  into  the  history 
and  present  power  of  the  fund  to  produce  revenue,  and  the  plan 
of  improvement  recommended  by  him,  and  which,  in  his  judg 
ment,  it  would  be  wise  to  adopt,  will  be  found  in  his  last  annual 
report  to  the  Legislature.  The  detail  at  that  time  given  to  sup 
port  his  conclusions  cannot  now  require  repetition,  though  the 
facts  presented  may  be  interesting  to  some  and  are  therefore 
respectfully  referred  to. 

"In  the  recommendation  then  made,  of  imposing  a  general  tax 
upon  the  real  and  personal  property  within  the  State,  to  be  levied 
and  collected  upon  the  same  principles  which  govern  the  assess 
ment  and  collection  of  the  ordinary  town  and  county  taxes,  as  a 
mode  of  supplying  the  treasury,  and  a  plan  of  improving  this 
branch  of  the  public  revenue  far  preferable  to  a  system  of  bor 
rowing  money  and  accumulating  a  public  debt,  the  fullest 
confidence  is  still  entertained  ;  and  if  the  Comptroller  be  not 
mistaken  in  the  belief  that  one  of  these  alternatives  must  be 
adopted,  he  unhesitatingly  recommends  the  former  to  the  con 
sideration  of  the  Legislature." 

Mr.  WEIGHT  adhered  to  these  views  in  his  report  made 
in  1832. 


148  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  served  as  Comptroller  four  years,  until 
elected  a  Senator  of  the  United  States.  Throughout  this 
period  he  adhered  to  his  anti-debt  policy,  although  not 
fully  sustained  by  the  Legislature.  Notwithstanding  the 
combinations  which  were  formed  to  promote  them,  he 
never  yielded  his  assent  to  the  construction  of  the  Che- 
nango  and  other  minor  canals,  at  the  expense  of  the 
State,  when  there  was  no  reasonable  prospect  that  they 
would  ever  pay  their  cost,  or  even  pay  interest  upon  it 
and  keep  themselves  in  repair.  How  far  the  democratic 
party  yielded  in  1832  to  the  Chenango  pressure,  when 
William  L.  Marcy  and  John  Tracy  were  elected  Governor 
and  Lieutenant-Governor  by  a  strong  vote  from  the  loca 
tion  of  that  canal,  is  riot  here  a  material  question.  But 
it  is  certain  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  never  changed  his  opinions 
on  these  subjects  nor  yielded  them  his  support.  He  lived 
and  died  opposed  to  unproductive  and  useless  public 
works,  and  to  the  debt-contracting  policy  which  has  done 
so  much  to  embarrass  the  State.  The  policy  advocated 
by  him,  as  State  Senator,  he  sustained  as  Comptroller 
and  vindicated  when  Governer.  Until  practically  adopted 
by  the  Legislature,  New  York  will  never  be  free  from  an 
onerous  public  debt,  as  he  often  stated  to  his  friends. 
Time  confirms  the  correctness  of  his  expectations. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"ALBANY,  15th  December,  1830. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR.  — '  Don't  give  up  the  ship.'  These  were  the 
words  of  the  brave  Lawrence  when  lying  upon  the  deck  of  his 
vessel,  shot  down  by  the  balls  of  the  enemy,  and  just  about  to 
pass  that  'bourne  whence  no  traveler  returns.'  This  answer  I 
give  you  in  the  words  of  your  own  inquiry.  This  world  is  one 
of  afflictions,  we  often  say,  and  it  is  often  true;  but  still  we  cling 
to  it  with  a  fondness  which  is  too  strong  an  evidence  that  it  also 
affords  us  comforts  and  hopes  as  well  as  sorrows.  That  your  cup 
must  be  almost  full  is  evidently  true,  and  I  had  hoped  that  your- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  149 

self  and  family  would  be  spared  further  painful  sickness,  for  the 
present  at  least.  But  so  seems  not  to  be  the  direction  of  events 
in  that  wise  council,  the  motives  and  designs  of  which  we  can 
neither  see  nor  comprehend. 

"  It  grieves  me  much  to  learn  that  our  friend  Baldwin  thought 
it  wise  or  just  to  use  his  friends  in  the  manner  you  describe  at 
the  election;  but  if  he  has  not  seen  and  will  not  see  that  a  firm 
and  uniform,  is  better  than  a  captions  course,  as  well  in  politics 
as  in  morals;  if  he  will  not  believe  that  a  decent  respect  for  the 
opinion  of  others,  deliberately  and  gravely  expressed,  is  better 
than  the  gratification  of  the  partialities  of  our  own  minds;  if  he 
is  not  convinced  that  good  faith  and  uniform  support  of  his 
friends  is  the  best  way  to  induce  a  return  of  such  favors,  then  he 
has  not  had  sufficient  experience,  and  time  is  still  necessary  to 
carry  those  convictions  home  to  him.  But  it  does  not  generally 
require  much  time,  if  opportunity  occurs.  Baldwin  has  still  too 
much  faith  in  the  ability  of  a  politician  to  conciliate  his  political 
enemies;  but  if  he  will  look  about  among  all  the  men  he  knows, 
and  ask  himself  who  they  are  that  stand  the  strongest  with  their 
friends  and  the  strongest  against  their  enemies  when  they  come 
before  the  public  as  candidates,  he  will  himself  answer  that  they 
are,  without  a  single  exception,  the  men  who  have  never,  upon 
any  occasion  or  for  any  cause,  wavered  in  the  support  —  open,  firm 
and  active  support  —  of  their  friends,  their  principles  and  their 
party,  and  who  have  equally  uniformly,  equally  openly,  and 
equally  firmly  and  actively  opposed  their  political  enemies.  If 
he  will  look  for  the  men  most  respected  by  their  political  oppo 
nents,  and  for  the  men  he  most  respects  as  politicians,  who  are 
opposed  to  him,  he  will  find  them  among  this  class  in  all  cases. 
If  these  facts  and  feelings  will  not  decide  him  to  act  openly, 
firmly  and  decidedly  with  the  republican  party  and  its  usages  in 
all  cases,  nothing  can. 

"  -My  g°od  brother  will  be  with  you  before  you  get  this,  and  I 
presume  is  before  this  day.  I  hope  he  may  feel  as  much  at  home 
as  he  did  on  his  visit,  and  that  his  winter  maybe  pleasant  to  him. 
You  know  the  anxiety  I  feel  on  his  account,  and  that  you  cannot 
do  me  so  great  a  favor  as  the  exercise  of  your  kindness  to  him. 
I  do  not  want  him  to  study  much  and  by  any  means  confine  him- 


150  LIVE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT. 

self,  but  to  exercise  and  keep  the  mind  and  body  free  and  health 
ful.  I  presume  he  will  have  some  money  which  he  will  wish  to 
loan,  or  so  dispose  of  that  it  will  earn  him  what  it  should,  and  he 
may  like  to  take  the  loan  Ames  wishes  to  get.  If  so,  I  wish  you 
would  aid  him  to  get  it;  and  as  he  may  not  have  the  amount,  you 
may  make  it  up  out  of  the  sum  Hill  has  paid  to  you,  unless  in 
your  troubles  you  want  to  use  it;  but  if  you  do,  make  use  of  it, 
or  any  part  of  it  you  do  want.  Should  my  brother  want  money 
let  him  have  it,  as  I  do  not  intend  he  shall  spend  at  all  upon  his 
own.  You  need  not  try  to  send  any  part  of  this  money  to  me; 
but  if  at  any  time  you  should  wish  to  get  it  out  of  your  hands 
you  may  loan  it,  if  you  can  do  so  where  it  can  certainly  be  had 
by  calling  for  it,  or  you  may  deposit  it  to  my  credit  in  the  Bank 
of  Ogdensburgh,  and  take  a  certificate  of  deposit  in  my  name 
and  send  that  to  me.  But  I  have  no  want  of  the  money  and 
would  rather  you  should  keep  it,  if  it  does  not  trouble  you. 

"  I  can  find  no  printer  as  yet  to  send  you,  and  doubt  whether 
I  shall  be  able  to  at  Wy man's  price.  If  I  can  find  one  I  shall; 
but  should  he  sell  out  to  our  opponents,  I  think  you  can  have  a 
press  and  printer,  perhaps,  quite  as  well.  Yet  I  would  rather  he 
should  not  do  so,  and  if  he  should ;  I  hope  you  will  see  that  the 
balance  on  my  mortgage  in  your  hands  is  paid  or  secured.  I 
shall  write  to  my  brother  very  soon,  but  am  greatly  hurried  in 
business. 

"  Most  truly  yours,  etc., 

"SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  MINET  JENISO^,  Esq." 


LIFE  AND  TIMKS  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  151 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

THE    GEORGIA    MISSIONARIES. 

Difficulties  sprang  up  between  the  State  of  Georgia 
and  the  Cherokee  Indians,  who  continued  to  occupy 
lands  in  that  State  claimed  by  Georgia.  The  federal 
government  had  agreed  with  that  State  to  extinguish  the 
Indian  title  to  these  lands.  By  a  treaty  with  them  this 
was  accomplished,  but  the  Indians  and  some  others 
denounced  it  as  fraudulent  and  void,  although  confirmed 
by  the  Senate.  Her  Legislature  had  extended  the  laws 
of  the  State  over  this  land,  and  made  it  penal  for  white 
men  to  reside  there  under  certain  circumstances.  Mis 
sionaries  had  gone  among  the  Indians  there  in  violation 
of  these  laws.  The  authorities  of  the  State  had  caused 
them  to  be  indicted,  tried  and  convicted  and  imprisoned 
under  them.  Many  Christian  people  were  much  excited 
on  the  subject,  and  the  course  the  State  assumed  was 
claimed  to  be  wrong  and  was  severely  condemned.  This 
question  was  becoming  an  element  in  the  elections  out  of 
Georgia.  Wishing  to  avoid  this  and  to  render  the  mis 
sionaries  a  service,  Mr.  WEIGHT  interested  himself  in 
their  behalf.  At  that  time  Wilson  Lumkin  was  Governor 
of  Georgia.  Mr.  WRIGHT  served  in  Congress  with  him 
in  1828,  and  knew  him  well.  On  the  18th  of  December, 
1832,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  together  with  Azariah  Flagg  and 
John  A.  Dix,  addressed  a  letter  to  Gov.  L.,  recommend 
ing  him  to  pardon  these  missionaries.  With  this  request 
he  promptly  complied.  Had  he  not  done  so,  difficulties 
would  probably  have  long  continued  between  the  Indians 
and  the  State,  and  perhaps  serious  collisions  occurred. 
In  this  matter  Mr.  WRIGHT  rendered  an  important  ser- 


152  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

vice  to  the  missionaries,  Georgia  and  the  Cherokee 
Indians,  which  gave  great  satisfaction  throughout  the 
country. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"  ALBANY,  4th  October,  1831. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR. — Your  letter  was  received  this  morning.  The 
money  you  have  received  from  Hill  you  will  please  to  keep  for 
the  purpose  of  meeting  the  demand  to  become  due  to  your 
brother.  If  Boynton  will  take  it  on  the  mortgage,  you  had  bet 
ter  pay  it  now  and  save  the  interest ;  but  if  he  will  not,  then 
make  any  use  of  it  you  may  have  occasion  for  until  it  is  wanted 
for  that  purpose.  The  other  $100  I  shall  be  prepared  to  make 
out  at  the  time,  as  I  have  little  hope  Lemuel  will  make  it  ;  but  if, 
without  any  unpleasant  and  unprofitable  interference,  you  can 
induce  him  to  make  it,  I  am  satisfied  you  will  save  him  just  so 
much  ;  as,  in  his  present  habits,  the  property  from  which  you 
expect  it  to  come  will  certainly  be  squandered  if  it  does  not  go 
to  that  object,  and  it  will  please  me  if  the  debt  can  be  so  much 
lessened.  If  he  manifests  no  signs  of  change,  the  family  must 
soon  make  an  effort  to  obtain  the  charge  of  the  business,  or 
nothing  will  be  paid,  and  the  property  will,  at  the  same  time,  so 
depreciate  as  to  produce  inevitable  ruin  to  them  all.  I  do  not 
ask  this  on  my  account,  and  I  know  the  accomplishment,  if  not 
impossible,  will  be  very  difficult,  but  I  suggest  it  because  I 
believe  it  for  their  good. 

"  I  left  my  brother,  or  rather  he  left  me,  at  Middlebury,  on 
Monday  of  last  week,  and  by  Saturday  last  you  must  have  seen 
him  at  Canton.  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  speak  on  the  subject 
of  the  four  days'  meeting,  further  than  to  say  that  if  our  benevo 
lent  and  wise  Creator  delights  in  exhibitions  of  passion  of  any 
kind  in  His  creatures,  I  have  been  mistaken  in  all  my  views  of 
that  Glorious  Being;  and  however  contrary  has  been  my  conduct, 
I  have  always  designed  to  cherish  and  entertain  a  reverence  for 
my  God.  I  hope  evil  is  not  designed,  though  I  know  that  evil 
is  produced  by  these  studied  efforts  to  play  with  the  violent  and 
dangerous  passions  of  frail  mortals;  and  whether  the  pretense  be 
religion,  the  abduction  of  William  Morgan,  or  the  electoral  law, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  153 

the  effect  is  all  the  same,  though  the  motive  in  the  operators  may 
be  very  different. 

"In  our  blessed  country,  as  yet,  we  have  been  able  to  withstand 
these  shocks  of  public  passion,  but  the  time  has  not  before  been 
when  they  assailed  us  in  so  many  different  ways,  and  with  so 
formidable  force,  as  now.  Look  at  the  conversion  to  anti-masonry 
of  Mr.  Wirt,  the  man  now  gravely  recommended  to  us  for  the 
first  office  under  the  government,  and  say  what  more  confident 
calculator  upon  the  gullibility  of  free  and  enlightened  men  ever 
appeared  before  the  public  and  claimed  trust  and  confidence  ? 
But  I  must  stop.  Neither  my  time  or  your  patience  can  suffer 
more. 

"  Take  care  of  your  health,  and  write  often  to  me.  To-morrow 
you  make  your  nominations,  and  may  a  wise  Power  guide  you  to 
a  harmonious  and  profitable  result;  for  I  really  fear  that,  in  addi 
tion  to  anti-masonry,  national  republicanism,  United  States  Bank 
and  Indian  sympathy,  you  have  to  number,  as  an  opponent,  Finny- 
ism  and  four-day  meetings.  I  shall  expect  a  letter  before  you 

get  this. 

"  In  great  haste, 

"  Most  truly  your  friend, 

"SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 

"  MINET  JENISON,  Esq." 


154  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

THE  CHENANGO  AND  OTHER  LATERAL  CANALS. 

The  people  of  the  Chenango  valley  and  other  places 
early  sought  the  construction  of  lateral  canals,  claiming 
they  would  not  only  pay  interest  upon  their  cost,  but  at 
no  distant  day  the  expense  of  construction.  Surveys 
were  ordered  and  estimates  made.  Of  these,  the  Che 
nango  was  the  most  important.  Those  interested  in  its 
construction  combined  with  others  to  secure  their  object. 
They  sought  by  various  means  to  make  everything  bend 
to  their  purposes.  At  the  session  of  1829,  the  Legislature 
authorized  its  construction,  provided  the  Canal  Commis 
sioners,  after  survey  and  estimate,  should  be  of  opinion 
that  it  would  not  cost  over  a  million  of  dollars,  and  that 
for  the  first  ten  years  the  tolls  would  be  equal  to  the 
interest  of  its  cost,  attendance  and  repairs,  all  of  which 
they  were  required  to  report  to  the  next  Legislature.  On 
the  21st  of  January,  1830,  the  Canal  Commissioners,  in 
their  annual  report,  presented  their  conclusions  on  this 
subject.  They  said  they  had  surveyed,  examined  and 
estimated,  as  required,  and  could  not  consistently  with 
the  law  commence  the  work.  They  were  of  opinion  that 
it  would  cost  more  than  a  million  of  dollars,  and,  uin 
regard  to  its  revenue,  it  would  not  produce  an  amount 
of  tolls,  in  connection  with  the  increased  tolls  on  the  Erie 
canal,  that  would  be  equal  to  the  interest  of  its  cost  and 
the  expense  of  *  its  repairs  and  superintendence,  or  either 
of  tliem"  This  report  was  long  and  able,  and  exhibited 
clearly  the  facts  and  reasons  upon  which  their  conclusions 
were  founded. 

This  report  was  followed  by  one  from  Mr.  WRIGHT,  as 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  155 

Comptroller,  "in  which,"  says  Mr.  Hammond,  "in  his 
own  masterly,  clear  and  convincing  manner,  with  which 
the  public  are  now  well  acquainted,  he  exhibited  the 
condition  of  the  funds  of  the  State,  and  proved  that  the 
State  ought  not  to  incur  any  additional  expenditures, 
without,  at  the  same  time,  providing  the  means  of  defray 
ing  such  expenses." 

Although  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  canal  and  financial  policy  had 
received  the  approval  of  the  people  of  the  State,  and 
these  reports  had  demonstrated  the  impolicy  of  con 
structing  the  Chenango  and  like  canals,  their  supporters 
were  not  detered  from  pressing  their  applications.  Mr. 
Francis  Granger  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  these  mea 
sures.  The  valley  of  the  Chenango  was  democratic.  If 
the  democrats  there  could  be  induced  to  withhold  their 
votes  from  the  democratic  candidates  and  cast  them  for 
the  opposing  ticket,  their  adversaries  might  triumph. 
In  1832  Mr.  Granger  became  the  anti-masonic  candidate 
for  Governor,  and  his  previous  support  of  the  Chenango 
and  other  lateral  canals  was  mainly  relied  upon  for  suc 
cess.  The  democrats  nominated  William  L.  Marcy,  of 
Albany,  for  Governor  —  then  a  United  States  Senator  — 
and  John  Tracy,  of  Chenango,  for  Lieutenant-Governor. 
The  nomination  of  Mr.  Tracy  seemed  to  satisfy  the  elec 
tors  of  this  part  of  the  State  that  if  the  democratic  State 
ticket  prevailed  their  local  interests  would  not  be  ignored. 
Both  were  elected  and  a  majority  of  the  Legislature  were 
democratic.  The  pressure  of  these  canal  interests,  when 
combined,  was  too  strong  to  be  resisted  by  those  who 
adhered  to  Mr.  WRIGHT'  s  policy,  and,  in  process  of  time, 
these  several  lateral  canals  were  constructed  at  the 
expense  of  the  State.  They  have  proved  less  productive 
than  the  commissioners  or  Mr.  WRIGHT  expected,  and 
are  a  constant  drain  upon  the  treasury  of  the  State,  as 
they  anticipated. 


156  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

RE-ELECTED    COMPTROLLER. 

Before  the  expiration  of  his  first  term  of  three  years, 
as  Comptroller,  Mr.  WRIGHT  was  nominated,  by  a  demo 
cratic  legislative  caucus,  for  re  election.  Some  feeble 
attempt  was  made  by  those  whose  measures  he  con 
sidered  it  his  duty  to  oppose,  to  defeat  his  nomination. 
But  his  acknowledged  abilities  and  his  conceded  fitness 
for  the  station  prevented  the  eif ort  becoming  successful,  or 
even  formidable.  Those  of  his  political  friends  who  had 
urged  the  measures  in  question  at  first  manifested  some 
feeling  in  opposition,  but  such  was  the  unshaken  con 
fidence  reposed  in  him  as  a  faithful  and  wise  public 
servant,  that  all  serious  opposition  was  waived.  He  was 
nominated  by  a  very  large  majority,  and  elected,  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  his  political  friends  in  the  Legislature, 
on  the  6th  day  of  February,  1832.  He  was  again  sworn 
into  office  and  entered  upon  his  duties.  His  re-election 
was  highly  gratifying  to  the  democracy  in  all  parts  of 
the  State. 

He  adhered  to  his  opinions  of  the  true  financial  policy 
which  the  State  ought  to  pursue  with  unwavering  fidelity. 
They  were  uniformly  presented  with  great  frankness,  and 
with  such  clearness  that  no  one  could  easily  misunder 
stand  them.  They  were  given  at  length  in  his  annual 
report,  made  to  the  Legislature  only  two  days  before  his 
election  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  The  follow 
ing  extracts  show  with  what  tenacity  he  adhered  to  prin 
ciples  which  he  deemed  it  wise  for  the  State  to  pursue. 
If  the  Legislature  had  adopted  and  adhered  to  them,  the 
State  would  not  now  owe  a  dollar,  and  its  income  would 


AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  157 

be  equal  to  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  State  govern 
ment. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  REPORT  OF  JANUARY  2,  1833. 

"  Thus  it  will  appear  that  the  whole  capital  of  this  (the  General 
Fund)  is  already  expended,  with  the  exception  of  the  above 
balance  of  $6,810.06;  although,  from  the  fact  that  the  credit  of 
the  State,  in  the  shape  of  public  stock,  has  been  substituted  for 
money,  time  is  gained  for  the  payment  of  the  debt,  and  there  is, 
from  that  cause  only,  an  unexpended  capital  yet  at  liberty  to 
contribute  its  income  to  the  wants  of  the  public  treasury, 
amounting  to  $578,310.06. 

"  The  law  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  Comptroller  to  suggest 
plans  for  the  improvement  and  management  of  the  public  revenues, 
which  duty  he  has,  in  every  previous  annual  report,  attempted 
to  discharge;  and  he  is  unable  to  say  he  can,  at  this  time,  add 
anything  to  his  former  suggestions.  So  far  as  it  has  been  in  his 
power,  the  true  situation  of  the  finances  of  the  State  have  been 
fairly  and  fully  exhibited  to  each  Legislature  to  which  he  has 
made  a  report,  and  his  opinions  of  the  policy  to  be  pursued  have 
been  frankly  expressed.  He  has  never  been  unaware  that  the 
recommendation  of  a  tax  upon  all  the  citizens  and  all  the 
property  of  the  State  for  the  support  of  the  government  was  a 
thankless  duty ;  but  he  has  not  believed  that  the  official  obliga 
tion  was  less  binding  because  the  character  of  the  recommenda 
tion  was  unpleasant.  On  the  contrary,  he  has  felt  the  most  firm 
conviction  that  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  citizens  of 
the  State  would  induce  a  just  appreciation  of  the  motives  which 
alone  could  draw  forth  such  a  recommendation  ;  that  their  just 
abhorrence  of  a  permanent  public  debt  was  even  stronger  than 
their  disinclination  to  be  temporarily  taxed,  and  that  when  they 
should  see  the  one  alternative  or  the  other  approaching,  they 
would  demand  the  tax  and  interdict  the  use  of  their  credit  for 
the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  government. 

"  The  Comptroller  owes  it  to  himself  further  to  say,  that  his 
previous  recommendations  of  a  light  tax  have  been  accompanied, 
in  his  own  mind,  at  least,  with  the  anticipation  that  the  burthen 
upon  the  citizens  would  not  be  severe,  and  that  the  duration  of 


158  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

any  tax  would  be  short.  He  found  the  capital  of  the  General 
Fund  materially  reduced,  and  sinking  rapidly  from  gradual 
annual  consumptions,  but  still  he  found  that  the  prominent  cause 
of  the  great  reduction  of  the  capital  of  this  fund  had  been  its 
ample  contributions  to  the  specific  funds  ;  he  found  these  funds 
in  a  healthful  and  flourishing  condition  ;  the  School  Fund,  dis 
tributing  its  $100,000  annually  to  the  common  schools,  and 
promising,  from  the  vast  resources  it  had  drawn  from  the  General 
Fund  in  the  unappropriated  lands,  to  be  able  to  advance  upon 
that  dividend  as  rapidly  as  the  greatest  good  of  these  most 
interesting  establishments  would  require ;  the  Literature  Fund, 
dispensing  its  $10,000  annually  to  the  academies  of  the  State, 
and  promising,  from  its  improved  revenues,  a  speedy  increase  to 
that  useful  bounty ;  the  Canal  Fund,  rising  in  importance,  and 
swelling  its  revenues  with  a  rapidity  and  certainty  surpassing 
the  most  sanguine  calculations  of  its  strongest  friends. 

"  From  the  two  former  funds  nothing  was  to  be  expected  in 
aid  of  the  General  Fund,  and  that  they  did  not  require  further 
aid  from  it  was  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  But  the  latter,  the 
Canal  Fund,  was  merely  pledged  to  a  specific  purpose  —  to  the 
payment  of  certain  amounts,  and,  that  done,  was  at  liberty  to 
reimburse  the  General  Fund  its  liberal  donations,  and  the  long  use 
of  some  of  its  richest  revenues.  To  this  period  the  Comptroller 
has  accustomed  himself  to  look  with  deep  and  anxious  interest, 
and  he  had  believed  that  if,  by  a  light  tax,  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  government  were  paid,  until  the  canal  debt,  the  only  debt 
the  State  then  owed,  should  be  discharged,  the  dilapidated  capi 
tal  of  the  General  Fund  might  be  effectually  repaired  by  the 
receipt  of  its  contributions  to  the  canals,  and  be  thus  put  in  a 
situation  to  meet,  by  its  revenues,  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
government,  without  the  aid  of  a  tax.  This,  he  believed,  might 
be  done  without  materially  diminishing  that  portion  of  the  reve 
nues  from  the  canals  which  the  Legislature  might  be  disposed  to 
apply?  when  discharged  from  their  present  pledge,  to  the  further 
prosecution  of  similar  works  in  other  sections  of  the  State;  but 
he  did  fear  that  if  the  entire  capital  of  the  General  Fund  should 
be  consumed  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  government,  and 
to  postpone  the  time  when  a  tax  must  be  levied,  another  and 


LlFK   AND    TlMKS    OF  ft/LAS    WRIGHT.  159 

similar  fund  miglit  not  be  instituted,  and  that  taxation  might 
become  not  only  heavy  in  amount  but  permanent  in  duration. 

"The  Legislature,  however,  has  pointed  out  a  different  policy, 
and  that  body  will  dictate  the  course  for  the  future.  Were  it 
not  made  the  express  duty  of  the  Comptroller  to  suggest  plans 
for  the  improvement  of  the  public  revenues,  he  would  here  leave 
this  topic;  and  certainly  any  suggestions  he  may  make,  seeming 
to  conflict  with  the  honest  judgment  of  previous  Legislatures, 
will  be  made  with  all  possible  respect  for  those  independent 
representatives  of  the  people.  Unable,  however,  to  appreciate 
the  wisdom  of  the  policy  which  is  thus  speedily  to  consume 
entirely  a  fund  instituted  with  the  institution  of  the  State  govern 
ment  and  designed  for  its  support,  he  is  compelled  to  renew  his 
former  recommendation  of  a  tax  sufficient  to  support  the  govern 
ment,  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  the  debt  charged  upon  the 
General  Fund,  and  to  prevent  from  further  diminution  the 
capital  of  this  fund,  until  the  receipt  of  its  dues  from  the  Canal 
Fund  shall  render  it  equal  to  the  demands  upon  it." 

These  views,  although  clear,  forcible  and  unanswera 
ble,  did  not  secure  the  favorable  action  which  their 
wisdom  demanded  and  sound  policy  required.  The 
Legislature  hesitated,  talked  right  and  acted  wrong. 
The  debt- contracting  policy  was  attended  with  much  less 
present  responsibility  among  voters  than  the  more  wise 
and  honest  one  of  taxation  and  prompt  payment.  There 
is  little  labor  in  contracting  debts,  but  much  in  their 
payment.  It  is  far  easier  to  leave  a  legacy  of  debts  for 
our  children  to  pay,  than  to  delve  and  meet  our  expenses 
as  we  go  along,  and  leave  them  unincumbered  estates. 
Mr.  WRIGHT'  s  financial  policy  was  like  John  Randolph' s 
theory  of  becoming  rich,  which  he  said  was  fully  devel 
oped  in  four  monosyllables,  "Pay  as  you  go."  This  is 
as  much  the  best  and  wisest  for  States  as  it  is  for  indivi 
duals.  Thrift  and  debts  are  neither  relatives  nor  ordi 
nary  friends.  Mr.  WEIGHT  personally  practiced  upon 
his  own  financial  theory  throughout  life, 


160  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

ELECTED   TO   THE   SENATE   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES. 

At  the  election  in  November,  1832,  William  L.  Marcy, 
then  representing  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  was  elected  Governor  of  the  State, 
and  soon  after  resigned  his  senatorship.  This  created  a 
vacancy  to  be  filled  by  the  Legislature,  which  met  on  the 
1st  of  January,  1833.  Public  affairs  at  Washington  had 
assumed  an  alarming  aspect.  Nullification  had  taken 
deep  root  in  South  Carolina,  and  the  tree  of  secession 
had  bloomed  and  seemed  about  to  produce  poisonous 
fruits.  A  harvest  of  treason  was  strongly  indicated. 
Sympathy,  more  or  less  deep,  was  springing  up  in  other 
southern  States.  Resistance  to  the  laws  of  Congress  for 
the  collection  of  duties  on  imports  was  imminent.  The 
crisis  demanded,  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  our  wisest 
and  most  patriotic  statesmen  to  consider  and  act  upon 
it.  Although  then  comparatively  a  young  man,  all  eyes 
were  turned  to  Mr.  WRIGHT,  as  the  most  suitable  person 
to  fill  the  vacant  seat  in  the  Senate.  Although  the  friends 
of  the  Chenango  bill,  against  which  he  had,  in  substance, 
reported,  did  not  favor  it,  he  was  nominated,  and,  with 
out  any  agency  whatever  of  his  own,  appointed  by  a 
large  majority  on  the  4th  of  January,  1833. 

He  resigned  the  office  of  Comptroller  and  immediately 
proceeded  to  Washington,  and,  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1833,  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  with  Charles  E.  Dudley 
for  a  colleague.  This  brought  two  of  the  celebrated 
"seventeen"  State  Senators  of  1824  together  in  the 
highest  legislative  body  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  remained  in  the  Senate  — he  having  been 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  161 

twice  re-elected  —  until  the  30th  of  November,  1844,  a 
period  of  nearly  twelve  years,  when  he  resigned  in  con 
sequence  of  having  been  elected  Governor  of  New  York. 
Henry  A.  Foster  was  then  appointed,  by  Gov.  Bouck,  to 
fill  his  place,  who  served  until  after  the  meeting  of  the 
Legislature,  which,  on  the  18th  of  January,  1845, 
appointed  John  A.  Dix  to  serve  out  Mr.  WEIGHT'S 
unexpired  term  —  to  the  3d  of  March,  1849.  Mr.  Tall- 
madge  also  resigned,  having  been  appointed  Governor  of 
Wisconsin  by  President  Tyler,  and  on  the  same  day  the 
Governor  appointed  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  in  his  place,  to 
serve  until  the  3d  of  March,  1845.  On  the  18th  of  Janu 
ary  he  was  elected  for  a  full  term  of  six  years,  which  he 
served  out. 

11 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

ENTRANCE  INTO  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Mr.  WEIGHT  entered  the  Senate  and  took  the  oath  of 
office  on  the  14th  of  January,  1833.  The  Senate  then 
consisted  of  the  following  members :  John  Holmes  and 
Peleg  Sprague,  of  Maine,  Samuel  Bell  and  Isaac  Hill,  of 
New  Hampshire,  Nathaniel  Silsbee  and  Daniel  Webster, 
of  Massachusetts,  Nehemiah  R.  Knight  and  Asher  Robins, 
of  Rhode  Island,  Samuel  A  Foot  and  Gideon  Tomlinson, 
of  Connecticut,  Samuel  Prentiss  and  Horatio  Seymour, 
of  Vermont,  Charles  E.  Dudley  and  SILAS  WEIGHT,  Jr., 
of  New  York,  Mahlon  Dickerson  and  Theodore  Freling- 
huysen,  of  New  Jersey,  George  M.  Dallas  and  William 
Wilkins,  of  Pennsylvania,  John  M.  Clayton  and  Arnold 
Naudain,  of  Delaware,  John  Tyler  and  William  C.  Rives, 
of  Virginia,  Bedford  Brown  and  Willie  P.  Manghim,  of 
North  Carolina,  Stephen  D.  Miller  and  John  C.  Calhoun, 
of  South  Carolina,  George  M.  Troup  and  John  Forsyth, 
of  Georgia,  George  M.  Bibb  and  Henry  Clay,  of  Ken 
tucky,  Hugh  L.  White  and  Felix  Grundy,  of  Tennessee, 
Josiah  S.  Johnston  and  George  A.  Waggamon,  of  Louis 
iana,  William  Hendricks  and  John  Tipton,  of  Indiana, 
George  Poindexter  and  John  Black,  of  Mississippi,  Elias 
K.  Kane  and  John  M.  Robinson,  of  Illinois,  William  R. 
King  and  Gabriel  Moore,  of  Alabama,  Thomas  H.  Benton 
and  Alexander  Bucknor,  of  Missouri. 

Mr.  WEIGHT,  then  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  was  the 
youngest  man  in  the  Senate.  He  carried  with  him  a 
reputation  which  few  men  acquire  at  that  age.  Although 
he  fully  appreciated,  in  all  their  aspects,  the  condition  of 
our  public  affairs,  he  did  not  attempt  to  lead  off  in 


SILAS    WRIGHT    IN    THE    U.    S.    SENATE. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

their  correction,  but  chose  to  follow-  the  action  of  the 
experienced  and  venerable  men  by  whom  he  was  sur 
rounded.  His  views  in  relation  to  the  Union  and  its  dan 
gers  were  fully  presented  in  letters  published  at  the  time 
in  the  Albany  Argus,  which  we  give  in  the  next  chapter. 
They  attracted  more  attention  than  anything  which  had 
met  the  public  eye.  They  clearly  pointed  out  the  dan 
gers  ahead  and  the  necessity  of  pursuing  a  course  which 
would  avoid  them  and  insure  safety  to  the  public.  Until 
the  appearance  of  these  letters,  many  at  the  north  were 
inclined  to  treat  the  nullification  movements  in  South  Caro 
lina  with  a  degree  of  levity  and  as  of  little  public  import 
ance.  Although  the  federal  government  was  in  the  safest 
possible  hands,  with  Andrew  Jackson  at  its  head,  Mr. 
WEIGHT  was  not  for  subjecting  its  strength  to  one  of 
those  violent  tests  which  would  produce,  spread  and 
intensify  the  disunion  feeling,  if  it  did  not  end  in  actual 
civil  war,  with  all  its  fearful  and  fatal  consequences.  He 
preferred  that  course  of  action  which  would  allay,  if  it 
did  not  wholly  obviate,  all  discontent.  Such  a  course, 
eventually  pursued  by  Congress,  was  sustained  by  his 
vote  and  met  the  approbation  of  his  constituents  and  the 
American  people. 


164  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XLL 

MR.  WRIGHT'S  LETTERS  CONCERNING  NULLIFICATION. 

Upon  entering  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Mr. 
WEIGHT  availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  to  ascertain 
the  real  condition  of  the  nullification  question  at  the 
south.  The  information  thus  obtained  he  communi 
cated,  in  private  letters,  to  Edwin  Croswell,  then  editor 
of  the  Albany  Argus,  who  published  them  without  the 
signature.  The  following,  from  internal  evidence,  are 
believed  to  be  from  him.  The  only  surviving  person 
engaged  at  that  time  (1833)  in  the  management  and 
publication  of  The  Argus  is  clearly  of  the  opinion 
that  Mr.  WEIGHT  was  the  author  of  both.  They  were 
then,  and  especially  the  second  one,  attributed  to  him 
by  newspapers  and  the  public  generally,  without  dissent 
by  him  or  his  friends. 

LETTER  TO  THE   EDITOR   OF  THE   ARGUS,   DATED   WASHINGTON 
CITY,  JANUARY  16,  1833. 

"DEAR  SIR. —  The  executive  message,  calling  on  Congress  for 
the  means  of  executing  the  laws  of  the  Union  against  South  Caro 
lina  nullification,  was  received  to-day,  and  after  some  debate  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary.  The  message  is 
worthy  of  the  man,  the  occasion  and  the  people.  Full,  without 
prolixity,  clear  and  distinct,  it  breathes  the  purest  spirit  of 
patriotism  and  expresses  the  most  ardent  devotion  to  rational 
liberty. 

"With  the  whole  subject  before  Congress,  on  that  body 
devolves  the  duty  to  see  that  justice  is  done  to  the  injured  — 
that  peace  and  the  Union  be  maintained.  Will  Congress  be 
equal  to  the  emergency?  I  fear  they  will  not  be  able  either  to 
reduce  or  equalize  the  taxes;  and,  if  they  cannot  rise  to  their 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  165 

duty,  little  should  be  expected  of  good  from  any  measure  they 
may  adopt. 

"  You  may  not,  but  I  consider  this  state  of  things  civil  war. 
The  arms  and  munitions  are  prepared,  the  men  on  both  sides 
enlisted,  and  each  waits  that  the  other  may  strike  the  first  blow. 
Such  is  now  the  case,  and  this  message  asks  only  certain  enact 
ments.  But  let  no  man  suppose  that  this  is  a  season  of  peace.  I 
do  not  point  out  the  course  of  the  future.  That  course  is  too 
evident.  If  the  taxes  are  not  reduced  and  equalized,  there  will 
be  no  peace  until,  as  the  French  minister  said,  '  the  Russians  are 
victorious  and  order  reigns  in  Warsaw.' 

"  One  short  year  since,  when  the  present  state  of  things  was 
predicted,  all  was  treated  as  a  '  delusion,'  a  chimera;  and  so  fast 
have  these  revolutionary  events  hurried  on,  that  men  suppose  we 
are  at  peace  in  the  midst  of  battle.  And  now,  when  they  are 
pointed  to  the  future,  that  also  is  too  bad  to  be  possible,  and 
therefore  is  denied.  Yes,  the  truth  has  become  too  dangerous  to 
be  uttered,  and  the  man  who  dares  to  publish  it  must  be  abused 
as  if  he  caused  what  he  is  forced  to  see  and  cannot  prevent. 

"Now,  I  repeat  it,  if  anything  wise  or  good  or  safe  for  the 
republic  is  done,  it  must  be  done  by  the  people." 

The  situation  of  public  matters  at  the  south  had  arrested 
the  attention  of  thoughtful  men  at  the  north.  A  public 
meeting  was  called  at  Albany,  after  the  receipt  of  the 
foregoing  letter,  to  consider  them.  It  was  held  on  the 
24th  of  January,  1833,  two  days  after  its  publication. 
At  this  meeting  Chief  Justice  Savage  presided,  assisted  by 
Benjamin  Knower  and  Jesse  Buel  as  vice-presidents  ; 
John  Townsend  and  Rufus  H.  King  were  secretaries. 

The  Committee  on  Resolutions  consisted  of  James 
McKown,  Teunis  Van  Yechten,  John  N".  Quackenboss, 
Peter  Wendell,  Francis  Bloodgood,  Charles  R.  Webster 
and  John  S.  Van  Rensselaer. 

They  reported  three  resolutions  ;  the  first,  in  a  gingerly 
manner,  refused  to  give  up  the  protection  provided  by 
the  tariff  law ;  the  second  approved  Gen.  Jackson's 
recent  message,  condemning  nullification  and  calling 


166  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

upon  Congress  to  provide  the  means  necessary  to  enforce 
the  custom-house  laws  throughout  the  United  States  ;  the 
third,  in  substance,  said  to  our  Senators  and  members  in 
Congress  "do  what  you  think  best  on  this  interesting 
subject."  There  was  not  in  Albany,  at  the  time  of  this 
meeting,  as  much  harmony  of  opinion  on  this  subject  as 
was  expected.  The  real  condition  of  things  at  the  south, 
and  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  the  people  in  the  different 
States,  were  not  well  understood  prior  to  the  publication 
of  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  letter  of  the  twentieth  of  January, 
when  a  more  harmonious  feeling  prevailed. 

The  Argus  of  the  28th  of  January,  1833,  contains  the 
following  editorial  notice,  and  a  letter  known  to  have  been 
written  by  Mr.  WRIGHT,  to  show  his  friends  at  Albany 
the  real  state  of  things  at  Washington  and  the  south. 

"  To  show  that  we  do  not  exaggerate  the  state  of  things  at 
Washington  and  in  South  Carolina,  and  that  the  republicans  of 
this  city  have  not  acted  under  erroneous  impressions  in  that 
respect,  we  venture  to  subjoin  extracts  from  a  letter  received 
here  on  Saturday,  from  one  in  whom  the  people  of  New  York 
have  confided,  and  who  has  never  betrayed  and  never  will 
betray  their  confidence.  It  was  not  designed  for  publication,  but 
the  times  demand  that  even  the  private  views  of  public  men 
should  be  brought  out  if  they  can  be  supposed  to  contribute  to 
the  general  welfare. 

"  '  WASHINGTON,  January  20,  1833. 

" '  The  state  of  things  here  is  in  every  sense  critical ;  though  I 
do  not  by  this  mean  to  be  understood  as  saying  that  immediate 
indications  of  force,  of  rebellion,  of  civil  war,  or  disunion  have 
strengthened,  since  my  former  letter,  in  any  other  manner  than 
that  we  are  approaching  the  time  set  by  South  Carolina  for  nulli 
fication  of  the  laws  of  the  government,  without  any  evidence  of 
an  intention  to  delay  her  acts  or  to  let  them  remain  passive. 

Some  of  the  soundest  of  the  Virginia  delegation  seem  to 
think  that  Virginia  will  stand  firm  against  nullification,  and  that 
they  must  finally  come  off  from  the  present  troubles  better  than 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  167 

indications  at  present  would  seem  to  promise;  but  they  say  this 
hope  is  based  upon  the  belief  that  they  shall  be  able  to  adjust 
the  tariff  this  year,  or  that  such  strong  indications  will  be  afforded 
of  a  disposition  to  do  it  as  will  enable  their  true  and  well-mean 
ing  men  to  satisfy  the  people  that  it  will  be  done,  or  some 
thing  will  be  done  by  the  next  Congress.  Without  this,  they 
say  Virginia  will  join  the  south  in  any  measure  to  effect  it,  for 
that  their  people  have  become  as  determined  on  it  as  South 
Carolina,  and  only  differ  by  being  determined  to  do  it  peaceably 
and  constitutionally. 

"  '  Every  information  to  be  obtained  here  shows  that  Georgia 
is  just  about  in  the  situation  I  have  described  Virginia  to  be; 
that  North  Carolina  yet  stands  more  firmly  than  either,  but 
entertains  deeply  the  same  common  feeling  upon  this  subject  ; 
and  that  Alabama  and  Mississippi  are  inclining  strongly  to  the 
same  feeling;  while  I  am  assured  that  Tennessee,  when  her 
venerable  patriot  shall  cease  to  hold  the  reins  of  the  government, 
if  not  before,  will  certainly  take  the  same  side  of  the  controversy, 
and  with  equal  feeling. 

"  'The  impression  of  reflecting  and  judicious  men  in  Virginia- 
is,  that  harmony  may  be  preserved,  or  at  least  a  dangerous  alter 
native  avoided,  if  a  proper  disposition  is  manifested  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  to  do  something  at  the  present  session,  eithei 
immediately  or  prospectively.  The  same  impression  is  entertained 
as  to  Georgia  and  the  other  States  by  some  of  their  representa 
tives  ;  but  all  agree  that  the  existing  laws  must  be  so  modified 
as  to  bring  the  duties  to  the  revenue  standard,  or  that  peace  and 
quiet  cannot  be  restored,  and  that  disunion  and  division  must 
follow  any  other  course.  When  I  say  this,  I  mean  to  say  that 
it  is  the  judgment  pronounced  by  such  men  as 

of  Georgia,  Virginia,  Alabama,  North  Carolina  and 
Tennessee  delegations. 

"  'You  will  remark  that  in  this  enumeration  I  have  omitted  to 
mention  the  Union  men  of  South  Carolina.  Upon  the  main  question 
their  opinions  and  feelings  are  those  1  have  described  ;  but  as  to 
immediate  or  postponed  action  they  stand  wholly  in  a  different  rela 
tion.  They  look  upon  the  first  of  February  as  the  period  after 
which  they  are  to  stand  by  their  arms,  and  after  which  they  are 


168  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

to  enjoy  the  liberty  and  right  of  conscience  of  free  citizens  of 
this  happy  republic  only  by  periling  their  lives  for  those  privi 
leges.  Whether  mistaken  or  not,  they  honestly  expect  that 
resistance  to  the  revenue  laws  will  be  made  ;  and  that,  under  the 
legislation  proposed  by  the  President  in  his  late  message,  they 
will  be  called  upon  to  enforce  those  laws,  and  that  if  so  must 
meet  force,  the  first  blood  must  be  that  of  citizens  of  their 
State  taking  the  lives  of  each  other.  They  are  ready  for  this 
point,  and  are  fully  determined  to  meet  the  crisis  manfully  and 
patriotically ;  but  they  say,  with  at  least  some  force  of  reason,  for 
what  are  we  thus  to  put  our  lives  in  jeopardy,  and  to  call  upon 
our  faithful  constituents  to  fall  by  our  sides  ?  For  the  enforce 
ment  of  laws  which  we  consider  as  unwise,  as  impolitic,  as 
unjust,  and  as  oppressive  as  those  with  whom  we  are  called  to 
meet  in  deadly  combat  ?  The  proper  remedy  against  the  oppres 
sion  is  the  only  question  between  us  ;  and  about  that  we  shed 
the  blood  of  our  neighbors  and  friends,  while  our  common  feeling 
for  the  common  oppression  is  the  same,  and  we,  with  them,  would 
gladly  unite  in  all  constitutional  measures  to  redress.  Such 
appeals  must  reach  the  feelings  and  the  heart  of  every  man,  and 
for  that  cause  may  warp  the  judgment.  I,  therefore,  leave  the 
reasoning  and  feeling  of  these  men  out  of  the  question,  in  giving 
you  the  facts  presented  here,  as  to  the  great  question,  and  from 
which  our  opinions  and  actions  are,  in  a  great  degree,  to  be 
taken.' " 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  169 


CHAPTER  XLIL 

NULLIFICATION  AND  COMPROMISE  MEASURES. 

The  tariff  of  1828  is  now  conceded  to  have  been  more 
a  political  than  revenue  measure,  and  deeply  affected  the 
then  pending  presidential  election.  It  served  a  purpose, 
though  highly  distasteful  to  the  south,  whose  Represen 
tatives  and  Senators  in  Congress  generally  resisted  it  by 
their  speeches  and  votes.  Although  somewhat  modified 
by  the  act  of  1832,  its  leading  features  remained  and 
highly  exasperated  those  upon  whose  interests  it  bore 
with  a  heavy  hand,  if  not  by  a  crushing  weight.  This 
tariff  legislation,  and  its  injustice,  formed  the  staple  of 
the  argument  used  in  South  Carolina  for  exerting  its 
power  to  nullify  its  provisions  within  the  limits  of  the 
State.  The  constitutional  right  to  do  this  was  denied  by 
Gen.  Jackson  in  a  proclamation  of  December  11,  1832, 
and  in  his  message  of  January  16,  1833,  in  which  he  was 
sustained,  at  the  time,  by  the  entire  north  and  west,  and 
by  a  large  majority  of  every  State,  except  South  Carolina. 
Congress  promptly  acted  upon  the  subject  at  this  session, 
at  which  two  measures  came  before  the  Senate  bearing 
upon  the  nullification  question  raised  in  South  Carolina, 
and  which  Mr.  WRIGHT  feared  might  excite  the  sympathy 
of  other  States  and  involve  them  in  sustaining  its  action: 
the  revenue  collection  bill,  often  called  the  " force  bill," 
a  measure  intended  to  sustain  the  majesty  and  dignity 
of  the  law,  and  to  cause  it  to  be  fully  executed,  and  to 
punish  those  infringing  and  resisting  it.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
sustained  and  voted  for  this  act,  which  was  severely 
denounced  at  the  south.  Its  leading  provisions  were 
short-lived,  and  died  at  the  end  of  the  next  session  of 


170  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Congress,  and  have  never  been  revived.  He  took  no  part 
in  the  discussions  on  this  bill. 

The  other  measure,  the  tariff,  was  largely  discussed. 
In  this  debate  he  participated.  He  proposed  amend 
ments,  and  sustained  some  of  those  presented  by  others. 
At  the  time  of  its  passage  Mr.  WRIGHT  briefly  assigned 
the  reasons  why  he  felt  it  a  duty  to  vote  for  it.  He 
said: 

"  He  rose  to  give,  very  concisely,  the  views  which  he  enter 
tained  in  regard  to  this  measure.  His  objections  to  it  were 
strong,  and  under  any  other  than  existing  circumstances  would 
perhaps  be  insurmountable.  He  thought  the  reduction  too  slow 
for  the  first  eight  years,  and  vastly  too  rapid  afterwards.  Again 
he  objected  to  the  inequality  of  the  rule  of  reduction  which  had 
been  adopted.  It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  on  articles  paying 
100  per  cent  duty,  the  reduction  was  dangerously  rapid.  There 
was  uniformity  in  the  rule  adopted  by  the  bill  as  regards  its 
operation  on  existing  laws.  The  first  object  of  the  bill  was  to 
eifect  a  compromise  between  the  conflicting  views  of  the  friends 
and  opponents  of  protection.  It  purports  to  extend  relief  to 
southern  interests,  and  yet  it  enhances  the  duty  on  one  of  the 
most  material  articles  of  southern  consumption  —  negro  cloths. 
Again,  while  it  increases  this  duty  it  imposes  no  corresponding 
duty  on  the  raw  material  from  which  the  fabric  is  made. 

"Another  objection  arose  from  his  mature  conviction  that  the 
principle  of  home  valuation  was  absurd,  impracticable  and  of 
very  unequal  operation.  The  reduction  on  some  articles  of  prime 
necessity  —  iron,  for  example  —  was  so  great  and  so  rapid  that  he 
was  perfectly  satisfied  that  it  would  stop  all  further  production 
before  the  expiration  of  eight  years.  The  principle  of  discrimi 
nation  was  one  of  the  points  introduced  into  the  discussion,  and 
as  to  this,  he  would  say  that  the  bill  did  not  recognize,  after  a 
limited  period,  the  power  of  Congress  to  afford  protection  by 
discriminating  duties.  It  provides  protection  for  a  certain  limited 
time,  but  does  not  ultimately  recognize  the  principle  of  protection. 
The  bill  proposes  ultimately  to  reduce  all  articles  which  pay 
duty  to  the  same  rate  of  duty.  This  principle  of  revenue  was 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  171 

entirely  unknown  to  our  laws,  and,  in  his  opinion,  was  an  unwar 
rantable  innovation.  Gentlemen  advocating  the  principle  and 
policy  of  free  trade  admit  the  power  of  Congress  to  lay  and  collect 
such  duties  as  are  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  revenue;  and  to 
that  extent  they  will  incidentally  afford  protection  to  manufac 
tures.  He  would,  upon  all  occasions,  contend  that  no  more 
money  should  be  raised  from  duties  on  imports  than  the  govern 
ment  needs,  and  this  principle  he  wished  now  to  state  in  plain 
terms.  He  adverted  to  the  proceedings  of  the  free-trade  con 
vention,  to  show  that,  by  a  large  majority  (120  to  7),  they  recog 
nized  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  afford  incidental 
protection  to  domestic  manufactures.  They  expressly  agreed 
that  the  principle  of  discrimination  was  in  consonance  with  the 
Constitution. 

"  Still  another  objection  he  had  to  the  bill.  It  proposed  on 
its  face,  and,  as  he  thought,  directly,  to  restrict  the  action  of 
our  successors.  We  had  no  power,  he  contended,  to  bind  our 
successors.  We  might  legislate  prospectively,  and  a  future 
Congress  could  stop  the  course  of  this  prospective  legislation. 
He  had,  however,  no  alternative  but  to  vote  for  the  bill,  with  all 
its  defects,  because  it  contained  some  provisions  which  the  state 
of  the  country  rendered  indispensably  necessary. 

"  This  brought  him  to  the  consideration  of  the  reasons  which 
would  induce  him  to  vote  for  the  bill.  Upon  what  circum 
stances,  Mr.  President,  are  we  called  upon  to  vote  for  a  bill  thus 
imperfect  ?  Is  the  occasion  one  of  ordinary  character,  and  one 
which  can  be  lightly  regarded  ?  He  might  render  himself  obnox 
ious  to  the  charge  of  legislating  under  the  influence  of  fear. 
But  are  there  considerations  of  a  proper  nature  which  operate  in 
favor  of  this  measure  ?  What  are  they  ?  There  is,  in  some  parts 
of  the  country,  a  strong  and  deep  expression  of  discontent  at  our 
legislation  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff.  These  discontents,  it  was 
not  to  be  concealed,  had  risen  to  such  a  height  as  to  threaten  the 
peace  of  the  country  and  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  The  hostile 
attitude  assumed  by  a  sister  State  towards  the  country  had  induced 
us  to  do  what  we  are  now  bound  to  do,  and  a  refusal  to  do  which 
would  have  endangered  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  The  blow 
was  aimed  at  the  fiscal  resources  of  the  country  —  at  the  purse, 


172  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

which  was  a  troublesome  thing  to  manage,  though  without  it 
the  government  could  not  exist.  The  measure  proposed  would 
restore  harmony  to  the  country,  and  he  believed  it  to  be  just  and 
proper  to  yield  much  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  this  object. 
The  time  was  come  when  the  revenue  should  be  reduced,  even 
the  revenue  derived  from  protected  articles.  This  single  measure 
for  effecting  a  reduction  was  presented  to  him  for  his  acceptance 
or  rejection,  and,  defective  as  it  was  in  many  respects,  he  would 
take  it  as  a  satisfactory  concession  to  all  that  portion  of  the  south 
which  believed  the  existing  laws  to  be  unjust  and  oppressive. 

"  It  was  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  whole  country  was  strongly 
impressed  with  the  necessity  of  reducing  the  revenue  gradually 
to  the  wants  of  the  government.  It  was  the  details  of  such  a 
measure,  as  it  was  the  rule  by  which  we  should  reach  the  proper 
standard,  upon  which  members  of  this  body  and  the  people  gen 
erally  differed.  If  no  better  measure  than  that  before  us  would  be 
agreed  upon,  he  should  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to  support  it.  He  had 
now  given  the  reasons  which  would  induce  him  to  vote  for  the 
bill.  The  principal  reason  was  that  a  sister  State  of  the  Union 
was  highly  exasperated  at  the  course  of  federal  legislation,  and 
was  on  the  eve  of  having  recourse  to  a  desperate  remedy  for 
what  she  considered  as  her  wrongs.  Thinking  this  measure  to 
be  necessary  for  the  peace  of  the  country,  all  its  defects  sunk 
out  of  sight." 

After  a  few  remarks  by  Mr.  Bibb  and  Mr.  Clay,  and  a 
few  words  from  Mr.  WEIGHT,  the  vote  was  finally  taken 
upon  the  bill,  and  it  passed  the  Senate  by  ayes  29,  nays 
16,  and  subsequently  became  a  law.  Mr.  WRIGHT'S 
remarks  and  vote  met  the  warm  concurrence  of  his  con 
stituents,  although  they  were  not  supported  by  the  vote 
of  his  colleague,  Mr.  Dudley,  who  was  also  a  democrat. 
The  vote  on  this  and  on  the  force  bill,  against  which  there 
were  only  seven  votes, —  Bibb,  Calhoun,  King,  Mangum, 
Miller,  Moore,  Troup  and  Tyler, — was  not  one  involving 
party  fidelity.  Nor  was  it  sectional.  Both  democrats 
and  whigs  were  divided,  as  were  northern  and  southern 
men.  Local  interests  and  feelings,  to  a  very  considerable 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  173 

extent,  had  their  effect  in  occasioning  many  of  the  votes. 
But  pure  patriotism  and  sincere  regard  for  the  integrity 
of  the  Union  controlled  others,  and  averted  the  dangers 
which  threatened  it.  This  law  was,  at  the  time,  called 
the  "compromise  act."  It  allayed  the  irritated  and 
excited  feelings  of  the  south,  and  restored  peace  and 
harmony  throughout  the  Union. 


174  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

CASE  OF  ELISHA  R.  POTTER,  CLAIMING  A  SEAT  AS  SENATOR 
FROM  RHODE  ISLAND. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  session,  in  December, 
1^33,  two  persons — Elisha  R.  Potter  and  Asher  Bobbins  — 
claimed  a  seat  as  Senator  from  Rhode  Island  —  the 
former  a  democrat,  the  latter  a  whig.  Mr.  Robbins  was 
directed  to  be  sworn  in  by  a  strict  party  vote.  On  the 
second  day  of  the  session  Mr.  WRIGHT  offered  a  resolu 
tion  to  refer  the  claim  of  Mr.  Potter  to  a  seat  to  a  select 
committee.  The  consideration  of  the  resolution  was 
postponed,  and  on  the  next  day,  after  being  amended  so 
as  to  require  the  Senate,  instead  of  the  Vice-President, 
to  appoint  the  committee,  it  was  adopted.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
resisted  this  change  in  the  practice  of  the  Senate,  but 
was  defeated  by  a  party  vote.  The  Senate  appointed  a 
committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Poindexter,  Rives, 
WRIGHT,  Sprague  and  Frelinghuysen.  The  chairman 
and  two  last-named  members,  making  a  majority,  were 
whigs  and  opposed  to  Mr.  Potter's  claim  to  a  seat.  They 
prepared  and  presented  a  report,  sustaining  Mr.  Robbins' 
claim.  Mr.  Rives,  having  been  appointed  Minister  to 
France,  resigned  his  seat.  His  opinions  harmonized  with 
Mr.  WRIGHT'S  on  this  subject.  The  right  of  the  latter 
to  make  a  minority  report,  although  fiercely  resisted, 
was  finally  assented  to,  and  he  prepared  and  presented 
one,  which  was  printed.  The  i'acts  in  the  case  were  not 
the  subject  of  much  difference.  Legal  or  constitutional 
questions  were  the  matters  in  controversy.  -In  those 
days  the  Rhode  Island  Legislature  were  elected  for  only 
half  a  year,  and  then  gave  place  to  others.  Mr.  Robbins 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  175 

had  been  a  Senator  and  his  place  was  about  to  become 
vacant.  The  Legislature,  a  majority  of  whom  were 
whigs,  extended  the  term  of  their  own  existence,  and 
during  that  extended  term  elected  Mr.  Robbins  for  six 
years,  from  the  3d  of  March,  1833.  The  next  Legislature 
was  democratic,  and  believing  that  the  acts  of  the  pre 
vious  Legislature,  under  the  extension,  were  nullities, 
proceeded  to  elect  Mr.  Potter  to  represent  the  State  in 
the  Senate. 

The  question  of  power  of  the  State  Legislature  to 
extend  its  constitutional  term  of  existence  was  the  only 
one  involved  of  any  importance.  The  majority  of  the 
committee  claimed  that  it  had  this  power,  and  could  and 
had  lawfully  exercised  it.  The  minority  report  denied 
the  existence  of  any  such  power,  and  insisted  that  it  had 
not  been  rightfully  exercised.  It  was  conclusive  upon 
the  subject.  The  ability  with  which  Mr.  WRIGHT  argued 
the  question  presented  elevated  him  in  the  public  estima 
tion  as  a  logician  and  constitutional  lawyer. 

The  conclusions  of  the  majority  report  were  adopted 
by  the  vote  of  every  whig  present  when  it  was  taken. 
At  this  day  no  one  of  either  party  would  probably 
seriously  declare  that  Mr.  Robbins  was  lawfully  entitled 
to  a  seat  in  the  Senate.  At  the  instance  of  Mr.  WEIGHT 
the  Senate  ordered  that  Mr.  Potter  should  be  paid,  like 
other  Senators,  while  awaiting  the  final  action  of  that 
body.  This  vote  was  not,  like  the  other,  based  upon 
party  feelings  and  policy,  but  upon  a  principle  recognized 
by  both  Houses  of  Congress  —  to  pay  those  who  present 
prima  facie  evidence  of  election,  and  act  in  good  faith 
in  claiming  a  seat. 


176  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

REMOVAL  OF  THE    DEPOSITS    FROM    THE    UNITED    STATES 

BANK. 

The  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  chartered  in  1816, 
and  a  bill  extending  its  charter  passed  both  Houses  of 
Congress  in  1832,  and  was  vetoed  by  President  Jackson. 
The  revenues  of  the  government  had  been  deposited  in  it 
at  Philadelphia,  and  in  its  branches  elsewhere,  as  far  as 
practicable.  By  its  charter  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
had  the  power  to  remove  them  and  to  make  deposits  in 
other  places.  The  laws  of  Congress  had  provided  a  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  Department  and  a  Treasurer,  but  no 
treasury  proper.  As  the  bank  would  soon  expire,  and 
ought  to  prepare  for  that  event,  Gen.  Jackson  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  further  deposits  ought  not  to  be  made  in 
the  bank,  and  those  in  it  should  be  drawn  out  as  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  government  might  require.  He  announced 
his  determination  to  his  cabinet  on  the  22d  of  September, 
1833.  Roger  B.  Taney,  appointed  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  when  William  J.  Duane,  who  had  previously 
held  that  office,  refused  to  perform  this  duty,  immedi 
ately  set  about  carrying  out  the  President's  directions. 
The  fact  of  this  change  in  the  disposition  of  the  public 
revenues  was  communicated  to  Congress  by  the  President 
in  his  annual  message  at  the  commencement  of  the  ses 
sion,  December  2,  1833.  But  the  reasons  for  it  and  the 
details  of  the  measure  were  subsequently  presented  in  a 
report  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  This 
change  occasioned  a  violent  and  prolonged  debate  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  as  well  as  caused  severe  newspaper 
criticisms.  Many  State  Legislatures,  and  among  them 


LIFE  AND  TIM  us  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  177 

that  of  New  York,  passed  resolutions  approving  the 
action  of  the  President  and  Secretary.  Others  denounced 
the  removal  as  illegal  or  impolitic.  Those  passed  by 
New  York  were  presented  to  the  Senate  by  Mr.  WEIGHT, 
January  30,  1834.  When  doing  so,  lie  addressed  to  that 
body  the  following  remarks  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  submitted  to  the  Senate  resolutions  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  approving  of  the  course  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  with  regard  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits.  Mr. 
W.,  in  presenting  the  resolutions,  addressed  the  Senate  as 
follows: 

"  I  hold  in  my  hand,  Mr.  President,  and  am  about  to  ask  leave  to 
present  to  the  Senate,  certain  proceedings  of  the  Legislature  of 
my  State,  in  which  that  body  expresses  its  sentiments  in  regard 
to  the  removal  (as  it  is  called)  of  the  public  moneys  from  their 
deposit  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  made  by  order  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  in  regard  to  the  recharter  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  in  regard  to  the  existing  pressure 
upon  the  money  market  in  some  portions  of  the  country,  with 
its  views  'of  the  character  and  causes  of  that  pressure;  and 
in  which,  also,  the  Legislature  expresses  its  pleasure  as  to  the 
course  which  the  Representatives  of  the  State,  upon  this  floor, 
shall  pursue  when  called  to  act  upon  these  questions. 

"  In  presenting,  a  few  days  since,  the  proceedings  of  limited 
portions  of  the  people  of  their  respective  States  upon  the  same 
subjects,  honorable  Senators  took  occasion,  no  doubt  properly,  to 
inform  the  Senate  of  the  number,  character  and  standing,  politi 
cal  as  well  as  personal,  of  those  whose  sentiments  they  laid 
before  us;  to  tell  us  as  well  who  they  were,  as  who  they  were 
not.  I  beg  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate,  while,  following  the 
example  set  me,  I  detail  some  facts  in  relation  to  the  body  whose 
proceedings  it  has  become  my  duty  to  present,  tending  to  show 
the  extent  to  which  the  proceedings  themselves  claim  the  respect 
ful  attention  of  Congress. 

"  The  whole  number  of  members  allowed  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  State  of  New  York  to  its  Legislature  is  128  Members 
of  Assembly  and  32  Senators.  The  members  of  Assembly  are 

x        12 


178  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

apportioned  to  the  fifty-five  counties  of  the  State  according  te 
their  respective  population,  and  the  whole  territory  is  divided 
into  eight  districts  for  the  election  of  Senators,  each  district 
having  four,  and  electing  one  of  the  four  every  year.  The  pro 
ceedings  which  I  am  about  to  present  were  passed  in  the  House 
of  Assembly  by  a  vote  of  118  for,  to  9  against,  and  in  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  23  for,  to  5  against  them;  thus  showing  the 
very  unusual  occurrence,  that  of  the  160  members  elected  by  the 
people  to  that  Legislature,  155  were  present  and  acting  upon  these 
interesting  and  important  questions. 

"But,  sir,  if  this  unexampled  strength  and  unanimity  of 
expression  be  entitled  to  weight,  and  it  surely  must  be,  while 
authentic  evidence  of  public  opinion  is  allowed  an  influence  in 
our  deliberations,  that  weight  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  peculiar 
circumstances  attending  the  expression.  All  these  members  of 
the  popular  branch  of  that  Legislature,  and  eight  of  the  thirty- 
two  Senators,  were  elected  during  the  first  week  in  November 
last,  one  full  month  after  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  while  the 
vote  shows  that  more  than  thirteen  to  one  of  the  members  of 
Assembly  voted  for,  while  but  one  of  the  eight  Senators  thus 
elected  voted  against,  the  resolutions.  Still,  the  strength  of  this 
vote,  taken  as  an  expression  of  public  opinion,  will  be  much 
increased  by  an  examination  of  its  territorial  distribution. 

"  It  is  well  known  here,  and  throughout  the  country,  that  the 
extreme  western  district  of  the  State  of  New  York  has  been 
unhappily,  but  most  severely,  agitated,  in  consequence  of  an  out 
rage  several  years  since  committed  against  the  liberty,  and 
probably  upon  the  life,  of  a  citizen.  The  effects  of  this  outrage 
have  been,  not  only  the  engendering  of  the  most  bitter  domestic 
feuds,  but  the  partial  establishment  of  a  geographical  line  of 
separation  in  feeling  between  that  and  the  other  sections  of  the 
State.  It  is,  however,  a  source  of  high  gratification  to  myself  to 
be  able  to  state,  as  I  trust  it  will  be  of  pleasure  to  liberal-minded 
men  to  learn,  that  this  unnatural  warfare  of  feeling  is  most  rap 
idly  subsiding  ;  that  the  deep  wounds  which  have  been  created 
by  it,  in  the  social  relations  of  that  otherwise  highly-favored  sec 
tion  of  the  State,  are  healing  fast,  and  that  the  time  is  not 
distant  when  the  evidence  of  its  existence  and  eifects  will  entirely 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  179 

disappear.  In  this  section  of  the  State,  however,  not  an  expres 
sion  of  complaint,  as  to  the  pecuniary  pressure,  has  been  heard, 
and  from  the  best  advices  I  believe  that,  at  this  moment,  its  busi 
ness  relations  of  every  description  are  in  a  more  prosperous  and 
easy  condition  than  they  have  ever  before  been.  Yet  to  the  west 
and  north-west  must  we  look  for  every  vote  against  the  resolu 
tions,  and  to  this  section  alone  for  eleven  out  of  the  fourteen  of 
these  votes.  The  remaining  three  are,  with  one  exception,  Sena 
tors  not  elected  at  the  election  of  November  last,  but  in  previous 
years,  and  all  are  located  beyond  the  reach  of  the  present  pres 
sure —  in  the  agricultural,  not  in  the  commercial  sections.  In 
those  portions  of  the  State  embracing  our  great  commercial 
emporium  (and  which  I  think  I  may,  without  arrogance  or  pre 
sumption,  style  the  commercial  emporium  of  the  United  States), 
and  the  extensive  cities  of  Hudson,  Albany,  Troy,  Schenectady 
and  Utica,  and  an  almost  endless  number  of  incorporated  trad 
ing  towns  and  villages,  all  surrounded  by  a  dense,  intelligent 
and  watchful  population,  amounting  together  to  at  least  1,800,000 
souls,  there  was  not  found  a  single  member  of  the  popular  branch 
of  that  Legislature  absent  from  his  seat,  or  not  with  cheerfulness 
and  alacrity  recording  his  name  in  favor  of  the  resolutions.  Of 
the  128  members  composing  this  branch  of  the  Legislature,  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  the  city  of  New  York  alone  elects  eleven, 
and  that  every  representative  from  that  city,  in  either  branch  of 
the  State  Legislature,  responds  to  the  resolutions  which  I  now 
lay  before  the  Senate. 

"  Of  the  members  of  this  Legislature,  personally,  it  is  not  my 
intention  to  speak.  The  situations  they  hold,  and  their  public 
acts,  are  the  legitimate  evidence  of  the  capacity  and  respectability 
of  the  individuals.  It  is  as  the  organ,  upon  this  occasion,  of  this 
deliberative  body,  representing  as  they  do  2,000,000  of  freemen, 
nearly  the  one-sixth  part  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Union ; 
a  population,  too,  as  commercial  —  nay,  sir,  I  may  say  more  com 
mercial —  and  employing  more  capital  than  any  other  portion  of 
the  country,  and  collecting  and  paying  into  the  national  treasury 
full  one-third  of  its  whole  revenue;  a  people  having  as  deep  a  stake, 
pecuniary  and  otherwise,  in  the  prosperity  of  this  country,  and  as 
firmly  and  ardently  devoted  to  its  welfare  as  any  other  equal  por- 


180  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tion  of  its  citizens;  it  is  as  the  organ  of  such  a  body,  representing 
such  a  people,  that  I  submit  to  the  Senate  this  part  of  their  public 
proceedings  —  that  I  ask  to  place  their  almost  unanimous  opinions 
as  to  the  conduct  of  the  President,  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury,  and  of  the  United  States  Bank,  upon  your  files,  by  the  side 
of  similar  expressions  from  the  States  of  Ohio  and  New  Jersey  ; 
also  by  the  side  of  different  expressions  from  portions  of  the 
people  from  Boston  and  New  Bedford,  in  Massachusetts  ;  of 
Salisbury,  in  North  Carolina,  and  Newark,  in  New  Jersey,  and 
such  other  expressions  of  opinion  as  are,  or  as  may  come,  before 
the  Senate  upon  the  subjects  ;  and  at  this  interesting  crisis  in  the 
affairs  of  our  common  country,  I  respectfully  solicit  from  the 
Senate  that  consideration  for  these  proceedings  of  the  Legislature 
of  my  State  which  a  liberal,  just  and  unprejudiced  estimate  of 
the  views  and  feelings  of  any  respectable  portion  of  the  citizens 
of  the  country  may  demand,  and  no  more. 

"  Here,  sir,  I  might  resume  my  seat,  and  I  should  do  so  with 
pleasure,  were  it  not  that  a  part  of  what  I  have  felt  to  be  an 
imperative  duty  upon  this  occasion  remains  to  be  performed. 

"  In  presenting  the  proceedings  of  a  meeting  of  a  portion  of 
the  town  of  Boston,  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
availed  himself  of  the  occasion  to  express  his  own  views  as  to  the 
existence  of  a  public  pressure,  of  its  cause,  and  of  the  appropriate 
mode  of  relief.  He  went  further,  sir,  and  called  upon  all,  and 
especially  upon  those  who  sustain  the  administration  upon  this 
floor,  in  relation  to  the  change  of  the  deposits,  to  give  their 
views  as  to  the  future  as  well  as  the  present  posture  of  the  pecu 
niary  affairs  of  the  country.  As  an  individual,  and  as  one  con 
sidering  it  one  of  my  highest  duties  to  sustain  the  administration 
in  this  measure,  I  am  ready  to  respond  to  the  Senator  with  entire 
frankness ;  but  in  thus  accepting  his  call,  I  must  not  be  under 
stood  as  for  one  moment  entertaining  the  vain  impression  that 
opinions  and  views  pronounced  by  me,  here  or  elsewhere,  will 
acquire  any  importance  because  they  are  my  opinions  and  my 
views.  I  know  well,  sir,  that  my  name  carries  not  with  it  author 
ity  anywhere ;  but  I  also  know  that,  so  far  as  I  may  entertain 
and  shall  express  opinions  which  are  or  which  shall  be  found  IE 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  181 

accordance  with  the  enlightened  public  opinion  of  this  country, 
so  far  they  will  be  sustained,  and  no  farther. 

"  Following,  then,  Mr.  President,  the  example  which  has  been 
set  for  me,  I  shall  abstain  from  a  discussion  of  controverted 
points,  so  far  as  that  can  be  done,  and  enable  me  to  state,  unre 
servedly,  my  opinions,  and  to  make  my  views  intelligible. 

"  First,  then,  as  to  the  fact  of  an  existing  pressure  upon  the 
money  market  :  I  believe  that  the  recent  extensive  and  sudden 
curtailment,  by  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  in  the  facilities 
for  credit,  which  had  before  been  lavished  upon  the  community, 
has  caused  very  considerable  embarrassment  to  those  in  our  com 
mercial  cities,  who  had  extended  widely  their  moneyed  opera 
tions,  and  who  had  made  themselves  dependent  upon  these 
facilities  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  I  believe  that  these  inconvenien 
ces  have  been,  in  an  unimportant  degree,  either  directly  or  con 
sequentially,  extended  to  other  classes  of  citizens.  I  therefore 
believe,  further,  that  the  extent  of  the  pressure  has  been  greatly 
exaggerated,  and  that  the  motives  for  that  exaggeration  are  to 
be  found,  primarily,  in  the  belief  that  the  present  administration 
may  be  brought  into  disfavor  with  the  people,  and  may  be  over 
thrown  through  the  agency  of  the  panic  which  is  attempted  to 
be  gotten  up  ;  and,  secondarily,  in  the  hope  that  the  same  panic, 
if  successfully  produced,  may  subserve  the  interests  of  the  insti 
tution  by  which  it  has  been  and  is  to  be  raised. 

"  Secondly,  as  to  the  immediate  cause  of  the  pressure,  I  concur 
fully  with  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  that  it  is  an  error  to 
attribute  it  to  the  mere  fact  of  the  change  of  the  deposits.  The 
reasons  he  has  assigned  for  that  opinion  are  sufficient.  They 
might  be  amplified  and  enforced,  but  it  is  unnecessary  upon  the 
present  occasion.  Past  experience,  concurring  facts,  and  the 
nature  of  the  transaction,  all  combine  to  demonstrate  that  such  a 
change  would  not  necessarily  draw  after  it  such  a  result.  I  con 
cur  also  with  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Webster]  in  the  position 
that  the  evil  complained  of  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  change 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  positions  which  the  government, 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  the  State  banks,  have  hereto 
fore  occupied  relatively  toward  each  other,  and  to  the  acts  which 
have  followed  that  change.  These  positions,  as  at  present  exist- 


182  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ing,  are  pronounced  by  the  honorable  Senator  to  be  false.  That 
the  attitude  which  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  has  chosen  to 
assume  towards  the  government  and  the  State  banks  is  a  false 
position,  I  most  cheerfully  admit ;  but  that  there  has  been  any 
thing  in  the  conduct  of  either  the  government  or  the  State  banks 
to  justify  or  even  excuse  that  attitude,  I  deny,  and  hope  to  have 
an  opportunity  to  attempt  to  disprove.  From  the  government 
directly  no  loans  could  be  obtained  or  were  expected,  and  it  was 
well  known  that  the  State  banks,  which  have  been  selected  as  the 
fiscal  agents  of  the  government,  had  extended  their  loans  many 
millions,  and  to  the  utmost  limit  authorized  by  the  public  depo 
sits  in  their  vaults.  It  is  neither  shown  nor  pretended  that  the 
other  State  banks  have  curtailed  their  loans  in  consequence  of 
the  change  of  the  deposits,  except  when  the  curtailments  by  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  branches  have  compelled  them 
to  do  so.  We  have,  however,  record  evidence  from  itself  that 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  has  curtailed  its  loans,  since  the 
first  day  of  August  last,  and  up  to  the  first  day  of  December 
last,  to  the  enormous  amount  of  $9,697,000  ;  and  all  this  curtail 
ment  has  taken  place  in  the  entire  absence  of  any  revulsion  in 
trade,  of  any  scarcity  in  the  country,  or  any  other  peculiar  cause 
of  embarrassment  existing  or  anticipated.  We  need  not,  then, 
grope  in  the  field  of  speculation  for  the  cause  of  the  present 
pressure.  It  stands  before  us  recorded  in  letters  and  figures 
which  cannot  lie,  and  which  leave  us  without  excuse  for  misun 
derstanding  or  for  affecting  to  misunderstand  it. 

"  Thirdly,  as  to  the  motives  for  this  conduct  on  the  part  of  the 
bank,  I  have  already  said,  I  deny  that  a  justifiable  one  is  to  be 
found  either  in  the  conduct  of  the  government  or  of  the  State 
banks  towards  it  ;  and  I  repeat  the  assertion.  Whether  or  not 
this  curtailment  of  its  business  has  been  rendered  necessary  on 
the  part  of  the  bank,  in  consequence  of  former  mismanagement, 
I  need  not  inquire,  inasmuch  as  the  bank  itself,  and  all  its  friends 
and  supporters,  here  and  elsewhere,  most  strenuously  deny  that 
its  present  condition  furnishes  any  necessity  for  increased  means. 
I  have  looked  carefully  into  the  instructions  originally  given  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  the  State  banks  in  relation  to 
the  course  to  be  pursued  by  them  towards  the  Bank  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  183 

United  States,  and  I  find  there  nothing  to  warrant  an  apprehen 
sion  that  any  disposition  existed  on  the  part  of  the  government 
to  injure  the  bank,  or  to  embarrass  it  in  the  prosecution  of  its 
lawful  business.  I  have  examined,  with  equal  care,  the  instruc 
tions  given  in  regard  to  the  transfer  drafts,  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  to  be  and  were  in  fact  used.  And  these 
acts  of  the  government,  taken  in  connection  with  the  large 
amount  of  money  still  left  in  the  bank,  and  which,  upon  a  differ 
ent  supposition,  would  assuredly  have  been  also  withdrawn,  I 
hold  to  furnish  undeniable  evidence  that  no  disposition  was 
entertained  or  manifested  on  the  part  of  the  government  to 
wrong  this  institution.  The  only  design  evinced  was  to  exercise 
a  legal  right,  reserved  by  the  charter,  to  change  the  deposits, 
and  to  continue  an  uncompromising,  to  be  sure,  but  constitutional 
opposition  to  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  bank.  That  for 
these  constitutional  and  legal  acts  it  has  pleased  the  bank  to 
wreak  its  vengeance  upon  the  community,  I  neither  allege  nor 
believe  ;  that  the  State  banks  have  made  the  slightest  hostile 
movement  against  it,  neither  is  nor  can  be  pretended.  What, 
then,  is  the  motive  for  this  rapid  curtailment  ?  I  have  not  the 
slightest  doubt,  Mr.  President,  that,  in  the  language  of  the  reso 
lutions  I  hold  in  my  hand,  it  is  to  be  found,  and  found  only,  in 
an  attempt  of  the  bank,  '  at  a  time  of  general  prosperity,  to  pro 
duce  pecuniary  distress  and  alarm,  and  in  exercising  its  power 
with  a  view  to  extort  a  renewal  of  its  charter  from  the  fears  of 
the  people.'  So  much  for  the  pressure  and  the  causes  of  it. 

"I  will  now  consider  the  remedy  for  the  evil  which  the  Senator 
proposes.  Leaving  the  discussion  of  everything  constitutional, 
political  and  expedient,  the  Senator,  with  his  usual  tact,  goes 
directly  to  the  matter  in  hand  ;  and  with  the  utmost  confidence 
he  tells  us  that  the  remedy  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  restoration 
of  the  deposits,  but  in  the  recharter  of  the  present  bank.  What 
ever  else  may  be  said  of  this  avowal,  it  must,  at  least,  be  admitted 
that  it  does  credit  to  the  candor  of  the  Senator.  For  mysolf,  I 
thank  him,  and  the  country  will  thank  him  also.  It  is  time,  Mr. 
President,  high  time,  that  things  should  be  called  by  their  right 
names  in  relation  to  the  depending  controversy;  that  the  veil 
with  which  it  has  hitherto  been  attempted  to  disguise  the  subject 


184  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

should  be  torn  off,  and  that  the  people  should  know  what  is  the 
question  which  is,  in  fact,  occupying  the  attention  of  Congress. 
This  being  done  by  the  declaration  of  the  Senate,  there  is  reason 
to  hope  that  we  may  hereafter  be,  if  we  have  not  heretofore 
been,  aided  by  contributions  of  public  sentiment,  so  far  as  the 
Senate  may  think  proper  to  allow  influences  of  that  sort  to  enter 
into  its  deliberations.  And,  sir,  I  venture  the  prediction,  that  if 
the  expressions  now  upon  our  files,  or  those  which  shall  hereafter 
be  placed  there,  as  evidences  of  public  sentiment,  shall  be 
examined,  it  will  appear  that  the  good  sense  and  ingenuity  of  the 
Senator,  in  devising  this  remedy,  have  only  placed  him  upon  a  level 
with  the  common  opinion  of  the  whole  community  as  to  the  real 
question  in  dispute  :  that  every  paper  favoring  the  views  of 
the  opponents  of  the  administration  has  and  will,  expressly  or 
impliedly,  recognize  the  fact  that  the  question  before  the  public 
is  '  bank,  or  no  bank,'  and  that  the  real  issue  has  that  direction  — 
not  the  disposition  of  the  government  deposits.  A  petition  for 
recharter  is  a  mere  matter  of  form,  which  can  at  any  time  be 
brought  forward.  A  few  days,  or  even  a  few  hours,  are  suffi 
cient  for  that  object ;  and  we  ought  not  to  permit  ourselves  to 
doubt  that  such  a  petition  will  be  forthcoming  or  not,  according 
to  the  decision  of  this  merely  incidental  question,  now  made  to 
assume  the  place  and  importance  of  the  real  issue. 

"  But  Mr.  President,  while  I  highly  approve  of  the  open  and 
manly  ground  taken  by  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  I  differ 
with  him  toto  coelo  as  to  the  remedy  he  proposes.  There  is  no 
inducement  which  can  prevail  upon  me  to  vote  for  the  recharter 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  I  would  oppose  this  bank 
upon  the  ground  of  its  flagrant  violations  of  the  high  trusts  con 
fided  to  it  ;  but  my  objections  are  of  a  deeper  and  graver  char 
acter.  I  go  against  this  bank,  and  against  any  and  every  bank 
to  be  incorporated  by  Congress,  whether  to  be  located  at  Phila 
delphia,  or  New  York,  or  anywhere  else  within  the  twenty-four 
independent  States  which  compose  this  confederacy,  upon  the 
broad  ground,  which  admits  not  of  compromise,  that  Congress 
has  not  the  power,  by  the  Constitution,  to  incorporate  such  a 
bank. 

"  I  may  be  over-sanguine,  Mr.  President,  but  I  do  most  firmly 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  185 

believe  that,  in  addition  to  the  invaluable  services  rendered  to 
his  country  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  he  is,  under 
Providence,  destined  still  to  render  her  a  greater  than  all,  by 
being  mainly  instrumental  in  restoring  the  Constitution  of  the 
country  to  what  it  was  intended  to  be  by  those  who  formed  it, 
and  to  what  it  was  understood  to  be  by  the  people  who  adopted 
it.  In  relieving  that  sacred  instrument  from  those  constructive 
and  implied  additions  under  which  Congress  have  claimed  the 
right  to  place  beyond  the  reach  of  the  people,  and  without 
responsibility,  a  moneyed  power,  not  merely  dangerous  to  public 
liberty,  but  of  a  character  so  formidable  as  to  set  itself  in  open 
array  against,  and  to  attempt  to  overrule,  the  government  of  the 
country,  I  believe  the  high  destiny  is  yet  in  store  for  that  ven 
erable  man,  of  disproving  the  exalted  compliment  long  since 
paid  him  by  the  great  apostle  of  republicanism,  '  that  he  had 
already  tilled  the  measure  of  his  country's  glory,'  and  that  he  is 
yet  to  accomplish,  what  neither  Thomas  Jefferson  nor  his  illus 
trious  successor  could  accomplish,  by  adding  to  the  proof  which 
he  has  so  largely  contributed  to  afford,  that  his  country  is  invin 
cible  by  arms,  the  consolatory  fact  that  there  is,  at  least,  one 
spot  upon  earth  where  written  constitutions  are  rigidly  regarded. 
I  know,  sir,  that  this  work  which  the  President  has  undertaken, 
and  upon  the  success  of  which  he  has,  with  his  usual  moral 
courage,  staked  the  hard-earned  fruits  of  a  glorious  life,  is  full 
of  difficulty.  I  know  well  that  it  will  put  the  fortitude  and 
patriotism  of  his  countrymen  to  the  severest  test;  but  I  am 
happy  also  to  know  that  he  has,  in  this  instance,  as  heretofore, 
put  himself  upon  the  fortitude  and  patriotism  of  a  people  who 
have  never  yet  failed  him,  or  any  man  who  was  himself  faithful 
to  his  county  in  the  hour  of  peril. 

"  Of  the  course  which  the  State  which  I  have  the  honor  in  part 
to  represent  here,  will  take  in  this  great  contest,  it  becomes  me, 
forming  so  humble  a  part  of  its  voice  in  the  councils  of  the 
nation,  and  known  only  by  the  favors  I  have  received  at  its 
hands,  to  speak  with  great  diffidence.  In  the  resolutions  I  now 
lay  before  the  Senate  it  has  spoken  for  itself  upon  most  of  the 
points  involved.  As  to  the  others,  I  feel  that  my  knowledge  of 
the  character  of  its  people,  and  of  the  known  sentiments  of  whole 


186  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

masses  of  its  public  men,  will  justify  me  in  the  confident  expres 
sion  of  an  opinion  that  the  State  will  sustain  the  executive  to  the 
utmost  in  this  controversy  ;  and  that  I  may  say  to  those  who  are, 
and  long  have  been,  desirous  to  restore  the  Constitution,  in  this 
regard,  to  its  true  reading,  '  now's  the  day  and  now's  the  hour ' 
for  its  accomplishment.  At  all  events,  I  have  the  right  to  say 
that  I  will  place  myself  by  the  side  of  the  President,  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  views  I  have  given,  and  that  I  desire  to  stand  or 
fall  with  my  constituents,  as  they  shall  determine  the  result. 

"  I  have  thus  responded,  and  I  hope  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  will  allow  fully,  to  so  much  of  his  appeal.  I  will  go  on, 
sir,  and  cover  the  whole  ground.  He  has  asked,  if  you  will 
neither  recharter  the  present  bank  nor  establish  a  new  one,  what 
will  you  do?  As  an  individual,  sir,  and  speaking  for  myself 
only,  I  say  I  will  sustain  the  executive  branch  of  the  government, 
by  all  the  legal  means  in  my  power,  in  the  effort  now*  making  to 
substitute  the  State  banks,  instead  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  as  the  fiscal  agents  of  the  government.  I  believe  they  are 
fully  competent  to  the  object.  I  am  wholly  unmoved  by  the 
alarms  which  have  been  sounded,  either  as  to  their  insecurity  or 
influence,  or  any  other  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  their 
employment.  I  hold  the  steps  so  far  taken  in  furtherance  of  this 
object  well  warranted  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  land, 
and  I  believe  that  the  honor  and  best  interests  of  the  country 
imperiously  require  that  they  should  be  fully  sustained  by  the 
people,  and  by  their  representatives  here. 

"  That  these  views  are  correct,  it  is  not,  of  course,  my  inten 
tion  at  this  time  to  attempt  to  show.  In  some  stage  of  the 
debate  upon  this  great  subject  I  hope  to  be  able,  without  tres 
passing  upon  the  superior  claims  of  others,  to  have  that  oppor 
tunity. 

"  We  have  been  told,  and  told  emphatically,  that  things  cannot 
remain  as  they  are;  that  the  powers  now  vested  in  and  exercised 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  are  too  broad,  and  that  legis 
lative  aid  is  required.  If  I  have  not  misunderstood  the  import 
of  remarks,  it  has  also  been  told  to  us  that  such  aid  will  be  with 
held.  To  this  I  for  the  present  only  answer,  that  things  are  now, 
in  this  respect,  precisely  as  they  were  before  the  incorporation  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  187 

the  present  bank;  that  the  same  powers  which  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  then  had  he  has  still;  that  by  the  change  of  the 
deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  the  executive 
department  of  the  government  has  been  restored  to  the  control 
over  the  places  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the  public  moneys  which 
it  had  by  law  before  these  moneys  were  deposited  with  that 
institution,  and  that,  all  the  law  formerly  existing  unaltered,  the 
only  effect  of  the  provision  in  the  charter  of  the  bank  being  to 
suspend  their  operation  until  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should 
order  and  direct  that  the  deposits  be  made  elsewhere  than  in  the 
vaults  of  that  bank.  I  further  state,  as  my  opinion  of  the  law, 
that  by  the  act  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ordering  a 
change  of  the  deposits,  and  by  that  act  only,  the  full  power  of 
Congress  over  the  whole  subject  has  been  restored. 

"  If,  then,  the  powers  of  the  secretary  are  too  broad,  as  the  law 
now  stands,  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress  to  restrict  them ;  while, 
if  the  powers  of  the  executive  branch  of  the  government  are 
not  now  fully  adequate  to  the  making  and  executing  of  all  need 
ful  orders,  rules  and  regulations  for  the  safe-keeping  and  con 
venient  management  of  the  public  moneys,  it  is  equally  the  duty 
of  Congress  to  legislate  further  upon  the  subject.  And  whether 
Congress  do  or  do  not  legislate  in  either  case,  is  a  matter  wholly 
between  its  members  and  their  constituents,  for  which  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  is  in  no  way  responsible. 

"  But,  Mr.  President,  while  I  am  prepared  to  give  to  this  effort 
of  the  government — to  make  the  State  banks  our  fiscal  agents  for 
the  safe-keeping  and  convenient  disbursement  of  the  public 
moneys — a  full  support  and  a  fair  experiment,  any  effort,  come 
from  what  quarter  it  may,  to  return  to  a  hard-money  currency, 
so  far  as  that  can  be  done  by  the  operations  of  the  federal 
government  and  consistently  with  the  substantial  interests  of 
the  country,  shall  receive  from  me  a  cordial  and  sincere  support ; 
and  no  one  would  more  heartily  rejoice  than  myself  to  meet 
vvith  propositions  which  would  render  such  an  effort  in  any  degree 
practicable. 

"  Still,  we  are  told  by  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  that 
things  cannot  remain  as  they  are ;  that  unless  something  which, 
according  to  his  views  of  the  subject  would  afford  relief  be 


188  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

done,  the  pressure,  the  distress  and  the  agitation  will  continue, 
I  have  already  stated  the  source  from  which,  and  from  which 
alone,  in  ray  judgment,  the  present  pressure  proceeds.  I  have 
stated,  also,  without  reserve,  the  object  which  is,  in  my  opinion, 
intended  to  be  accomplished  by  it.  Of  the  correctness  of  my 
conclusions,  the  Senate  and  the  country  must  judge.  If  they 
are,  as  I  believe  them  to  be,  well  founded,  it  is  undoubtedly  in 
the  power  of  the  bank  to  continue  the  pressure,  and  consequently 
the  agitation  of  the  public  mind,  to  some  extent,  so  long  as  it 
shall  think  it  to  be  for  its  interest,  and  not  incompatible  with  its 
safety  to  do  so.  It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  as  with  a  knowledge 
of  its  intentions  in  this  respect,  and  the  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts  disclaims  all  information  upon  the  point.  I  can,  therefore, 
only  state  my  opinion;  and  it  is,  that  the  bank  has  not  entered 
upon  this  bold  measure  without  the  deepest  consideration,  and 
that  it  will  not  abandon  it,  the  design  not  being  accomplished, 
but  upon  the  most  stern  necessity. 

"  Yet,  Mr.  President,  I  trust  in  God  that  the  necessity  will 
soon,  very  soon,  be  made  manifest,  by  the  attitude  which  the 
nation  will  assume  toward  this  daring  and  dangerous  institution. 
The  glorious  American  Revolution  was  but  resistance  to  moneyed 
power;  yes,  sir,  to  the  exercise  of  a  moneyed  power,  without  the 
consent  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the  people  of  this  country. 
To  this  our  fathers  opposed  a  stern  and  uncompromising  resist 
ance.  Appeals  were  made  to  their  fears.  Distress  in  their 
pecuniary  affairs  was  pictured  to  them  in  colors  to  have  deterred 
any  but  the  pure  spirit  of  patriotism  and  love  of  liberty  which 
led  them  forward.  Then  the  pictures  were  not  imaginary,  but  real ; 
the  distresses  were  not  fancy,  but  fact.  The  country  was  not  then 
strong  and  rich  and  prosperous,  but  weak  and  poor  and  disheart 
ened  ;  and  still  their  march  was  onward.  They  armed  themselves 
upon  the  side  of  their  country,  and  stood  by  their  government  ; 
and  when  their  hard  and  perilous  services  were  paid  in  paper, 
worth  a  fortieth  or  sixtieth  part  of  its  nominal  value,  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  dollar  was  the  dollar  to  them,  for  it  gave  liberty 
to  the  people,  and  freed  them  from  the  rule  of  avarice.  And 
have  we,  their  immediate  descendants,  so  soon  lost  their  noble 
spirit  ?  Are  we  to  fold  our  arms  and  obey  the  dictates  of  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  189 

• 
moneyed  power,  not   removed  from  our   soil,  and    wielded   by 

stronger  hands,  but  taking  root  among  us;  a  power  spoken  into 
existence  by  our  breath  and  dependent  upon  that  breath  for  life 
and  being  ?  Are  our  fears,  our  avarice,  our  selfish  and  base  passions 
to  be  appealed  to,  and  to  compel  us  to  recreate  this  power,  when 
we  are  told  that  the  circulation  of  the  country  is  in  its  hands  — 
that  the  institutions  established  by  all  the  independent  States  of 
the  confederacy  are  subject  to  its  control,  and  exist  only  by  its 
clemency  —  when  we  see  it  setting  itself  up  against  the  govern 
ment  and  vaunting  its  power,  throwing  from  its  doors  our  repre 
sentatives  placed  at  its  board,  and  pronouncing  them  unskillful, 
ungenteel  or  incorrigible  —  nay,  Mr.  President,  when  it  lays  upon 
our  tables  in  this  chamber  its  annunciation  to  the  public,  classing 
the  President  of  the  United  States  with  counterfeiters  and  felons, 
and  declaring  that,  as  kindred  subjects,  both  should  receive  like 
treatment  at  its  hands, —  I  say,  sir,  are  we  to  be  driven  by  our  fears 
to  recharter  such  an  institution,  with  such  evidences  of  its  power, 
and  of  its  disposition  to  use  that  power,  lying  before  us  authen 
ticated  by  the  bank  itself  ?  Are  we  to  do  this  after  the  question 
has  been  referred  to  the  people  of  the  country,  fully  argued 
before  them,  and  their  decision  pronounced  against  the  bank,  and 
in  favor  of  the  President,  by  a  majority  such  as  never  before  in 
this  government  marked  the  result  of  a  contest  at  the  ballot- 
boxes  ? 

"  Gentlemen  talk  of  revolutions  in  progress.  When  this  action 
shall  take  place  in  the  American  Congress,  then,  indeed,  will  a 
revolution  have  been  accomplished  —  then  will  your  Constitution 
have  been  yielded  up  to  fear  and  favor,  and  your  legislation  to 
be  the  sic  volo,  sicjubeo  of  a  bank.  But,  Mr.  President,  I  do  not 
distress  myself  with  any  such  forebodings.  I  know  the  crisis 
will  be  trying,  and  I  know,  too,  that  the  spirit  and  patriotism  of 
the  people  will  be  equal  to  the  trial.  As  I  read  the  indications 
of  public  opinion,  I  see  clearly  that  the  true  question  is  under 
stood  by  the  country,  and  that  it  is  assuming  an  attitude  towards 
the  bank  which  the  occasion  calls  for.  Be  assured,  sir,  whatever 
nice  distinctions  may  be  drawn  here  as  to  the  share  of  influence 
which  expressions  of  the  popular  will  upon  such  a  subject  are 
entitled  to  from  us,  it  is  possible  for  that  will  to  assume  a  consti- 


190  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tutional  shape  which  the  Senate  cannot  misunderstand,  and, 
understanding,  will  not  unwisely  resist.  The  country,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  has  approved  of  the  course  of  the  executive  in  his  attempts 
to  relieve  us  from  the  corrupt  and  corrupting  power  and  influence 
of  a  national  bank,  and  it  will  sustain  him  in  the  experiment  now 
making  to  substitute  the  State  institutions  for  such  a  fiscal  agent. 
I  have  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  ultimate  and  complete  success 
of  the  trial ;  but  should  it  not  prove  satisfactory  to  the  country, 
it  will  then  be  time  enough  to  resort  to  the  conceded  powers  of 
Congress,  or  to  ask  from  the  people  what,  until  every  other  expe 
riment  be  fairly  and  fully  tried,  they  will  never  grant,  the  power 
to  establish  a  national  bank." 

The  removal  of  the  deposits  was  long  agitated  in  the 
country  and  the  subject  of  ardent  discussion  in  Congress. 
In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Clay  took  the  lead  in  condemning  the 
removal.  On  the  26th  of  December,  1833,  he  offered  the 
following  resolutions  and  proceeded  to  discuss  them  : 

"  1.  Resolved,  That,  by  dismissing  the  late  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  because  he  would  not,  contrary  to  his  sense  of  his  own 
duty,  remove  the  money  of  the  United  States  in  deposit  with  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  branches,  in  conformity  with 
the  President's  opinion,  and  by  appointing  his  successor  to  effect 
such  removal,  which  has  been  done,  the  President  has  assumed 
the  exercise  of  a  power  over  the  treasury  of  the  United  States 
not  granted  to  him  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  and  dangerous 
to  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  for  the  removal  of  the  money  of  the  United  States 
deposited  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  branches, 
communicated  to  Congress  on  the  third  day  of  December,  1833, 
are  unsatisfactory  and  insufficient." 

A  large  number  of  Senators  participated  in  the  debate 
that  followed,  which  was  characterized  by  great  ability, 
zeal  and  warmth,  and  often  with  exceeding  bitterness. 
Mr.  WRIGHT,  except  in  an  occasional  explanatory  remark, 
did  not  participate.  Mr.  Clay's  attack  was  ably  sup- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  191 

ported  by  Messrs.  Calhoun,  Clayton,  Ewing,  Southard, 
Webster  and  others.  The  action  of  the  administration 
was  defended  with  great  force  and  ability  by  Messrs. 
Benton,  Brown,  Forsyth,  King,  of  Alabama,  Tallmadge, 
White  and  others. 

Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  were  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Finance,  of  which  Mr.  Webster  was  chairman,  who, 
on  the  5th  of  February,  made  a  report  of  such  length 
that  it  occupied  an  hour  and  a  half  to  read  it.  The  com 
mittee  reported  Mr.  Clay's  second  resolution. 

On  the  28th  of  March,  1834,  the  resolution  thus  reported 
by  the  committee  was  adopted  by  the  following  strict 
party  vote  : 

"  Yeas  —  Messrs.  Bibb,  Black,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Clayton,  Ewing, 
Frelinghuysen,  Hendricks,  Kent,  King,  of  Georgia,  Knight,  Leigh, 
Mangum,  Nan  (lain,  Poindexter,  Porter,  Prentiss,  Preston,  Robbins, 
Silsbee,  Smith,  Southard,  Sprague,  Swift,  Tomlinson,  Tyler, 
Waggaman  and  Webster  —  28. 

"  Nays  —  Messrs.  Benton,  Brown,  Forsyth,  Grtmdy,  Hill,  Kane, 
King,  of  Alabama,  Linn,  McKean,  Moore,  Morris,  Robinson, 
Shepley,  Tallmadge,  Tipton,  White,  Wilkins  and  WEIGHT—  18." 

Mr.  Clay  then  modified  his  first  resolution  so  that  it 
read  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  President,  in  the  late  executive  proceed 
ing  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself 
authority  and  power  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws, 
but  in  derogation  of  both." 

Upon  which  the  same  vote  was  given,  except  Messrs. 
Hendricks  and  King  (of  Georgia)  changed  and  voted  in 
the  negative,  so  that  it  stood  twenty- six  affirmative  and 
twenty  negative. 

This  session  is  still    distinguished  by  many  as  the 
"  panic  session."     The  opponents  of  Gen.  Jackson  were 
in  the  majority  in  the  Senate  and  his  supporters  had  con 
trol  in  the  House.     The  concentrated  money-power  of 


192  LIFE  AND  TJMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  Bank  of  .the  United  States,  then  struggling  for  a 
recharter,  operating  upon  other  banks,  and  especially 
those  selected  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as  depo 
sitories  of  the  public  money,  and  upon  the  business  of 
the  country,  was  confessedly  great,  and  produced  distress 
among  those  dependent  upon  bank  facilities  for  the  easy 
and  prosperous  management  of  their  business.  This 
distress,  with  much  exaggeration,  was  claimed  by  the 
friends  of  the  bank  as  occasioned  by  the  refusal  to  grant 
a  recharter  and  the  assumed  removal  of  the  public  depo 
sits.  This  was  strenuously  denied  by  the  opponents  of 
that  institution.  They  claimed  that  the  distress  was 
mostly  imaginary,  or  grossly  magnified ;  that,  as  far  as 
it  existed,  it  was  occasioned  by  the  expansions  and  sud 
den  contractions  of  the  bank  and  institutions  acting 
under  its  control,  or  in  concert  with  it ;  in  a  word,  that 
it  was  the  result  of  the  labors  of  politicians  struggling 
for  the  ascendancy  and  control  of  the  government.  Peti 
tions  for  the  restoration  of  the  deposits  and  the  recharter 
of  the  bank,  and  remonstrances  against  both,  were  pre 
sented  in  Congress,  with  thousands  of  names  and  many 
rods  long,  without  changing  a  vote  in  either  House  of 
Congress,  and  few,  if  any,  in  the  country.  Soon  each 
House  contained  a  majority  sustaining  Gen.  Jackson's 
views,  and  these  questions  gave  place  to  those  deemed 
equally  important  and  vital  to  the  welfare  of  the  country. 
The  bank  was  soon  so  far  forgotten  that  its  great  friend, 
Mr.  Webster,  spoke  of  it  as  an  "  obsolete  idea,"  and  was 
so  considered  for  some  thirty  years. 

SPEECH    OF    MR.    WEIGHT,    IN    EXECUTIVE    SESSION, 
DELIVERED  27TH  OF  FEBRUARY,  1834. 

Under  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  a 
certain  portion  of  the  directors  were  to  be  appointed  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  with  the  consent  of 
the  Senate,  to  represent  the  government' s  stock,  amount- 


LIFE  AND  TIMKS  OF  SILAS  WHIGHT. 

ing  to  one-seventh.  These  directors  had  reported  certain 
of  the  acts  of  the  majority  of  their  brethren  and  the 
officers  of  the  bank,  which  Gen.  Jackson  and  his  friends 
loudly  condemned.  He  renominated  them  to  fill  their 
own  vacancies.  The  friends  of  the  bank  opposed  their 
confirmation  and  they  were  rejected.  During  the  discus 
sion,  Mr.  WEIGHT  addressed  the  Senate  in  the  following 
terms,  which  he  carefully  reported  with  his  own  hand. 
The  debates,  being  in  secret  session,  have  never  been 
reported  and  published.  This  remarkable  effort  of  the 
young  Senator,  which  accidentally  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  author  since  Mr.  WEIGHT'S  death,  gives  all  that 
can  now  be  ascertained  of  that  great  debate.  It  is  a 
valuable  chapter  of  the  history  of  those  times. 

The  Senate  being  in  executive  session,  and  the  nomina 
tions  by  the  President  of  Peter  Wager,  Henry  D.  Gilpin, 
John  T.  Sullivan  and  Hugh  McEldery,  as  directors  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  being  under  consideration,  Mr. 
WEIGHT  said : 

"  These  nominations  had,  on  a  previous  day,  been  laid  over 
upon  his  motion  ;  that  his  object  then  was  to  present  to  the  Senate 
the  views  which  would  govern  his  vote  ;  that  he  now  proposed 
to  perform  that  duty,  though  he  feared  it  would  be  done  tediously 
to  the  Senate,  and  he  was  sure  it  would  be  so  to  himself. 

"  Before  he  proceeded,  however,  with  what  he  considered  the 
main  argument,  as  applicable  to  the  question,  he  would  make  a 
few  preliminary  remarks  in  reference  to  the  individuals  who  were 
in  nomination  and  in  answer  to  suggestions  which  had  fallen 
from  several  members  of  the  Senate  upon  former  days  when 
these  nominations  had  been  under  consideration.  He  believed 
that  the  Senate  had  ordered  that  the  question  upon  each  nomina 
tion  should  be  separately  taken;  but  if  he  should  be  in  order  he 
proposed,  as  to  their  official  conduct,  to  consider  them  all  collec 
tively,  and  therefore  he  would,  at  present,  take  the  individual 
notice  which  he  had  indicated. 

"  Mr.  Wager  stands  first  upon  the  list,  and  his  recollection  was 

13 


194  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

that  upon  a  former  day,  while  all  admitted  that  he  was  a  careful, 
prudent  and  discreet  business  man,  who  had  accumulated  a  for 
tune  by  his  own  exertions,  it  was  objected  by  the  Senator  from 
Ohio  [Mr.  Ewing]  that  he  was  not  a  man  of  superior  intelligence, 
and  therefore  was  not  as  perfectly  qualified  for  a  directorship 
in  this  bank  as  some  men  might  be.  He  did  not,  however,  at  the 
time,  nor  did  he  now,  suppose  that  the  Senator  intended  that 
any  objection  of  this  description  would  justify  the  Senate  in  the 
rejection  of  the  nomination.  He  rather  supposed  the  remark 
thrown  out,  in  the  freedom  of  these  debates,  to  inform  the  Sen 
ate  fully  as  to  the  individual  than  to  influence  its  action.  No 
objection,  other  than  to  his  official  conduct,  had  met  his  hearing 
against  Mr.  Wager. 

"  Mr.  Gilpin  stands  next,  and  all  admitted  that  he  was  a  man 
of  the  first  respectability,  of  more  than  ordinary  talents,  and  in 
every  way  well  qualified  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  office,  and 
the  only  personal  objection  which  had  been  made  to  him  had 
come  from  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay],  which 
was  that  he  now  held  an  office  from  the  government,  and 
that  it  was  wrong  in  principle  to  duplicate  offices.  He,  Mr. 
W.,  believed  it  was  true  that  when  Mr.  Gilpin  was  first 
appointed  a  director  of  the  bank,  by  the  President  and  Senate, 
he  held  the  office  of  district  attorney  for  the  eastern  district 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  he  believed  that  he  still  held  the  same 
office.  Yet  he  could  not  see  the  force  of  this  objection,  as  appli 
cable  to  the  office  now  about  to  be  conferred.  The  duties  of  a 
director  of  the  bank  were  highly  responsible,  arduous  and  unde 
sirable,  and  no  compensation  whatever  was  allowed  for  their 
performance,  unless  it  was  such  a  compensation  as  he  hoped  no 
director  appointed  by  the  government  would  ever  receive,  that 
of  pecuniary  accommodations  from  the  bank.  It,  therefore, 
appeared  to  him  not  only  not  to  be  objectionable,  but  to  be 
proper,  to  devolve  these  duties  upon  a  person  holding  a  lucrative 
office  under  the  government,  when  that  could  be  done,  and  the 
services  of  a  competent  and  faithful  director  be  thus  secured. 
This  would  enable  the  person  appointed  to  attend  to  the  duties 
without  suffering  from  the  patronage  bestowed  upon  him, 
and  without  being  compelled  to  accept  of  the  accommodations 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  195 

of  the  bank  in  return  for  his  time  and  services.  He  conceded 
that  the  practice  of  multiplying  offices  in  the  same  hands,  as  a 
general  rule,  was  bad  ;  but  he  also  believed,  that  like  all  other 
general  rules,  there  were  proper  exceptions,  and  that  the  case 
under  consideration  was  one.  He  would  not,  therefore,  believe 
that  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  Mr.  Gilpin's  nomination  would 
be  influenced  by  this  objection. 

"Mr.  Sullivan's  name  was  found  next  upon  the  list,  and  as  to 
him  undefined  personal  objections  had  been  made,  but  he  could 
not  suppose  that  gentlemen  who  made  the  suggestions  either 
intended  or  expected  that  suggestions  so  vague  should  influence 
the  minds  of  those  members  of  the  Senate,  who,  like  himself,  were 
wholly  and  entirely  ignorant  of  the  facts  upon  which  the  excep 
tions  rested,  or  what  were  the  accusations  alluded  to.  For  himself, 
he  could  never  permit  vague  and  undefined  suggestions,  unfavor 
able  to  the  private  character  of  an  individual,  to  influence  his 
action  there;  that  he  must  have  the  charges  specified,  the 
delinquencies  fully  set  out  and  the  proofs  exhibited,  before  he 
could  pass  sentence  of  condemnation  upon  the  candidate  pre 
sented  for  his  vote.  That  had  not  been  done  as  to  Mr.  Sullivan, 
nor  did  any  Senator  seem  willing  to  do  it.  He  did  not  undertake 
to  say  that  the  objections  were  not  sufficient  to  govern  the  action 
of  those  who  knew  the  facts,  had  seen  and  examined  the  proofs 
and  applied  them  to  the  charges ;  but  he  did  say  that  they  would 
not  ask  that  he  should  be  thus  influenced,  while  he  was  in  perfect 
ignorance  both  as  to  the  charges  and  the  proofs.  So  far  from  it, 
he  had,  since  the  suggestions  were  made,  entered  into  some 
inquiry  among  the  acquaintances  of  this  candidate,  and  he  could 
not  find  any  one  who  Avould  admit  his  character  to  be  bad.  He 
had  found  one,  an  honorable  member  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  who  had  authorized  him  to  say  that  Mr.  Sullivan  had 
been  elected  by  the  people  of  Philadelphia  a  member  of  the 
common  council  (he  believed  it  was  called)  of  the  city,  since  he 
had  held  the  office  of  a  government  director  of  the  bank.  In  that, 
the  place  of  his  residence,  such  was  the  evidence  as  to  his  char 
acter  and  worth.  He  therefore  felt  fully  authorized  to  assume 
that  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  the  nomination  of  this  indi 
vidual  could  not  be  governed  by  anything  appearing  before  it  of 


196  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

a  personal  character.  Of  Mr.  McEldery,  the  remaining  director  in 
nomination,  he  had  heard  nothing  from  any  quarter,  other  than 
complaints  as  to  the  manner  in  which  he  had  discharged  his 
duties  as  a  director  for  the  last  year. 

"  He  therefore  supposed  himself  fully  authorized  to  consider 
the  position  established,  that  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  these 
nominations  was  to  be  governed  solely  by  its  judgment  as  to  the 
official  conduct  of  these  gentlemen  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties  during  their  former  term ;  and  he  felt  the  more  strongly 
assured  that  he  could  not  be  in  error  in  this  conclusion,  because 
all  these  individuals  had  been  presented  to  the  Senate  one  year 
ago,  and  had  met  its  approbation,  and  because  the  Senate  had, 
but  a  few  days  ago,  refused  to  inquire  into  the  character  of  these 
candidates. 

"  Entertaining  these  impressions,  he  would  proceed  to  inquire 
into  the  official  charges  upon  which  the  rejection  by  the  Senate 
of  the  nominations,  if  made  at  all,  must  rest.  The  first  was  that 
these  directors  had  mistaken  their  character  and  relations  and 
duties;  that  they  had  considered  themselves  as  officers  of  the 
government,  when,  in  fact,  they  were  but  directors  of  the  bank. 
He  would  inquire  how  far  these  persons  were  mistaken  upon  this 
point,  and  whether  the  mistake  did  not  lay  upon  the  other  side 
altogether.  Sir,  said  he,  these  directors  receive  their  appoint 
ment  from  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate,  and  if  we  refer  to  the  Constitution  we  shall  see  what 
persons  can  be  so  appointed.  The  second  clause  of  the  second 
section  of  article  two  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
giving  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  says  :  'And  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate  shall  appoint,  ambassadors, 
other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  appointments 
are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  estab 
lished  by  law.  But  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  vest  the  appoint 
ment  of  such  inferior  officers  as  they  think  proper  in  the  Presi 
dent  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law  or  in  the  heads  of  departments.' 

"Congress,  said  Mr.  W.,  has  by  law  established  the  office,  but 
the  Constitution  determines  the  mode  of  appointment  and  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  197 

character  of  the  offices.  It  proves  that  these  directors  are  '  officers 
of  the  United  States,'  for  no  others  can  be  appointed  by  the 
President  and  Senate.  But,  again,  said  Mr.  W.,  Congress  did 
not  consider  these  'inferior'  officers,  whose  appointments  could 
be  properly  conferred  upon  the  President  alone,  or  upon  the 
heads  of  departments.  It  retained  the  power  over  their  appoint 
ments  in  the  President  and  Senate,  and  thus  declared  them  supe 
rior  officers  (I  speak  only  as  to  the  importance  and  responsibility 
of  the  offices),  and  to  be  appointed  as  all  such  officers  are 
appointed.  Have,  then,  these  gentlemen  made  a  mistake  in  sup 
posing  that  they  were  '  officers  of  the  United  States  ?'  It  would 
seem  to  him  they  had  not,  but  that  they  had  taken  the  clear  con 
stitutional  view  of  their  positions  and  relations  to  the  govern 
ment  ;  and  if  they  had  appeared  to  feel  proud,  or  even  vain  of 
their  distinctions,  gentlemen  surely  would  not  impute  this  to  them 
as  a  crime,  for  which  they  should  feel  the  heavy  condemnatory 
sentence  of  that  body.  They  were  as  much  public  officers  of  the 
government  as  we  who  act  upon  their  nominations ;  nor  would 
they  be  found  alone  in  entertaining  a  just  pride  at  their  eleva 
tion  ;  and  even  if  it  shall  be  determined  that  they  have  been 
mistaken  in  this  impression  as  to  their  true  official  character, 
there  is  certainly  ground  to  believe  that  the  mistake  was  honestly 
made,  when  it  is  seen  that  a  large  portion  of  the  Senate,  after 
careful  examination,  entertain  the  firm  opinion  that  they  were  not 
mistaken.  But,  sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  with  these  views  as  to  the 
offices  they  held,  these  directors  further  supposed  that  they  were, 
equally  with  the  other  directors  of  the  bank,  charged  with  the 
safe  and  careful  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  bank  generally, 
and  that,  as  '  officers  of  the  United  States,'  they  were  charged 
with  the  interests  of  the  government  in  that  institution 
especially.  In  this,  too,  it  is  said  they  have  been  mistaken. 
What  is  the  correct  conclusion  ?  The  United  States  hold 
$7,000,000  of  the  stock  of  this  bank,  and  during  the  last  year, 
while  these  individuals  have  been  the  government  directors,  the 
public  deposits  have  frequently  amounted  to  a  much  larger  sum. 
This  is  an  immense  interest  in  a  single  bank,  and  were  these 
public  'officers  of  the  United  States'  especially  charged  with 
its  safe-keeping,  prudent  management  and  proper  expenditure  ? 


198  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

For  what  other  purpose  are  they  appointed  by  the  government, 
and  for  what  other  purpose  are  they  placed  at  the  board  of  direc 
tion  of  that  bank?  Will  gentlemen  tell  us  that  these  officers 
are  so  appointed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  sitting  with  their  col 
leagues,  and  giving  their  votes  and  action  as  the  inclinations  of 
the  directors  appointed  by  the  stockholders  shall  dictate  ?  Sir, 
if  that  were  their  only  duty,  why  were  not  all  the  directors  left 
to  be  appointed  by  the  individual  stockholders  of  the  bank  ? 
Where  was  the  utility  of  making  this  distinction  in  the  mode  of 
appointment  of  persons  who  were  to  act  together,  arid  whose 
duties  and  responsibilities  were  to  be  exactly  the  same  ?  Is  it 
not  plain  that  the  government  did  not  intend  to  embark  its  large 
interests  in  this  institution  without  directors  appointed  by  itself 
to  overlook  and  guard  those  interests  ?  Sir,  but  one  answer  can 
be  given  to  these  inquiries. 

"  In  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  thus  understood,  these  direc 
tors  have  attempted  to  prevent  the  expenditure  of  the  money  of 
the  bank,  and  especially  of  that  portion  of  those  moneys  which 
belonged  to  the  public,  for  objects  which  they  thought  improper. 
The  people  are  interested  to  the  amount  of  one-fifth  in  all  the 
profits  of  the  bank,  and  all  expenditures  from  those  profits  are, 
so  far  as  one-fifth,  expenditures  of  the  money  of  the  people.  The 
government  directors,  therefore,  considered  it  their  particular 
duty  so  far  to  inquire  into  these  expenditures  as  to  enable  them 
to  determine  the  character  and  propriety  of  the  payments  made. 

"Proceeding  in  these  inquiries,  they  found  that  a  power,  in 
extent  equal  to  the  whole  means  of  the  bank,  and  in  practice 
wholly  without  accountability,  had  been,  by  the  board  of  direc 
tors,  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  president  of  the  bank,  to  expend 
money  for  printing  and  other  purposes.  For  proof  of  this  fact 
reference  is  made  to  the  communication  made  to  the  public  by 
the  bank  itself,  which  communication  has  been  laid  upon  the 
tables  of  the  Senators.  Mr.  W.  said  he  read  from  pages  38  and 
39  of  that  book,  and  the  language  was  as  follows: 

"On  the  30th  November,  1830, 

"  'The  president  submitted  to  the  board  a  copy  of  an  article  on  Banks 
and  Currency,  just  published  in  the  American  Quarterly  Review  of  this  city, 
containing  a  favorable  notice  of  this  institution,  and  suggested  the  expedi- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  199 

ency  of  making  the  views  of  the  author  more  extensively  known  to  the 
public  than  they  can  be  by  means  of  the  subscription  list ;  whereupon  it 
was,  on  motion, 

" '  Resolved,  That  the  president  be  authorized  to  take  such  measures  in 
regard  to  the  circulation  of  the  contents  of  the  said  article,  either  in  the 
whole  or  in  part,  as  he  may  deem  most  for  the  interest  of  the  bank.' 

"On  the  llth  of  March,  1831, 

"  'The  president  stated  to  the  board  that,  in  consequence  of  the  general 
desire  expressed  by  the  directors  at  one  of  their  meetings  of  the  last  year, 
subsequent  to  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  and  a  verbal  understanding 
with  the  board,  measures  had  been  taken  by  him,  in  the  course  of  that  year, 
for  printing  numerous  copies  of  the  reports  of  Gen.  Smith  and  Mr.  Mr-Duffie, 
on  the  subject  of  this  bank,  and  for  widely  disseminating  their  contents 
through  the  United  States  ;  and  that  he  had  since,  by  virtue  of  the  authority 
given  him  by  a  resolution  of  this  board,  adopted  on  the  30th  day  of  Novem 
ber  last,  caused  a  large  edition  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  Essay  on  Banks  and  Cur 
rency  to  be  published  and  circulated  in  like  manner,  at  the  expense  of  the 
bank.  He  suggested,  at  the  same  time,  the  expediency  and  propriety  of 
extending  still  more  widely  a  knowledge  of  the  concerns  of  this  institution, 
by  means  of  the  republication  of  other  valuable  articles,  which  had  issued 
from  the  daily  and  periodical  press. 

"  '  Whereupon,  it  was,  on  motion, 

"  'Resolved,  That  the  president  is  hereby  authorized  to  cause  to  be  pre 
pared  and  circulated  such  documents  and  papers  as  may  communicate  to  tlie 
people  infoi*mation  in  regard  to  the  nature  and  operations  of  the  bank. ' 

"And,  finally,  on  the  16th  of  August,  1833,  the  following  reso 
lution  : 

"  '  Resolved,  That  the  board  have  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  integrity 
of  the  president,  and  in  the  propriety  of  the  resolutions  of  the  30th  of 
November,  1830,  and  llth  March,  1831,  and  entertain  a  full  conviction  of 
the  necessity  of  a  renewed  attention  to  the  objects  of  the  resolutions  ;  and 
that  the  president  be  authorized  and  requested  to  continue  his  exertions  for 
the  promotion  of  said  objects.' 

"  This,  sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  the  authority  conferred  upon  the 
president  of  the  bank,  as  given  to  the  public  by  the  bank  itself. 
No  room,  therefore,  is  left  to  doubt  the  fact  stated  by  the  govern 
ment  directors.  They  discovered  the  existence  of  the  two  first 
resolutions,  in  the  course  of  the  discharge  of  their  duties  as  direc 
tors  of  the  bank,  and  they  also  discovered  that  the  president  was 
proceeding  to  expend  large  sums  of  money  under  them.  They 


200  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

thought  it  their  duty  to  remonstrate,  and  they  did  remonstrate 
against  the  expenditures  and  against  the  existence  of  such  a 
power  in  the  hands  of  any  officer  of  the  bank.  Sir,  did  they  do 
this  disrespectfully,  or  in  any  manner  improperly?  They  made 
their  remonstrances  to  the  board  of  directors  of  the  bank,  at  a 
regular  meeting,  by  offering,  for  the  adoption  of  that  board,  the 
following  proceedings  : 

"  '  Whereas  it  appears,  by  the  expense  account  of  the  bank  for  the  years 
1831  and  1832,  that  upwards  of  $80,000  were  expended  and  charged  under 
the  head  of  stationery  and  printing,  during  that  period;  that  a  large  portion 
of  this  was  paid  to  the  proprietors  of  newspapers  and  periodical  journals, 
and  for  the  printing,  distribution  and  postage  of  immense  numbers  of  news 
papers  and  pamphlets ;  and  that  about  $20,000  were  expended,  under  the 
resolutions  of  30th  November,  1830,  and  llth  March,  1831,  without  any 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  or  the  persons  to  whom  the  same  were 
disbursed. 

"'And  whereas  it  is  expedient  and  proper  that  the  particulars  of  an 
expenditure  so  large  and  unusual,  which  can  now  be  ascertained  only  by 
the  examination  of  numerous  bills  and  receipts,  should  be  so  stated  as  to  be 
readiry  submitted  to  and  examined  by  the  board  of  directors  and  the  stock 
holders. 

" '  Resolved,  That  the  cashier  furnish  to  the  board,  at  as  early  a  day  as 
possible,  a  full  and  particular  statement  of  all  these  expenditures,  designating 
the  sums  of  money  paid  to  each  person,  the  quantity  and  names  of  the 
documents  printed  by  him,  and  his  charges  for  the  distribution  and  postage 
of  the  same  ;  together  with  as  full  a  statement  as  may  be  of  the  expenditures 
on  orders,  under  the  resolutions  of  30th  November,  1830,  and  llth  March, 
1831. 

" '  That  he  ascertain  whether  expenditures  of  the  same  character  have  been 
made  at  any  of  the  offices,  and,  if  so,  procure  similar  statements  thereof, 
with  the  authority  on  which  they  were  made. 

"  'That  the  said  resolutions  be  rescinded,  and  no  further  expenditures  be 
made  under  the  same.' 

"Among  other  objections  coming  from  the  directors  who  had 
consented  to  confer  this  dangerous  power  upon  the  president  of 
the  bank  was  that  of  an  implied  disrespect  towards  that  officer, 
and  almost  as  soon  as  the  proposed  proceedings  had  been  read 
a  substitute  for  the  whole  was  offered,  in  the  following  form: 

"  *  Besolved,  That  the  board  have  confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  integrity 
of  the  president,  and  in  the  propriety  of  the  resolutions  of  the  30th  of 
November,  1830,  and  llth  of  March,  1831,  and  entertain  a  full  conviction 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  201 

of  the  necessity  of  a  renewed  attention  to  the  object  of  those  resolutions, 
and  that  the  president  be  authorized  and  requested  to  continue  his  exertions 
for  the  promotion  of  that  object.' 

"This  substitute  being  evidently  acceptable  to  the  majority 
of  the  board  and  about  to  be  adopted,  the  government  directors, 
still  desirous  to  learn  the  character  of  the  expenditures  which 
had  been  made  under  the  resolutions  of  November,  1830,  and 
March,  1831,  and  to  put  an  end  to  similar  expenditures  in  future, 
and  to  the  existence  of  such  a  power  in  the  hands  of  any  single 
officer  of  the  bank,  proposed  the  following  in  place  of  the  sub 
stitute,  and  also  in  place  of  the  original  proceedings  offered  by 
them : 

"  'Resolved,  That  while  this  board  repose  entire  confidence  in  the  integrity 
of  the  president,  they  respectfully  request  him  to  cause  the  particulars  of 
the  expenditures  made  under  the  resolutions  of  the  30th  of  November,  1830, 
and  llth  of  March,  1831,  to  be  so  stated  that  the  same  may  be  readily  sub 
mitted  to  and  examined  by  the  board  of  directors  and  the  stockholders. 

"  'Resolved,  That  the  said  resolutions  be  rescinded,  and  no  further  expendi 
tures  made  under  the  same.' 

"  These  resolutions  were  promptly  rejected;  the  substitute,  con 
ferring  still  broader  powers  upon  the  president  of  the  bank,  and 
urging  him  to  still  further  and  larger  expenditures,  was  adopted, 
and  the  original  proceedings  offered  by  the  government  directors 
and  asking  for  a  statement  of  the  expenditures  which  had  been 
made,  and  for  a  repeal  of  the  resolutions,  were  thus  shut  out  and 
refused.  Here,  then,  the  words  of  the  bank  itself  show  what 
was  the  official  conduct  of  these  candidates,  and  the  Senate  and 
the  public  must  judge  whether  it  furnishes  cause  for  their  rejec 
tion  when  again  nominated  by  the  President  to  those  offices. 

"  But  again,  said  Mr.  W.,  these  directors  found  that  large  sums 
of  money  had  been  expended  by  the  president  of  the  bank,  under 
these  resolutions,  and  of  this  they  complained.  That  the  fact 
was  as  they  supposed  and  have  stated  to  the  President,  I  refer, 
for  proof,  to  the  communication,  before  spoken  of,  made  to  the 
public  by  the  bank  itself.  In  that  communication  those  expendi 
tures,  for  the  years  1830,  1831,  1832  and  1833,  are  classified  as 
follows : 


202  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  'For  printing  and  circulating  reports  to  Congress: 

1830 $5,085  67 

1831 2,650  97 

1832 4,395  63 

1833..  0,00000 


$12,132  27' 


"  'For  printing  and  circulating  speeches  in  Congress,  and  ottier  miscella 
neous  publications : 

1830 $2,291  47 

1831 19,057  56 

1832 .* 22, 183  74 

1833 2,600  00 

$46,132  77' 


"  This  is  the  statement  of  the  expenditures  under  these  resolu 
tions,  made  by  the  bank  itself,  said  Mr.  W.,  and  I  will  soon  show 
the  Senate  for  what  purposes  a  large  portion  of  the  money  was 
paid.  Another  large  portion  will  appear  to  have  been  paid  upon 
orders  from  the  president  of  the  bank  without  any  other  voucher, 
and,  therefore,  even  directors  of  the  bank  cannot  tell  to  whom 
or  for  what  purpose  the  expenditures  were  incurred.  The  one- 
fifth  of  all  these  sums  being  money  of  ,the  people,  the  directors 
appointed  by  the  government  considered  it  their  duty  to  learn 
the  character  and  objects  of  the  payments,  that  they  might  know 
whether  the  public  moneys  in  the  bank,  and  under  their  imme 
diate  charge,  as  officers  of  the  government,  were  properly 
expended,  and  for  proper  purposes.  They  did  examine,  as  far  as 
the  vouchers  and  papers  on  file  with  the  bank  would  enable  them 
to  do  so;  and  as  to  those  payments,  the  objects  of  which  were 
not  shown  by  these  papers,  they  respectfully  asked  from  the  board 
of  directors,  as  we  have  just  seen,  that  the  proper  officers  of  the 
bank  might  be  directed  to  make  a  statement  showing  the  facts. 
In  this  request  they  were  refused  by  the  board  of  .directors,  and 
accompanying  that  refusal  was  an  enlarged  authority  to  the 
president  of  the  bank  to  increase  these  expenditures. 

"  The  directors  allege  that  their  examination  satisfied  them 
that  these  expenditures  had  been  made  for  political  objects,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  203 

for  printing  matter  calculated  and  designed  to  influence  the  elec 
tions  of  officers  of  the  government.  To  sustain  themselves  in 
the  correctness  of  this  conclusion  they  make  the  following  state 
ment  of  the  character  and  objects  of  these  payments,  so  far  as 
those  facts  were  shown  from  the  vouchers  on  file ;  and  of  the 
amount  of  those  payments,  the  character  and  objects  of  which 
were  not  shown,  but  which  had  been  made  upon  the  order  of  the 
president  of  the  bank  without  vouchers.  In  their  letter  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  of  the  19th  August,  1833,  and 
commencing  with  the  expenditures  of  the  first  half  of  the  year 
1831,  they  say  : 

"  'Among  other  sums  was  one  of  $7,801,  stated  to  be  paid  on  orders  of  the 
president,  under  the  resolution  of  llth  March,  1831,  and  the  orders  them 
selves  were  the  only  vouchers  of  the  expenditure  which  we  found  on  file  — 
some  of  the  orders,  to  the  amount  of  about  $1,800,  stated  that  the  expen 
diture  was  for  distributing  Gen.  Smith's  and  Mr.  McDuffie's  reports  and  Mr. 
Gallatin's  pamphlet ;  but  the  rest  stated  generally  that  it  was  made  under 
the  resolution  of  the  llth  of  March,  1831. 

"  '  There  were  also  numerous  bills  and  receipts  for  expenditures  to  indivi 
duals,  among  them  of  Gales  &  Seaton,  $1,300,  for  distributing  Mr.  Galla 
tin's  pamphlet ;  of  William  Fry,  for  Garden  &  Thompson,  $1,675.75,  for 
5,000  copies  of  Gen.  Smith's  and  Mr.  McDuffie's  reports,  etc.  ;  of  Jasper 
Harding,  $440,  for  11,000  extra  papers  ;  of  the  American  Sentinel,  $125.74,, 
for  printing,  folding,  packing  and  postages  of  3,000  extras  ;  of  William  Fry, 
$1,830.27,  for  upwards  of  50,000  copies  of  the  National  Gazette  and  supple 
ments,  containing  addresses  to  members  of  the  State  Legislatures,  review 
of  Mr.  Benton's  speech,  abstracts  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  article  from  the  Ameri 
can  Quarterly  Review,  and  editorial  article  on  the  project  of  a  treasury 
bank  ;  of  James  Wilson,  $1,447.75,  for  25,000  copies  of  the  reports  of  Mr. 
McDuffie  and  Mr.  Smith,  and  for  25,000  copies  of  the  address  to  members 
of  the  State  Legislatures,  agreeably  to  order,  and  letters  from  John  Sergeant, 
Esq.  ;  and  of  Carey  &  Lea,  $2,850,  for  10,000  copies  of  Gallatin  on  banking, 
and  2,000  copies  of  Professor  Tucker's  article. 

"'  During  the  second  half  year  of  1831,  the  item  of  stationery  and  printing 
was  $13, 224'.  87,  of  which  $5,010  were  paid  on  orders  of  the  president,  and 
stated  generally  to  be  under  the  resolution  of  llth  of  March,  1831,  and  other 
sums  were  paid  to  individuals,  as  in  the  previous  accounts,  for  printing  and 
distributing  documents. 

"  '  During  the  first  half  year  of  1832,  the  item  of  stationery  and  printing 
was  $12,134.16,  of  which  $2,150  are  stated  to  have  been  paid  on  orders  of 
the  president,  under  the  resolution  of  llth  of  March,  1831.  There  are  also 
various  individual  payments,  of  which  we  noticed  $106.38  to  Hunt,  Tardiff 


204  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

&  Co.,  for  1,000  copies  of  a  review  of  Mr.  Benton's  speech;  $200  for  1,000 
extra  copies  of  the  Saturday  Courier  ;  $1,170  to  Gales  &  Seaton,  for  20,000 
copies  of  "a  pamphlet  concerning  the  bank,"  and  6,000  copies  of  the 
minority  report  relative  to  the  bank  ;  and  $1,800  to  Matthew  St.  Clair 
Clarke,  for  "  300  copies  of  Clarke  &  Hall's  bank  book." 

"  'During  the  last  half  year  of  1832,  the  item  of  stationery  and  printing 
rose  to  $26,543.72,  of  which  $6,350  are  stated  to  have  been  paid  on  orders 
of  the  president,  under  the  resolution  of  llth  March,  1831.  Among  the 
specified  charges  we  observe  $821.78  to  Jasper  Harding,  for  printing  a  review 
of  the  veto  ;  $1,371.04  to  E.  Olmstead,  for  4,000  copies  of  Mr.  Swing's 
speech,  bank  documents  and  review  of  the  veto  ;  $4,106.13  to  William 
Fry,  for  6:5,000  copies  of  Mr.  Webster's  speech,  Mr.  Adams's  and  Mr. 
McDuffie's  reports,  and  the  majority  and  minority  reports  ;  $295  for  14,000 
extras  of  the  "Protector,"  containing  bank  documents;  $2,583.50  to  Mr. 
Kiddle,  for  printing  and  distributing  reports,  Mr.  Webster's  speech,  etc.  ; 
$150.12  to  Mr.  Finnall,  for  printing  the  speeches  of  Messrs.  Clay,  Ewing 
and  Smith,  and  Mr.  Adams's  report ;  $1,512.75  to  Mr.  Clarke,  for  printing 
Mr.  Webster's  speech  and  articles  on  the  veto  ;  and  $2,422.65  to  Mr.  Hale, 
for  52,500  copies  of  Mr.  Webster's  speech.  There  is  also  a  charge  of  $4,040, 
paid  on  orders  of  the  president,  stating  that  it  is  for  expenses  in  measures 
for  protecting  the  bank  against  a  run  on  the  western  branches. 

"  'During  the  first  half  year  of  1833,  the  item  of  stationery  and  printing 
was  $9,093.59,  of  which  $2,600  are  stated  to  have  been  on  orders  of  the 
president,  under  the  resolution  of  the  llth  March,  1831.  There  is  also  a 
charge  of  Messrs  Gales  &  Seaton  of  $800,  for  printing  the  report  of  the 
Exchange  Committee.' 

"  Does  the  Senate  require  stronger  proof  that  this  printing  was 
political,  and  designed  to  affect  the  pending  presidential  election  ? 
Look  at  the  extra  newspapers^  the  editions  of  speeches,  and,  to 
any  one  who  recollects  the  history  of  the  last  four  years,  the 
proof  is  demonstration.  '  Articles  on  the  project  of  a  treasury 
bank,'  '  pamphlets  concerning  the  bank,'  '  reviews  of  the  veto,' 
'  reviews  of  Mr.  Benton's  speech,'  and  other  similar  publications, 
mark,  too  strongly,  the  character  of  this  printing  to  permit  a 
doubt  to  exist  in  any  mind  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  opinion 
upon  the  subject  entertained  and  expressed  by  the  government 
directors.  Were  they,  then,  wrong  in  complaining  of  these 
expenditures — in  asking  an  account  of  these,  where  the  objects 
of  the  payments  were  not  shown  by  the  papers  of  the  bank  —  in 
proposing  to  the  board  of  directors  to  rescind  resolutions  under 
which  the  money  of  the  people  had  been  paid  for  purposes  such 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  205 

as  those  which  they  name  ?     And  are  their  nominations  to  be 
rejected  for  this  part  of  their  official  conduct  ? 

"  But,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  these  gentlemen  further  com 
plain  that,  in  the  course  of  the  discharge  of  their  official  duties  as 
directors  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  they  found  that  a 
large  and  important  portion  of  the  business  of  the  bank  was  not 
managed  by  the  board  of  directors,  as  the  affairs  of  the  bank 
are  by  the  charter  required  to  be  managed,  but  by  a  small  com 
mittee  of  directors  appointed  by  the  president  of  the  bank. 
They  further  state  that  this  committee  was  appointed  and  acted 
in  direct  violation  of  the  established  by-laws  of  the  bank,  and 
that  upon  both  grounds  they  remonstrated  against  this  mode  of 
managing  the  affairs  of  the  bank,  as  being  a  violation  of  the 
charter  and  of  the  long-established  by-laws.  In  speaking  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  board  of  directors  upon  this  subject,  in  their 
memorial  laid  before  Congress  at  its  present  session,  at  page 
thirteen  of  the  printed  copy  from  which  I  read,  they  state  the 
following  facts  : 

"  'Our  remonstrances,  however,  were  not  without  effect.  They  led  to  a 
determination  on  the  part  of  the  majority  to  give  some  sanction  to  their 
course,  by  adopting  new  rules  and  abolishing  those  long  in  existence.  A 
new  set  of  by-laws  was  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  actual  practice. 
They  were  submitted  to  the  board  in  the  month  of  April  last.  When  they 
were  under  consideration,  we  requested  "  that  the  standing  committees  might 
be  appointed  from  the  board  in  rotation"  —  this  was  rejected,  and  the  presi 
dent  was  authorized  himself  to  select  the  two  of  most  importance,  that  on 
the  offices  and  that  on  exchange.  We  then  requested  that  the  powers 
of  the  Committee  on  Exchange  "  might  not  be  extended  to  the  business  of 
discounts"  —  this  too  was  rejected.  Desirous  that,  if  these  powers  were 
thus  to  be  exercised  by  a  committee  selected  by  the  president,  the  other 
directors  might  at  least  be  regularly  informed  of  its  proceedings,  we  then 
requested  that  they  "  should  lay  before  the  board,  at  every  stated  meeting,  a 
statement  of  their  proceedings,  which  should  be  read  before  the  discounts 
of  the  day  Were  settled"  —  this  too  was  rejected.  All  these  being  refused, 
we  requested  that,  among  the  business  of  the  day,  the  board  might  have 
submitted  and  read  to  it  a  "  report  of  \,\\Q  final  proceedings  of  the  commit 
tee,"  since  the  previous  stated  meeting  —  this  too  was  rejected.  In  a  word, 
the  system  of  late  years  acted  upon  was  formally  sanctioned  by  a  majority 
of  the  board.  It  is  now  a  portion  of  its  by-laws,  as  before  it  was  of  its 
practice.' 


206  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  These  facts  are  not  denied  or  controverted  in  the  communi 
cations  coming  from  the  board  of  directors,  nor  have  they  been 
denied  here  or  elsewhere  to  my  knowledge,  while,  if  true,  they 
show  conclusively  a  change  of  the  by-laws  of  the  bank  to  conform 
them  to  the  practice  in  respect  to  this  committee;  and,  also,  that 
this  committee  does  make  discounts  and  do  other  important  busi 
ness  of  the  bank,  and  that  its  proceedings  are  not  now  required 
to  be  laid  before  the  board  of  directors. 

"  The  government  directors  further  state  that  all  of  them  have 
been  wholly  excluded  from  this  committee.  I  will  not  trouble 
the  Senate  with  proof  of  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  inasmuch  as 
it  is  not  only  stated  by  these  directors,  but  is  admitted  in  terms 
by  the  communication  from  the  bank  itself  from  which  I  have 
before  read.  They  complained  of  this  fact  as  putting  it  out  of 
their  power  to  understand  the  manner  in  which  that  portion  of 
the  business  of  the  bank  intrusted  to  the  management  of  this 
committee  was  managed,  and  therefore  whether  the  interests  of 
the  institution,  as  a  whole,  and  especially  the  interests  of  the 
government  in  it,  were  in  a  safe  state  and  properly  conducted. 
Has  this  been  their  oifense,  and  are  they  to  meet  the  rejection  of 
the  Senate  on  account  of  this  part  of  their  official  conduct  ? 

"  Mr.  W.  said  rumors  had  reached  the  President  of  the  United 
States  of  these  instances  of  bad  management  of  the  affairs  of 
the  bank  and  of  this  system  of  improper  expenditures,  and  he,  as 
the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  government,  and  bound  officially 
to  look  to  the  public  interests  in  every  quarter,  had  written  his 
letter  of  the  14th  April,  1833,  to  these  directors,  asking  merely 
their  personal  information,  derived  in  the  course  of  the  discharge 
of  their  official  duties,  upon  the  subjects  to  which  his  letter 
referred.  These  gentlemen  answered  the  letter  respectfully,  and 
gave  their  personal  information  upon  the  matters  inquired  after. 
This  transaction  has  been  denounced  as  an  assumption  and  usur 
pation  of  power  on  the  part  of  the  President,  and  as  dishonorable 
and  a  violation  of  dutv  and  trust  on  the  part  of  the  government 
directors.  To  him,  Mr.  W.  said,  either  denunciation  appeared 
equally  unjust  and  unmerited.  He  would  give  the  plain  practi 
cal  view  of  the  transaction.  The  people  are  stockholders  in  the 
bank  to  the  amount  of  $7,000,000,  and  depositors  to  an  average 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SJLAS  WRIGHT.  207 

amount  still  greater.  The  President,  as  the  first  officer  of  the 
government,  holding  his  office  from  the  people,  and  bound  to 
guard  their  interests,  hears  rumors  of  mismanagement  in  admin 
istering  the  affairs  of  the  bank.  He  writes  to  the  directors 
appointed  by  the  government,  and  responsible  to  it,  for  the  facts. 
They  give  them,  so  far  as  they  are  within  their  knowledge, 
derived  from  the  discharge  of  their  official  duties  as  directors  of 
the  bank.  They  tell  the  truth,  and  not  a  fact  stated  by  them  is 
contradicted  by  the  bank  itself.  Does  this  view  of  the  case 
justify  the  denunciations  we  have  heard  ?  Suppose  the  President 
had  addressed  in  the  same  manner  the  other  directors  of  the 
bank,  would  it  have  been  called  usurpation  —  an  assumption 
of  power  ?  Suppose  he  had  addressed  the  president  of  the  bank, 
who  is  also  a  director,  would  it  have  been  contended  that  he 
had  not  a  right  so  to  do  ?  Suppose  this  information  had  come 
from  that  officer  of  the  bank,  would  he  have  been  accused 
of  violation  of  duty,  of  breach  of  trust,  of  dishonorable  con 
duct  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  admitted  by  all  that  he  had 
discharged  an  imperative  duty,  and  that  the  information  was  such 
as  every  director  of  that  bank  was  bound  to  give  to  the  stock 
holder,  if  he  found  himself  unable  to  correct  these  practices  and 
check  these  expenditures  by  an  appeal  to  the  board  of  directors  ? 
If  such  would  have  been  the  conclusions  in  the  supposed  cases, 
how  much  more  forcible  are  they  when  the  transactions  are 
between  '  officers  of  the  United  States,'  all  charged  with  impor 
tant  public  interests,'  and  all  responsible  to  the  public  for  the 
faithful  discharge  of  their  trusts  !  And  if  the  President  had  a 
right  to  address  any  of  the  directors  of  the  bank  for  this  infor 
mation,  how  much  more  clearly  had  he  the  right,  and  how  much 
more  clearly  it  was  his  duty,  to  address  those  who  were  responsi 
ble  to  the  government  and  not  to  the  bank  for  the  places  they 
held  !  If  the  president  of  the  bank  or  any  of  the  directors  of 
the  bank  were  bound,  as  an  official  duty,  to  communicate  this 
information  to  the  stockholders,  when  they  found  themselves 
unable  to  check  the  abuses,  how  much  more  strongly  was  it  the 
duty  of  the  government  directors  to  give  it  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  the  representative  of  the  people  who  held  one- 
fifth  part  of  the  whole  stock,  and  an  equal  or  greater  amount  of 


208  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WXIGHT. 

deposits  in  the  bank,  when  officially  demanded  !  Are  these  men, 
then,  to  be  pronounced  unworthy  by  the  Senate  for  this  act  ?  Is  this 
the  official  conduct  for  which  we  are  called  upon  to  condemn  them  ? 
"  These  directors,  said  Mr.  W.,  are  further  accused  of  obtaining 
the  information  they  thus  communicated  to  the  President  by 
practicing  secrecy  toward  their  associate  directors.  Is  this  accu 
sation  well  founded  in  fact?  To  answer  this  question  I  must 
again  trouble  the  Senate  to  read  from  their  memorial  to  Congress. 
In  reference  to  this  charge  they  say : 

'"It  would,  indeed,  be  just  ground  of  censure  against  us,  if,  under  the 
authority  of  the  one,  or  in  executing  the  other,  we  had  obtained  informa 
tion  without  ample  notice  to  the  majority,  or  communicated  it  without 
abundant  opportunity  allowed  them  to  know,  investigate  and  repel  it  for 
themselves.  If  they  do  not  venture  directly  to  assert  that  we  did  so,  they 
attempt  to  insinuate  it.  On  our  parts,  we  explicitly  deny  it.  We  deny  the 
truth  of  any  allegation,  direct  or  indirect,  which  implies  want  of  candor  — 
or  any  neglect  of  full  information  given  to  them  of  the  nature  and  extent 
of  our  objections — or  any  want  of  the  most  ample  opportunity  previously 
afforded  to  examine,  and,  had  it  been  possible,  to  refute  the  charges  we 
made.  This  we  deny,  and  we  appeal  to  the  records  of  the  bank  to  sustain 
us  in  the  denial.  Our  examination  of  the  expense  account  was  made,  after 
a  formal  demand  by  us  all,  in  person,  to  the  president.  We  demanded  it  as 
our  right,  as  directors  of  the  bank.  We  proposed  to  make  it  in  the  public 
room  of  the  directors.  We  did  it  in  that  of  the  cashier,  at  the  suggestion 
of  the  president.  After  we  had  done  so,  we  brought  the  whole  subject 
formally  before  the  board.  Our  resolutions  on  the  minutes,  show  how  fully 
we  introduced  it  to  their  notice.  We  asked  of  them,  by  those  resolutions, 
an  explanation  by  their  own  officer,  and  under  their  own  direction.  We 
did  this  on  tJie  IQth  of  August.  The  majority  felt  itself  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  the  whole  matter,  to  express  a  deliberate  opinion  upon  it 
by  their  resolution  confirming  all  they  had  done.  They  refused  to  have  a 
statement  prepared  under  their  own  direction,  although  we  informed  them 
of  the  vagueness  of  the  account.  In  a  word,  it  was  evident  they  would 
neither  aid  in  changing  the  system  against  which  we  remonstrated,  nor  in 
affording  a  true  account  of  what  had  been  done  under  it.  It  was  on  the 
\Wi  of  August — after  we  had  thus  given  them  ample  notice  —  after  they 
had  refused  to  aid  us,  give  us  their  own  statement,  or  enter  into  any  inves 
tigation  themselves  —  that  we  reported  to  the  President  of  the  United  States 
all  that  they  would  allow  us  to  ascertain.' 

This  is  the  statement  of  the  facts,  as  given  by  the  individuals 
accused.  Their  statement  is  corroborated  by  the  records  of  the 
bank,  which  show  that  on  the  16th  August  they  laid  this  whole 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  209 

matter  before  the  board  of  directors,  and,  failing  to  obtain  the 
adoption  of  measures  calculated  to  correct  the  abuses  or  to  arrest 
the  improper  expenditures,  but,  on  the  contrary,  finding  their 
efforts  for  those  objects  met  by  a  positive  direction  to  continue 
both  with  *a  renewed  attention,'  they,  on  the  19th  of  the  same 
month,  as  the  date  of  their  letter  shows,  made  their  communica 
tion  to  the  President.  It  is  not  true  in  fact,  then,  said  Mr.  W., 
that  these  directors  attempted  to  conceal  their  doings  from  their 
associate  directors.  It  is  not  true  in  fact  that  they  assumed  the 
character,  which  has  been  so  harshly  given  to  them  here,  of 
'spies.'  Not  a  single  fact  stated  by  them,  and  which  I  have 
just  read  to  the  Senate,  is  contradicted  by  the  communication  of 
the  bank  itself ;  and  surely  we  are  not  to  find  the  cause  for  a 
rejection  of  the  nominations  in  this  erroneous  conclusion,  drawn 
from  an  error  in  our  understanding  of  the  facts. 

"  So  far  from  having  attempted  to  conceal  their  acts,  these 
directors  complain  that  the  books  and  papers  of  the  bank  have 
been  concealed  from  them,  while  portions  of  the  same  papers 
have  been  held  accessible  to  the  editors  of  newspapers.  Their 
language  upon  this  subject  is  as  follows: 

"  '  They  deny  to  directors  of  the  board  the  right  to  examine  its  documents 
and  report  its  proceedings  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  yet  it 
is  notorious  that  the  editors  of  newspapers  under  their  patronage  obtain 
and  publish,  with  no  permission  of  the  board  known  to  us,  facts  in  regard 
to  its  proceedings,  accounts  and  expenditures,  which  they  admit  have  been 
obtained  by  "information  in  and  out  of  the  bank,"  and  by  an  inspection  of 
the  documents  it  possesses.  The  irresponsible  publication,  by  an  editor  of 
a  newspaper,  of  facts  favorable  to  the  views  of  the  majority,  containing 
statements  obtained  from  the  bank  without  the  knowledge  of  the  public 
directors,  involves  no  impropriety  —  the  responsible  report  of  those  directors 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  of  proceedings  and  expenditures  which 
have  been  brought  distinctly  to  the  notice  of  the  board,  is  an  act  highly 
culpable,  uncandid  and  unjust! ' 

"  This  accusation  is  taken  from  their  memorial  now  upon  the 
files  of  the  Senate,  and  its  truth,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  their  being 
denied  access  to  the  papers  of  the  bank,  is  fully  sustained  by 
facts  and  transactions  stated  by  them  in  detail;  nor  is  the  charge 
denied  by  the  communication  from  the  bank  itself,  to  which  I 
have  had  so  frequent  occasion  to  refer. 
14 


210  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  It  is  further  charged  against  these  officers  that  they  have 
been  assuming;  that  they  have  styled  themselves  'the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  American  people,'  and  that  they  are  not  so 
much  censurable  for  the  information  they  have  given  as  for  the 
very  exceptionable  manner  in  which  they  have  thought  proper 
to  give  it.  These,  if  I  correctly  understood  the  honorable  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  (Mr.  Webster),  were  his  views. 
Now,  sir,  said  Mr.  Wright,  I  have  before  given  my  opinions  as  to 
the  official  character  and  standing  and  responsibilities  of  these 
directors.  I  do  not  think  they  are  mistaken  when  they  suppose 
they  are  '  officers  of  the  United  States.'  I  think  the  Constitution 
gives  them  that  character,  and  that,  in  so  far  as  the  American  peo 
ple  are  interested  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  stockholders 
and  depositors,  they  are  'the  representatives  of  the  American 
people,'  because  they  are  officially  charged  with  the  guardianship 
and  protection  of  those  interests.  Their  assuming  that  title, 
therefore,  should  not  be  held  a  criminal  assumption,  calling  upon 
the  Senate  to  disgrace  them  as  citizens  or  public  officers.  Their 
communications  have  been  made  to  the  President  and  to  Congress 
in  respectful  language;  nor,  Mr.  W.  said,  could  he  find,  in  any  of 
them,  any  evidence  of  a  manner  so  exceptionable  as  to  justify 
him  in  voting  against  their  nominations.  He  could  find  much  in 
all  their  communications  commanding  his  admiration,  as  evincing 
a  faithfulness  and  fearlessness  in  the  discharge  of  the  responsible 
duties  of  a  high  and  unpleasant  public  trust,  and  calling  strongly 
upon  him  for  his  best  support. 

"  But,  as  assumption  had  been  charged,  might  he  not  be  per 
mitted  to  refer  gentlemen  to  the  other  side  of  this  controversy. 
They  proposed  to  cut  down  these  directors  to  sustain  those 
chosen  by  the  stockholders,  and  were  those  directors  wholly  clear 
from  high  and  offensive  assumptions  ?  He  would  refer  to  a  pas 
sage  or  two,  in  their  late  communication  to  the  public,  for  an 
answer  to  the  inquiry.  Speaking  of  the  conduct  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  the  following  language  is  used  : 

"  '  But  the  wrong  done  to  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  bank  sinks  into 
entire  insignificance  when  compared  with  the  deeper  injury  inflicted  on  the 
country  by  this  usurpation  of  all  the  powers  of  the  government.' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W MIGHT. 

"And  again  : 

"  'It,  in  fact,  resolves  itself  into  this,  that  whenever  the  laws  prescribe 
certain  duties  to  an  officer,  if  that  officer,  acting  under  the  sanctions  of  his 
official  oath  and  his  private  character,  refuses  to  violate  that  law,  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  may  dismiss  him  and  appoint  another  ;  and  if  he 
too  should  prove  to  be  a  "  refractory  subordinate,"  to  continue  his  removals 
until  he  at  last  discovers,  in  the  descending  scale  of  degradation,  some  irre 
sponsible  individual  fit  to  be  the  tool  of  his  designs.  Unhappily,  there  are 
never  wanting  men  who  will  think  as  their  superiors  wish  them  to  think  — 
men  who  regard  more  the  compensation  than  the  duties  of  their  office  —  men 
to  whom  daily  bread  is  sufficient  consolation  for  daily  shame.' 

"Now,  here,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  his  understanding,  were  assump 
tions  of  no  usual  or  ordinary  character  ;  and  if  gentlemen  were 
prepared  to  sustain  such  language,  used  towards  the  official  acts 
of  the  chief  executive  magistrate  of  the  United  States,  and  used 
too  by  a  moneyed  incorporation  created  by  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  he  was  not.  Such  assumptions  should  never 
receive  countenance  from  him ;  and  he  felt  sure  that  those  who 
could  give  them  countenance  would  not  punish  the  directors 
appointed  by  the  government  because  they  had  considered 
themselves  as  '  officers  of  the  United  States,'  and  therefore,  in 
reference  to  their  official  duties,  as  '  representatives  of  the 
American  people.' 

"Still  another  accusation,  however,  was  made  against  these 
directors,  and  upon  which  peculiar  stress  was  placed  by  some 
members  of  the  Senate.  It  was  said  that  they  had  made  public 
matters  of  a  private  nature,  not  warranted  by  their  situations 
and  dishonorable  to  them  as  men.  What,  said  Mr.  W.,  are  the 
facts?  These  gentlemen  were  directors  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  course  of  the  discharge  of  their  official 
duties  they  find  that  the  account  of  Messrs.  Gales  &  Seaton, 
printers  of  this  city,  is  o  /er-drawn  to  the  amount  of  $3,314.81; 
an  amount,  of  itself,  not  sufficiently  large  to  create  great  alarm, 
but  surely  of  sufficient  importance  to  excite  attention  and  exami 
nation  on  the  part  of  any  prudent  and  faithful  director,  and 
especially  when  it  was  publicly  known  that  the  debtors  them 
selves  were  in  embarrassed  circumstances  and  not  responsible. 
They  did  examine,  and  at  the  first  step  of  their  examination  they 
further  find  that  a  note  drawn  by  these  parties  for  $5,000,  which 


212  LIFE  AND  TIKES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

had  been  discounted  by  the  bank,  had  been  due  for  some  days 
and  had  not  even  been  protested  ;  whereby,  Mr.  W.  said,  he 
supposed  it  followed  from  necessity  that  the  indorser  was  dis 
charged  from  liability.  And,  upon  looking  further,  they  find 
that,  within  a  few  years,  the  account  of  these  individuals  with 
the  bank  had  risen  from  less  than  $11,000  to  more  than  $80,000, 
and  that  the  securities  for  this  large  debt  were  irregular,  unusual 
and  uncertain.  Such  is  a  succinct  history  of  the  condition  of  this 
account,  as  given  by  these  directors  in  their  memorial  to  Congress; 
and,  in  view  of  the  facts,  a  motion  was  made  to  the  board  of 
directors  that  the  account  should  be  referred  to  a  committee  of 
seven  directors,  of  whom  the  resident  directors  appointed  by  the 
government  should  constitute  three,  for  the  purpose  of  investiga 
tion  and  adjustment.  This  motion  prevailed  without  opposition, 
and  a  special  committee  was  appointed.  The  directors  proceed 
to  say :  '  At  the  meeting  of  the  board,  three  days  after,  the  sub 
ject  being  before  this  special  committee  and  unacted  on,  we  were 
surprised  to  observe,  by  the  books  laid  on  the  table,  that  the 
note  for  $5,000  had  been  renewed,  by  the  Committee  on  Exchange, 
on  the  very  day  the  investigation  was  directed? 
"  They  further  say  : 

"  '  We  observed  also  that  the  Committee  on  Exchange  had  discounted  a 
note  of  the  same  persons  for  a  further  sum  of  $2,500,  on  the  security  of 
their  order  on  the  clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  "  for  the  amount 
which  would  be  due  to  them  for  the  second  part  of  Vol.  6  of  the  Register  of 
Debates,  say  for  500  copies,  $2,500,  when  authorized  by  the  House  as  hereto 
fore."  On  this  order  the  clerk  declined  putting  any  acceptance,  as  the  above 
work  had  not  been  subscribed  for ;  though,  as  he  said,  "  he  did  not  doubt  of 
its  being  ordered,"  but  he  stated  that  "  if  the  order  was  lodged  with  Mr. 
Johnson,  his  paying  clerk,  he  would  pay  the  moneys  when  due  to  the 
proper  person."  They  had  also  discounted  a  draft  of  the  same  persons,  on 
H.  T.  Weigh tman,  for  $814.81.  The  two  together  made  up  $3,314.81,  the 
amount  of  the  overdraft  at  the  time.' 

"•Here,  said  Mr.  W.,  was  an  account  of  a  large  amount,  so 
unusually  conditioned  as,  by  the  unanimous  assent  of  the  board 
of  directors,  to  require  its  reference  to  a  special  committee  for 
examination,  and  upon  the  very  day  when  an  order  to  that  effect 
was  made,  this  Exchange  Committee,  of  the  doings  of  which  the 
government  directors  have  had  so  much  cause  to  complain,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  213 

from  which  they  have  been  carefully  excluded,  interpose  and 
adjust  the  account  in  their  own  way.  And  what  was  that  way? 
They  first  renew  a  dishonored  note  for  $5,000  upon  the  dishon 
ored  credit  of  the  same  parties.  They  next  discount  a  note  for 
$2,500  of  the  same  drawers,  secured,  or  rather  purporting  to  be 
secured,  by  an  order  from  those  drawers  upon  the  clerk  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  'for  the  amount  which  would  be  due  to 
them '  '  ivhen  authorized  by  the  House  as  heretofore?  and  upon 
which  order  the  clerk  had  indorsed  his  refusal  to  accept,  not  his 
acceptance.  An  order  upon  the  clerk  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  for  books  which  might  or  might  not  be  purchased  by 
Congress  at  a  future  session,  as  the  pleasure  of  Congress  should 
dictate,  was  thus  held,  by  this  Committee  on  Exchange,  to  be 
security  for  a  note  for  $2,500,  drawn  by  irresponsible  parties,  and 
to  make  that  note  bankable  paper.  The  committee  then  proceed 
to  discount  a  draft  of  these  same  parties,  upon  a  Mr.  Weightman, 
for  a  sum  sufficient  to  balance  the  overdraft  of  their  account,  and 
lay  their  proceedings  before  the  board  of  directors  of  the  bank, 
not  for  the  advisement  of  that  board,  but  merely  for  their  infor 
mation  as  to  what  had  been  done.  The  information  being  pos 
sessed  by  the  board,  the  resolution  appointing  a  special  committee 
to  investigate  this  account  is  called  up,  and,  despite  the  efforts  of 
the  government  directors  and  the  mover  of  the  resolution,  is 
wholly  rescinded. 

"  Such,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  a  partial  statement  of  the  facts  in  rela 
tion  to  the  private  account  which  these  directors  are  accused  of 
having  improperly  and  dishonorably  made  public;  and  he  would 
ask,  with  entire  confidence,  was  there  any  other  private  account 
of  which  they  had  spoken  ?  The  answer  must  be  negative.  Is, 
then,  this  such  a  transaction  as  is  required  to  be  kept  private  and 
secret  from  the  stockholders  of  the  bank  ?  So  far  from  it,  in  his 
judgment,  that  he  considered  it  the  indispensable  duty  of  any 
director  of  that  bank,  from  whatever  source  he  might  have  derived 
his  appointment,  to  lay  open  to  the  stockholders  such  an  instance 
of  gross  mismanagement  of  the  affairs  of  the  institution.  Was  it 
to  be  tolerated  that  a  mere  committee  of  the  directors  should  thus 
disregard  a  solemn  order  of  the  board,  or  should  be  permitted 
to  force  upon  the  bank  such  securities  for  its  money  ?  And  when 


214  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

these  things  were  done  and  met  the  sanction  of  the  majority  of 
the  directors,  was  it  to  be  contended  that  the  knowledge  of  the 
transaction  was  to  be  kept  secret  from  the  stockholders,  and  from 
the  government  as  much  the  largest  stockholder,  under  the  pre 
tense  that  the  private  accounts  of  individuals  are  not  to  be  made 
public  ?  Very  different  were  his  views  upon  this  subject;  and  he 
could  not  believe  that  this  transaction  could  be  viewed  in  any 
other  light  than  as  an  instance  of  palpable  mismanagement  of 
the  affairs  of  the  bank,  or  that  the  government  directors  per 
formed  any  other  than  an  honest  duty  in  disclosing  it  to  the 
President. 

"  It  has  been  said  that  these  directors  made  public  these  facts. 
Is  this  declaration  well  founded?  They  communicated  them  to 
the  President,  but  I  am  yet  to  learn  that  they  had  any  other 
agency  in  making  them  public.  The  President,  and  not  these 
directors,  caused  their  letters  to  him  to  be  made  public.  They, 
therefore,  are  not  to  be  charged  with  his  act,  and  it  is  wrong  to 
say  that  they  caused  any  further  publication  than  by  their  letter 
to  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  government.  Are  they,  for 
this,  to  receive  the  heavy  condemnatory  sentence  of  the  Senate  ? 
Are  they,  for  this,  to  be  proclaimed  to  the  world  as  dishonorable 
men,  performing  dishonorable  actions  ?  They  are  not,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  to  receive  this  sentence  from  me. 

"  But,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  can  we  mistake  the  truo 
question  presented  to  us?  Is  it  not  whether  the  government 
shall  or  shall  not  be  represented  at  the  board  of  directors  of  that 
bank?  Is  it  not  whether  the  public  interests  there  shall  be 
guarded  by  directors  appointed  by  the  government,  or  whether 
those  great  interests  shall  be  subject  to  the  caprices  of  the  indi 
vidual  stockholders,  or  of  those  they  may  choose  to  permit  to 
represent  them  there  ?  The  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
(Mr.  Webster)  has  told  us  that  he  opposed  the  charter  of-  this 
bank,  arid  that  he  did  so  mainly  upon  the  ground  .that  all  the 
directors  ought  to  be  appointed  by  the  stockholders  in  the  same 
manner;  that  the  government  ought  not  to  be  represented  by 
directors  at  the  board;  that  it  ought  not  to  have  this  control  over 
the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  institution.  He  has  also 
told  us  that  himself  and  several  of  his  associates  used  their  best 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  215 

efforts  to  expunge  this  feature  from  the  charter,  and,  not  being  suc 
cessful,  voted  against  it.  Why,  sir,  did  they  not  succeed  ?  Most 
certainly  because  that  Congress  considered  this  representation  in 
and  control  over,  the  institution  important  to  the  government, 
and  would  not  grant  the  charter  without  it.  Had  not,  then,  this 
provision  for  the  appointment  of  directors  on  the  part  of  the 
government  been  retained,  the  bank  itself  would  never  have 
existed.  The  honorable  gentleman,  however,  now  contends  that 
the  duties  of  these  directors  are  in  no  respect  different  from  the 
duties  of  the  remaining  twenty  directors  appointed  by  the  indi 
vidual  stockholders;  that  they  are  virtually  merged  in  this 
greater  number,  and  that  their  views  and  feelings  upon  all  occa 
sions  should  be  the  same,  and,  if  they  are  not,  that  they  should 
be  surrendered  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  those  responsible  to 
a  different  body.  Sir,  if  these  were  the  Senator's  opinions  when 
the  charter  was  upon  its  passage,  why  did  he  oppose  it  because 
of  this  provision  ?  If  this  was  not  to  bring  into  the  direction  a 
different  representative  interest,  acting  under  different  responsi 
bilities,  and  to  be  measurably  governed  by  different  views,  why 
was  it  so  objectionable  ?  It  cannot  be  disguised,  sir,  that  such 
must  have  been  the  expectation  and  intention  of  the  Congress 
which  granted  this  charter;  that  they  designed  that  these  direc 
tors  should  consider  themselves  the  more  immediate  representa 
tives  of  the  government  in  all  its  various  interests  in  and  rela 
tions  to  the  bank;  and  that  for  that  reason,  and  for  that  reason 
alone,  the  provision  was  persisted  in  by  those  who  desired  this 
control  and  watchfulness,  and  opposed  by  those  who  did  not 
wish  it.  Nor  can  it  be  disguised  that  by  rejecting  these  nomina 
tions,  for  the  causes  for  which  they  are  to  be  rejected,  we  are,  in 
our  executive  action,  virtually  legislating  this  provision  out  of 
the  charter  —  making  it  what  its  framers  did  not  design  to  make 
it,  and  releasing  that  safeguard  over  the  public  interests  invested 
in  the  bank  which  they  rigidly  persisted  in  retaining.  Who, 
Mr.  President,  will  accept  these  offices,  to  perform  fearlessly  and 
faithfully  the  duties  appertaining  to  them,  if  these  men,  who 
have  so  performed  those  duties,  are  to  be  cut  down  by  the 
Senate?  What  honorable  man  will  take  a  responsible  office, 
without  compensation,  when  he  learns  that  a  laborious  and  effi- 


216  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

cient  discharge  of  its  duties  is  to  bring  down  upon  his  head  the 
heavy  censures  of  this  body?  None,  sir;  and  you  may  as  well 
not  go  through  the  forms  of  an  appointment. 

"  One  word,  Mr.  President,  in  reply  to  the  remarks  made,  when 
these  nominations  were  last  under  consideration,  by  the  honora 
ble  Senator  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Tyler).  The  Senator  is  a  member 
of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  and,  upon  the  report  of  that  com 
mittee  being  made,  he  told  us  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  to 
vote  for  a  portion  of  the  candidates,  and  to  vote  against  others; 
but  upon  the  occasion  referred  to  he  read  to  the  Senate  an  article 
from  a  morning  paper,  purporting  to  give  the  transactions  of 
certain  individuals  with  the  bank;  said  he  would  presume  that 
the  informants  of  the  publisher  were  these  directors,  and  that 
unless  he  could  be  certainly  assured  that  his  suspicions  were 
wrong,  he  should  vote  against  them  all.  Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  it 
appears  to  me,  if  the  honorable  gentleman  will  review  the  facts, 
he  will  discharge  these  individuals  from  that  responsibility.  The 
paper  purported  to  give  minute  facts  as  to  particular  transactions 
with  the  bank.  The  individuals  named,  and  who  must  know 
the  truth  upon  the  subject,  are  here  in  their  seats  in  the  Senate. 
They  assure  us  that  every  material  allegation  in  the  publication 
was  wholly  false  and  without  foundation.  Does  it,  then,  afford 
any  ground  whatever  for  the  presumption  that  the  article  was 
written  upon  information  derived  from  these  directors  ?  Is  it  not 
a  necessary  conclusion  that  they  would  have  given  correct  infor 
mation  if  they  had  given  any  ?  Is  it  fair  or  reasonable  to  sup 
pose  that  these  officers  would  have  violated  their  duty  by 
attempting  to  give  information  of  this  description  to  the  pub 
lisher  of  a  newspaper,  and  would  in  the  same  act  have  practiced 
a  fraud  upon  that  publisher  by  giving  him  information  which 
was  false  and  without  foundation  ?  It  did,  Mr.  W.  said,  appear 
to  him  that  this  was  a  presumption  too  violent  to  justify  the 
honorable  Senator  in  condemning  these  candidates  unheard,  and 
he  could  not  but  believe  that,  if  the  gentleman  would  reconsider, 
he  would  return  to  his  first  conclusion  to  vote  for,  at  least,  some 
of  the  persons  nominated. 

"  He  would  ask  the  further  indulgence  of  the  Senate  while  he 
gave  a  moment's  attention  to  the  injurious  remarks  which  were 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  217 

made,  at  a  late  day,  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Vermont  (Mr. 
Prentis),  which  should  complete  the  discharge  of  his  present 
duty.  That  gentleman  had  told  the  Senate  that  he  should  vote 
against  the  confirmation  of  these  nominations,  not  in  consequence 
of  any  objections  he  had  heard  urged  against  their  characters,  or 
qualifications  to  discharge  their  duties,  but  on  account  of  their 
hostility  to  the  bank.  This  conclusion  was  plausible,  but  was  it 
supported  by  the  facts  ?  Is  it  shown  that  these  directors  are 
hostile  to  the  bank?  Mr.  W.  said  he  knew  no  evidence  of  the 
fact.  They  are  hostile  to  the  mode  in  which  the  bank  is  at  pre 
sent  managed.  They  have  complained  of  abuses  in  that  manage 
ment,  and  have  tried  to  correct  them.  They  have  failed  to 
accomplish  that,  and  have  laid  the  abuses  before  Congress.  Is 
this  hostility  to  the  bank  ?  Is  it  not  rather  the  best  of  friendship 
to  it,  and  are  not  those  who  are  to  be  sustained  by  such  a  deci 
sion  of  the  Senate  the  real  enemies  of  the  bank,  as  being  the 
authors  of  the  abuses  and  bad  management  ?  This,  Mr.  W.  said, 
appeared  to  him  the  true  conclusion,  and  that  the  gentleman 
would,  by  his  vote  against  these  nominations,  censure  the  real 
friends  of  the  bank  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  had  done  most 
to  injure  it.  He  begged  the  honorable  Senator,  therefore,  to 
re-examine  his  positions  and  see  if  the  facts  warranted  the  con 
clusion  to  which  he  had  come. 

"  In  conclusion,  Mr.  W.  said  he  had  bestowed  his  best  attention 
upon  the  conduct  of  these  directors  as  exhibited  in  the  docu 
ments  before  the  Senate;  he  had  listened  attentively  to  all  that 
had  been  said  in  debate,  and  he  had  availed  himself  of  all  other 
information  within  his  reach,  and  he  now  unhesitatingly  gave  to 
the  Senate  his  conviction  that  the  nominations  of  all  ought  to  be 
comfirmed.  He  should  most  cheerfully  give  to  each  candidate 
his  vote." 

ME.  WEIGHT  TO  MINET  JENISON. 

"WASHINGTON,  24t7i  May,  1834. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR. — Your  letter  of  the  26th  of  April  came  regu 
larly  to  me,  and  I  was  exceedingly  happy  to  be  informed  that 
your  health  was  improving,  and  that  you  had  not  relinquished 
your  hope  of  the  western  journey,  provided  the  state  of  your 


218  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

health  and  the  pressure  should  permit  us  to  indulge  ourselves  in 
the  trip.  I  yet  hope  we  may  take  it,  and  that  the  enjoyment 
may  be  in  proportion  to  my  anticipations.  Still,  it  is  right  I 
should  say  that  I  am  in  trouble.  Four  weeks  ago  I  confidently 
believed  we  should  adjourn  on  the  thirty-first  of  this  month. 
Two  weeks  ago  I  surrendered  that  hope  and  moved  up  to  the 
sixteenth  of  June.  Now  we  have  more  talk  of  the  second  of 
July  than  of  any  other  time,  and  it  is  too  plain  that  many  of  our 
friends  in  the  House  are  willing  to  fix  the  time  at  that  or  even  a 
later  day.  They  make  a  great  noise  about  their  business  and 
their  anxiety  to  adjourn,  but  when  the  business  is  within  their 
power  they  do  not  do  it.  I  know  of  but  one  perfectly  honest 
man  in  the  delegation  who  opposes  an  adjournment,  and  he  says 
very  frankly  that  he  does  not  want  to  go  away  until  all  the  busi 
ness  is  done  ;  that  he  has  eight  dollars  per  day,  and  hires  a  man 
at  home  for  eight  dollars  a  month  that  will  do  a  '  plaguy  sight 
more  than  he  should,  if  at  home.'  *  The  old  man's  feelings  actu 
ate  many,  but  they  do  not  confess  it.  I  think,  however,  the 
second  of  July  is  the  latest  day,  and  the  sixteenth  of  June  the 
earliest  day,  and  that  we  shall  get  away  sometime  between  those 
dates.  I  hardly  dare  write  to  my  wife  upon  the  subject.  I  had 
consented  so  long  to  the  first  of  June,  that  she  had  settled  her 
feelings  upon  that  time  very  strongly,  and  I  have  not  had  time 
to  get  a  letter  since.  I  was  compelled  to  stretch  out  the  time  to 
the  sixteenth  of  June.  She  has  behaved  most  remarkably  well 
as  yet,  but  you  know  there  is  a  saying  that  '  hope  deferred 
maketh  the  heart  sick,'  and  I  insist  upon  it  she  has  a  right  to 
manifest  a  little  impatience,  even  at  this  first  extension.  If, 
then,  before  she  has  time  to  write  to  me  her  feelings  upon  that, 
I  tell  her  that  another  extension  of  half  a  month  is  to  be  made,  I 
fear  she  may  think  that  I  do  not  want  to  get  home.  I  do  not, 
however,  apprehend  any  serious  difficulty,  for  I  think  she  knows 
my  feelings  too  well  to  believe  that  I  stay  here  for  pleasure,  or 
that  I  would  not  vote  to  go  home  at  any  moment  when  I  believed 
my  public  duty  would  permit  me  to  do  so.  You  are  advised 

*  Isaac  B.  Van  Houten.  He  believed  Congress  was  bound  to  finish  its 
calendar  of  business  before  it  could  lawfully  adjourn.  He  was  an  honest 
and  good  man,  of  great  simplicity  of  character. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  219 

that  she  meets  me  in  Vermont,  and  my  visit  and  business  there 
will  detain  me  some  eight  or  ten  days.  It  will,  therefore,  be 
probably  about  three  weeks  after  we  adjourn  before  you  will  see 
me  at  Canton.  Hence,  I  fear  I  may  be  compelled  to  delay  the 
journey  to  a  later  period  in  the  season  than  you  would  wish.  If 
you  think  so,  write  me  on  the  subject. 

"  I  have  a  letter  before  me  from  Doty,  proposing  the  call  of  a 
mass  meeting  of  the  republicans  of  the  county  at  such  time  as 
will  enable  Gillet*  and  myself  to  be  there.  I  have  thought  of  it, 
and  am  inclined  to  think  rather  favorably  of  the  measure.  We 
are  to  have  a  dreadful  battle  next  fall  throughout  the  country, 
and  our  congressional  district  is  one  of  those  which  the  opposi 
tion  confidently  hope  to  change.  Their  present  proceedings  show 
that  they  are  early  in  the  field,  which  is  well.  Let  them  take 
their  ground  and  show  their  hand,  and  then  we  can  follow  them 
better.  I  have,  however,  come  to  the  clear  conclusion,  so  far  as 
our  county  is  concerned,  that  Gillet  should  be  the  candidate,  and 
the  only  one  talked  of  or  presented.  I  have  strong  reasons  to 
believe  that  Franklin  will  consent  to  waive  its  right  for  this 
year  if  Gillet  is  the  man;  and,  as  he  has  behaved  most  splendidly 
here  during  the  session  so  far,  and  I  believe  he  has  supplied  the 
district  most  unusually  with  documents,  I  hope  to  learn  that  he 
has  gained  strength.  I  am  most  happy,  also,  to  be  able  to  say  to 
you  that  economy,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  has  marked  his  whole 
living  and  expenditure  during  the  session,  with  the  single  excep 
tion  (if  exception  it  ought  to  be  called)  of  the  purchase  of  docu 
ments  to  send  home.  Now,  in  this  conclusion  as  to  his  renomi- 
nation  I  may  be  all  wrong;  and  if  I  am  let  rne  know  it,  as  you 
know  I  can  have  no  knowledge  of  the  feelings  of  our  people  in 
the  county,  and  only  pronounce  what  I  hope  that  feeling  is,  and 
what  I  think  will  be  most  fortunate  if  it  is.  If  there  is  no  other 
point  where  a  different  result  shall  be  sought,  I  fear  it  will  be 
found  in  the  Custom-house  ;  therefore  I  should  like  well  enough 
to  be  present  at  the  proposed  meeting,  if  the  conclusion  shall  be 
to  call  one.  I  believe  you  know  me  well  enough  to  know  that  I 
have  none  of  that  sort  of  vanity  which  would  make  me  anxious 

*  The  author. 


220  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

to  be  present  for  any  reason  connected  with  myself;  but  if  I 
could  aid  in  uniting  our  friends  and  in  inducing  a  conclusion 
which  should  put  forth  our  utmost  strength,  that  would  be  a 
great  inducement.  Appearances  now  warrant  the  conclusion 
that  the  next  presidential  election  is  to  be  fought,  in  a  great 
degree  at  least,  next  fall,  because  the  final  battle  of  the  bank 
must  be  then  fought,  and,  of  course,  the  members  of  Congress 
will  be  the  real  point  for  the  contest,  and  everything  will  be  made 
to  bend  to  those  elections.  Hence  the  necessity  of  unusual  caution, 
self-denial  and  patriotism  in  arranging  those  elections  and  selecting 
our  candidates.  I  doubt  not  that  Bradish  [who  ran  against  the 
author  two  years  before  and  failed]  will  be  the  opposition  man, 
and  he  must  be  met.  Who  have  they  in  Franklin  that  can 
run  ?  I  do  not  know,  and  I  think  the  half  schism  between  Spen 
cer  and  Gillet  is  perfectly  healed,  and  that  Spencer  will  go  for  a 
location  in  St.  Lawrence  and  for  Gillet.  These  are  grave  matters, 
and  I  wish  you  would  write  me  upon  them. 

"  I  shall  suggest  to  Doty  that  if  it  is  concluded  to  call  a  meet 
ing,  and  to  expect  the  attendance  of  Gillet  and  myself,  the  best 
way  to  fix  the  time  will  be  to  see  when  our  adjournment  is  fixed, 
and  then  to  put  the  meeting  at  least  three  weeks  after  that  time. 
I  shall  expect  to  hear  from  you  fully.  Remember  me  to  Mrs. 
Jenison  and  the  little  ones,  and  believe  me, 

"  Most  truly  yours, 

"  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"MINET  JENISON,  Esq." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

DEFENSE    OF    THE    NEW    YORK    SAFETY    FUND    BANKING 

SYSTEM. 

In  the  early  days  of  banking  in  New  York,  although 
the  banks  anted  as  a  unit  in  securing  advantageous  privi- 
lages  at  the  hands  of  the  Legislature,  there  was  little 
harmony  of  feeling  or  community  of  interest  in  business 
matters.  It  seldom  grieved  the  managers  of  other  banks 
when  one  failed  to  meet  its  obligations.  Hence,  failures 
frequently  occurred.  A  remedy  for  this  evil  was  anxi 
ously  sought.  It  was  found  in  what  was  denominated 
the  "  Safety  Fund  system,"  originally  devised  by  Joshua 
L.  Forman,  formerly  of  Syracuse,  cautiously  and  wisely 
improved  by  Thomas  W.  Olcott,  of  Albany  —  still  liv 
ing —  probably  the  oldest  and  certainly  as  wise  as  any 
other  banker  in  the  State,  and  who  has  been  in  banks 
over  sixty  years,  and  half  a  century  the  controlling 
officer  of  the  Farmers'  and  Mechanics'  Bank  of  Albany. 
It  was  presented  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York  by 
Martin  Van  Buren,  when  Governor  of  the  State,  and 
finally  adopted  by  that  body. 

It  required  all  banks  to  make  a  contribution  of  one- 
half  of  one  per  cent  annually,  to  constitute  a  fund  to  be 
held  by  the  State  to  secure  the  bill-holders  of  failing 
banks,  and  provided  for  the  appointment  of  commis 
sioners  to  make  periodical  examinations  of  all  banks, 
with  authority  to  the  Chancellor  to  appoint  receivers  for 
those  failing  in  the  performance  of  their  duty  to  the 
public.  Some  of  the  Safety  Fund  banks  had  been 
selected  as  depositories  of  the  public  money  by  the  Trea 
sury  Department.  Fierce  war  was  made  UDon  this  bank- 


222  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

ing  system  by  Mr.  Clay  and  others.  They  were  well 
answered  by  Mr.  Tallmadge  and  others.  Mr.  WRIGHT 
thus  defended  it  on  the  26th  of  February,  J834  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  regretted  to  enter  into  this  debate  at  all, 
but  he  felt  it  due  to  himself  and  the  subject  to  give  the  answer 
which  he  had  promised  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky 
[Mr.  Clay];  and  before  he  did  that,  he  would  say  that  he  rejoiced 
that  there  was  no  intention  in  this  body  to  produce  an  excite 
ment  in  the  country ;  that  the  Senator  did  not  intend  to  produce 
that  effect  by  the  remarks  he  had  made,  but  that  he  was  able  to 
add  the  gentleman's  distinct  denial  that  such  was  his  intention. 

"  He  must  be  permitted  further  to  say,  before  he  replied  to  the 
interrogatory  of  the  Senator,  in  justice  to  the  Bank  of  Ithaca,  in 
nis  State,  the  bank  which  the  gentleman  had  named,  that  the 
remarks  he  had  made  in  relation  to  it  are  most  eminently  calcu 
lated  to  produce  the  very  effect  upon  that  institution  which  the 
Senator  did  not  mean  to  produce.  He  must  not  be  misunder 
stood.  He  imputed  no  intention  ;  but  he  must  say  that  the 
statement  of  the  honorable  gentleman  [Mr.  ClayJ,  as  to  the  Bank 
of  Ithaca,  the  large  amount  of  bills  he  had  stated  to  be  in  circu 
lation  from  that  bank,  and  the  very  small  amount  of  means  to 
redeem  them,  unexplained,  was  directly  and  most  happily  calcu 
lated  to  produce  a  panic  in  the  public  mind  in  the  vicinity  of  that 
bank,  and  to  cause  the  run  upon  it  which  he  was  happy  to  find  it 
was  the  desire  of  all  to  avoid. 

"  He  must  further  say  that,  while  he  would  not  make  the  impu 
tation  against  any  individual  in  or  out  of  this  body,  he  deeply 
feared  that  certain  presses  in  the  country  were  daily  and  con 
stantly  publishing  articles,  and  giving,  very  erroneously,  what 
purported  to  be  facts,  most  strongly  calculated  to  excite  the 
panic  which  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay]  had  so  often  and 
so  emphatically  mentioned  with  disgust  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks.  In  answer  to  these  attempts  to  influence  the  public 
mind,  he  would  say  to  the  customers  and  bill-holders  of,  and  to 
the  depositors  in,  the  Bank  of  Ithaca,  what  the  honorable  Senator 
had  said,  and  so  confidently  repeated  to  the  people  of  the  whole 
country,  'Be  calm,  be  serene  and  confident.'  This  ship  of  State 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  223 

is  not  to  be  run  upon  the  rocks,  nor  are  the  disasters  predicted 
to  be  experienced,  unless  the  panic  produces  the  result.  We  shall 
ride  out  the  present  storm  in  safety,  and  peace  and  plenty  will 
return  to  the  land  if  the  public  mind  remains  unshaken. 

"  I  will  now  answer  the  honorable  Senator  in  reference  to  the 
$5,000,000  of  bank  notes  possessed  by  the  Safety  Fund  banks  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  which  are  set  down  by  the  bank 
commissioners  as  a  part  of  their  available  means.  I  know  not 
from  what  statement  or  authority  the  gentleman  reads,  but  pre 
sume  it  is  from  the  summary  of  the  bank  commissioners  of  that 
State.  I  think  they,  in  their  annual  report,  after  giving  the 
detailed  statement  of  the  condition  and  means  of  each  bank, 
gave  a  summary  statement  of  the  aggregate  condition  of  all  the 
banks  under  their  charge  and  supervision;  and  I  presume  that 
this  item  is  drawn  from  that  summary  statement.  If  I  am  right 
in  this,  it  shows  that  all  these  banks,  which  the  gentleman  says 
are  sixty-nine  in  number,  have  this  $5,000,000  of  the  notes  of 
other  banks.  The  only  error  in  the  statement  of  which  I  have  a 
right  to  complain  (and  that  is  a  very  material  one  at  this  period, 
and  in  the  present  agitated  state  of  the  public  mind)  is,  that  the 
gentleman  says  he  assumes  that  all  these  are  notes  of  the  Safety 
Fund  banks  themselves.  Now,  sir,  this  is  a  violent  presumption. 
The  item  is  undoubtedly  composed  of  all  the  notes  of  other  sol 
vent  banks,  held  by  the  Safety  Fund  banks  at  the  moment  the 
statement  was  prepared.  The  amount,  and  the  description  of 
notes  of  which  it  would  be  composed,  would  be  as  fluctuating  as 
the  circulation  of  bank  paper;  but  at  any  period  the  notes  on  hand 
would  be  those  which  the  banks  should  think  it  desirable  to 
receive  or  safe  to  keep;  and,  therefore,  it  may  be  confidently 
assumed  that  they  were  the  notes  of  the  best  banks  of  the  country. 
The  proportion  of  Safety  Fund  bank  notes  would  depend  upon  the 
proportion  of  these  and  other  bank  notes  in  circulation  at  the 
points  where  the  collections  are  made  and  security  felt  in  the 
institutions  whose  notes  should  be  thus  kept  in  deposit.  I  speak 
from  some  acquaintance  with  those  banks  and  their  business 
when  I  say  that  I  fearlessly  venture  the  prediction  that  if  an 
account  of  these  notes  were  given  there  would  be  found  to  be 
an  amount  of  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its 


224  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

branches,  greater,  by  five  or  ten  times,  than  the  amount  of  the 
notes  of  any  one  Safety  Fund  bank.  Sir,  we  were  told  the  other 
day,  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr. Webster], 
that  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  were  received 
and  used  by  the  State  banks  as  capital,  and  that  they  made  dis 
counts  and  did  business  upon  them  as  such;  and  this  was  given 
to  us  as  one  of  the  merits  of  such  an  institution.  This  was  and 
is  true  as  to  the  notes  of  that  bank,  but  is  equally  true  as  to  the 
notes  of  any  solvent  State  bank.  The  banks  all  consider  the 
notes  of  their  solvent  neighboring  institutions  in  their  vaults  as 
specie,  and  they  do  business  upon  them  as  such ;  nor  does  it  make 
any  difference  as  to  what  bank  issued  them,  provided  they  be 
notes  current  at  their  counter. 

"Why,  Mr.  President,  should  it  not  be  so?  Such  notes  are 
convertible  into  specie  at  will,  and,  therefore,  are  safe  capital. 

"  But,  sir,  suppose  all  this  $5,000,000  of  bank  notes  held  by  the 
Safety  Fund  banks  of  New  York  were  the  notes  of  the  Safety  Fund 
banks  themselves,  would  it  injuriously  affect  the  standing  of  this 
aggregate  account  of  all  these  banks  ?  No,  sir ;  it  would  show 
that  the  account  was  well  made  up.  Take  an  instance:  the  Bank 
of  Ithaca,  in  its  statement,  debits  itself  with  the  whole  amount 
of  its  bills  out,  without  reference  to  the  place  where  they  are, 
and  credits  itself  with  its  means  to  meet  those  bills  when  they  are 
called  for.  Ten  thousand  dollars  of  those  bills  are  in  one  of  its 
neighboring  banks,  and,  in  making  its  account,  it  credits  itself 
with  these  $10,000  of  Ithaca  notes  as  a  part  of  its  means.  Now, 
the  charge  in  the  one  case  and  the  credit  in  the  other  counter 
balance  each  other,  and,  so  far  as  the  general  summary  statement 
of  all  the  banks  is  concerned,  the  $10,000  of  bills  are  redeemed. 
This  is  the  nature  of  the  item  to  which  the  Senator  [Mr.  Clay] 
refers,  and  this  must  be  the  only  explanation  of  which  that  item, 
in  this  summary,  is  in  any  way  susceptible.  How  far  it  is  satisfac 
tory  is  left  to  the  Senate.  To  me  it  seems  to  be  perfectly  satis 
factory,  because  the  explanation  shows  that,  where  the  item 
consists  of  bills  of  the  Safety  Fund  banks,  the  credit,  as  means, 
by  one,  must  be  countervailed  by  a  charge  as  debit  by  another. 
So  much  for  the  explanation  I  have  promised. 

"  I  must  correct  the  Senator  in  another  and  much  more  import- 


LIFK  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  225 

arit  error  into  which  he  has  fallen  in  relation  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  country  banks  in  the  State  of  New  York  do  their 
business.  The  Senator  [Mr.  Clay]  says,  when  they  have  a  call 
which  they  have  not  the  power  to  meet  by  the  means  of  their 
vaults,  they  are  in  the  habit  of  answering  it  by  a  draft,  drawn 
upon  the  commercial  cities  of  Albany  or  New  York,  on  time. 
Such  I  understood  to  be  the  declaration  of  the  Senator.  [Here 
Mr.  Clay  signified  that  such  was  not  the  purport  of  his  state 
ment.] 

"Mr.  W.  continued:  I  will  then  state,  Mr.  President,  distinctly 
what  I  did  understand  the  Senator  to  say,  and  he  will  surely  cor 
rect  me  if  I  am  wrong.  I  did  understand  him  to  allege  that  the 
banks  in  the  interior  were  in  the  habit  of  making  drafts  upon  the 
commercial  cities  before  named,  to  answer  calls  which  they  had 
not  the  means  to  answer  at  their  counters,  without  having,  at  the 
time,  funds  in  those  cities  to  meet  such  drafts.  Whether  or  not 
he  said  the  drafts  were  made  upon  time,  is  immaterial  to  my  pur 
pose.  Am  I  right  in  this  understanding  ?  [Mr.  Clay  said  the 
Senator  had  better  go  on.] 

"Mr.  W.  continued  :  Sir,  I  speak  from  personal  knowledge, 
when  I  say  no  such  drafts  are  made.  It  is  the  practice  of  those 
banks  in  the  interior  to  keep  nearly  the  whole  of  their  surplus 
funds  in  the  cities.  There  these  banks  meet  the  great  portion 
of  their  liabilities,  and  there  they  most  need  those  funds; 
there,  also,  they  obtain  an  interest  upon  those  funds,  and  there 
fore,  as  a  matter  of  profit,  as  well  as  security,  they  are  kept 
there. 

"  Their  usual  and  almost  universal  course  is,  to  make  an  arrange 
ment  with  some  solvent  city  bank ;  and  these  arrangements  are 
made  either  in  Troy,  Albany  or  New  York,  and  they  receive  an 
interest,  I  believe,  as  a  general  rule,  varying  from  four  to  five 
per  cent,  the  stipulation  being  always  accompanied  with  the  con 
dition,  either  that  notice  of  the  draft  shall  be  given,  the  drafts 
be  made  upon  time,  or  that  the  amount  in  deposit  shall  exceed 
a  certain  stipulated  sum,  before  interest  is  chargeable.  I  have 
recently  understood  that  a  very  few  of  the  western  banks  have 
made  their  arrangements  with  stockbrokers,  and  keep  their 
accounts  with  them,  but  these  cases  only  form  an  exception  to 
15 


226  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  general  rule.  The  solvent  city  banks  are  the  general  deposi 
tories  of  these  funds. 

"  Sir,  these  country  banks  would  not,  if  they  had  it,  keep  large 
amounts  of  specie  on  hand,  in  ordinary  times,  and  when  business 
was  regular  and  undisturbed  by  any  unusual  excitement  ;  they 
would  transfer  it  to  the  cities,  where  they  would  be  most  likely 
to  need  it,  and  where  it  would  earn  an  interest,  until  they  should 
require  its  use.  What,  then,  can  be  inferred  from  the  exhibit 
made  by  the  Senator  of  the  condition  of  these  banks,  so  far  as 
their  specie  funds  in  their  vaults  are  concerned  ?  I  say,  confi 
dently,  nothing.  Their  funds  are  not  kept  idle  in  their  vaults, 
but  are  placed  where  they  are  more  needed,  and  where  they  can 
be  usefully  employed  when  not  needed.  I  am  asked,  what  are 
those  funds  ?  I  will  answer.  The  bank  accommodates  the  mer 
chant;  he  wants  to  use  the  accommodation  in  the  city,  and  does 
so,  and  the  bank  meets  the  payment  there.  When  the  time  of 
payment  comes,  the  merchant  sends  to  the  market  some  com 
modity,  out  of  which  he  makes  the  money,  and  deposits  it  to  the 
credit  of  the  bank  at  the  place  in  the  city  where  the  account  of 
the  bank  is  kept.  This  replaces  the  amount  subtracted  for  his 
accommodation,  and  thus  the  fund  in  the  city  is  kept  good.  No 
country  bank  draws  upon  the  city  bank,  but  upon  funds  previ 
ously  placed  there  to  meet  the  draft  ;  I  say,  none.  There  may 
be  cases  where  such  drafts  are  made,  but  never  without  previous 
arrangement  for  their  acceptance ;  and  I  hazard  nothing  in  saying 
that  there  is  not  a  country  bank  in  the  whole  State  whose  draft 
would  be  accepted,  but  upon  funds  placed  in  the  city  to  meet  it, 
or  upon  an  arrangement  for  its  acceptance.  There  is  no  drawing 
upon  time,  or  upon  the  contingency  of  a  general  credit. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  tells  us  that  certain  brokers  in  New 
York  have  sent  a  quantity  of  country  bank  notes  to  Albany  to 
be  redeemed,  and  that  their  redemption  was  refused.  Sir,  I  know 
not  from  what  authority  the  gentleman  speaks;  but  this  I  do 
know,  that  if  the  bills  of  any  country  banks  were  sent  to  Albany 
for  redemption,  and  the  banks  which  issued  the  bills  had  not 
funds  in  Albany  for  the  purpose  of  their  redemption,  they  would, 
of  course,  not  be  redeemed  by  the  Albany  banks.  Why  should 
they  be  ?  Upon  what  principle  could  the  banks  at  Albany  be 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  227 

expected  to  redeem  notes  not  their  own,  and  without  funds  from 
the  banks  which  issued  them  ?  Surely  upon  none  which  belongs 
to  the  principles  of  safe  and  correct  banking. 

"Again,  Mr.  President,  we  are  told  that  large  sums  of  money 
belonging  to  the  Canal  Fund  of  the  State  of  New  York  have 
been,  by  the  bank  commissioners  of  the  State,  withdrawn  from 
the  banks  in  New  York,  where  these  moneys  were  drawing  an 
interest,  to  be  applied  to  redeem  the  notes  of  the  Safety  Fund 
banks.  I  have  no  doubt  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay]  has 
been  informed  and  believes  this  statement  ;  but  from  what  source 
he  derives  his  information  I  know  not.  I  will  tell  him,  however, 
what  I  do  know,  derived  from  personal  and  official  knowledge, 
and  it  is,  that  his  assertion  cannot  be  true ;  that  the  bank  com 
missioners  of  the  State  of  New  York  have  no  more  power  over 
the  moneys  belonging  to  the  Canal  Fund  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  than  the  honorable  Senator  himself  has.  Those  moneys 
are  in  the  care  of  entirely  different  officers  —  officers  holding  the 
most  high  and  responsible  offices  in  the  State.  They  have  always 
been  loaned  where  they  were  considered  perfectly  secure,  and 
would  command  the  highest  rate  of  interest,  and  they  never  have 
been  changed  or  withdrawn  when  so  invested  to  consult  the 
wants  or  interests  of  any  bank.  The  law  would  not  allow  the 
officers  having  the  charge  of  them  to  dispose  of  them  from  such 
motives,  and  those  officers  have  not  done  so.  They  have,  during 
the  last  year,  and  as  I  think  very  wisely,  used  every  effort  to  sink 
these  moneys  in  the  redemption  of  the  stocks  which  they  are 
destined  to  redeem ;  and  they  have,  to  a  great  extent,  succeeded. 
Those  efforts  are  still  making,  and  notAvithstanding  the  great  cry 
we  hear  in  this  body  of  distress  and  ruin,  and  scarcity  of  money, 
and  almost  starvation,  overspreading  the  whole  land,  such  is  the 
state  of  things  that  the  guardians  of  this  fund  cannot  purchase 
these  stocks  (five  per  cent  stocks,  redeemable  in  1845)  at  a  lower 
rate  than  about  sixteen  per  cent  above  their  par  value. 

"  Mr.  President :  I  regret  exceedingly  to  have  been  compelled 
to  enter  into  an  incidental  debate  of  this  character  ;  and  I  would 
not  have  done  so  had  I  not  considered  myself  called  upon  to 
explain  allegations  made  in  reference  to  the  business  affairs  of 
my  own  State,  and  to  transactions  which  no  members  of  this 


228  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

body  but  my  honorable  colleague  and  myself  could  be  supposed 
to  understand.  I  have  done  this,  and  will  merely  reply  to  a 
remark  or  two  made  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr. 
Ewing],  when  I  will  resume  my  seat.  The  gentleman  has 
denounced,  in  no  measured  terms,  the  Safety  Fund  system  of  my 
State,  as  applied  to  our  banks.  He  thinks,  as  others  have 
thought,  that  the  safety  of  the  banks  is  endangered  by  it  ;  but 
he  seems  wholly  to  overlook  the  security  afforded  to  the  com 
munity,  to  the  billholders  and  depositors.  He  seems  to  suppose 
that  because  the  fund  is  not  large  enough  to  redeem  all  the  bills 
in  circulation,  of  all  the  banks  at  once,  he  proves  that  the  secu 
rity  is  fallacious.  Sir,  he  is  mistaken.  The  billholder,  the  depo 
sitor  and  the  whole  community,  with  the  exception  of  the  stock 
holder,  is  ultimately  perfectly  safe,  unless  every  bank  subject  to 
the  system  be  broken  and  destroyed.  The  fund  may  not  be 
large  enough  in  presenti,  but  the  contributions  must  continue 
until  the  claims  of  the  billholders  and  depositors  are  fully  paid. 
What,  then,  is  the  difference  between  this  system  and  the  ordi 
nary  system,  where  there  is  no  such  security  ?  I  hold  the  notes 
of  an  insolvent  bank  which  has  stopped  payment.  I  cannot,  in 
either  case,  get  coin  for  my  notes  ;  but  if  they  be  Safety  Fund 
notes,  I  will  eventually  get  dollar  for  dollar,  and  if  they  be  not, 
I  will  get  nothing.  This  is  the  simple  difference,  and  this  is  the 
system  which  the  gentleman  thinks  so  mischievous  and  dangerous. 
I  am  not  disposed  to  discuss  with  him  the  question  whether  these 
banks,  by  being  made  thus  measurably  responsible  for  each  other, 
are  more  or  less  safe.  I  will  only  say  that,  if  it  be  proper  for 
legislation  to  consult  any  other  object  than  that  of  filling  the 
pockets  of  the  stockholders,  any  portion  of  safety  transferred  from 
a  bank  to  the  billholders,  the  depositors  and  the  community  in 
general,  is  not  objectionable  to  me.  Such  is  the  object  of  the 
Safety  Fund  system  of  New  York;  and  I  verily  believe  that,  in 
consulting  the  safety  of  the  public,  it  has,  in  the  best  manner, 
consulted  the  greatest  safety  of  the  banks.  [Mr.  Ewing  having 
made  some  reply  to  what  had  been  said  by  Mr.  W.] 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  would  relieve  the  gentleman.  He  did 
not  answer  his  main  argument  because  he  could  not  believe  that 
it  required  an  answer.  The  argument  was,  that  making  these 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  229 

Safety  Fund  banks  mutually  responsible  for  each  other  prevented 
them  from  keeping  that  salutary  guard  over  each  other's  transac 
tions,  and  especially  over  each  other's  issues,  which  banks  in  no 
way  connected  with,  but  acting  as  rivals  to  each  other,  would 
keep.  The  statement  of  the  proposition  seemed  to  him  to  be  a 
sufficient  answer  to  the  argument  drawn  from  it.  What,  sir  !  will 
a  bank  at  this  capital  watch  with  less  care  the  operations  of  a 
bank  at  the  other  end  of  this  avenue,  when  it  is  fully  responsible 
for  all  the  notes  of  that  bank,  than  when  it  has  no  connection 
with  or  responsibility  on  account  of  it  ?  If  that  be  the  effect  of 
such  a  responsibility,  Mr.  W.  said  he  had  mistaken  the  influence 
which  the  interests  of  men  had  over  their  actions.  The  motive 
to  increased  watchfulness  was  direct  and  palpable,  and  that  such 
a  motive  would  have  the  effect  to  destroy  that  watchfulness,  he 
could  not  see  or  believe. 

"  While  up,  he  would  say  one  word  in  answer  to  a  suggestion 
which  had  fallen  from  the  honorable  Senator  when  he  first 
addressed  the  Senate,  and  to  which  he  had  intended  to  reply. 
The  Senator  [Mr.  Ewing]  seems  to  suppose  that  the  circulation 
of  the  notes  of  the  banks  of  New  York  has  been  less  extensive 
and  less  broadly  diffused,  since  the  establishment  of  the  Safety 
Fund  system,  than  before  that  time.  He  mistakes  the  fact.  Mr. 
W.  said  he  spoke  from  knowledge  when  he  asserted  that,  from 
about  one  year  after  the  establishment  of  that  system,  the  public 
confidence  had  increased  greatly  as  to  the  security  of  the  notes 
of  the  Safety  Fund  banks,  and  that  the  circulation  of  those  notes 
out  of  and  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  had  been  two  or  three 
times  as  great  as  at  any  former  period.  Yes,  sir,  they  flew  over 
into  the  territory  of  the  Senator's  own  State,  and  even  beyond  it. 
He  [Mr.  W.]  had  himself  known  instances  where  remittances  had 
been  directed  to  be  made  to  Kentucky,  in  the  notes  of  the  Safety 
Fund  banks,  when  the  notes  of  the  other  banks  of  the  State, 
entirely  solvent,  but  not  subject  to  the  Safety  Fund  law,  would 
not  be  received. 

"At  first,  said  Mr.  W.,  fears  were  entertained.  The  banks 
were  fearful,  and  the  bankers  and  politicians  wrote  and  spoke 
against  the  plan,  but  time  soon  convinced  all  that  the  system 
was  most  valuable.  The  most  experienced  bankers  of  the  State 


230  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

yielded  their  assent  to  it,  and  the  old  banks  came  in  and  took 
new  charters  subject  to  the  law.  He  did  not  feel  disposed  to 
institute  a  comparison  between  the  science  and  skill  and  prudence 
and  success  of  the  bankers  of  his  State  and  those  of  other  States, 
but  he  was  willing  that  their  history,  from  the  institution  of 
banks  in  the  State  to  the  present  time,  should  be  examined,  and 
he  believed  they  would  not  be  found  to  have  been  the  least  suc 
cessful  of  all  the  bankers  of  the  country.  These  men  are  now 
the  warmest  and  strongest  friends  of  the  Safety  Fund  system. 
Indeed  [Mr.  W.  said],  he  verily  believed,  if  the  honorable  Sena 
tors  themselves  [Mr.  Ewing  and  Mr.  Clay]  would  examine  the 
legislation  of  New  York  upon  this  subject,  not  as  politicians,  but 
as  intelligent  lawyers,  as  they  are,  they  would  yield  their  full 
assent  to  its  wisdom  and  safety." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  231 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

VIEWS    CONCERNING    LEGISLATIVE    INQUIRIES    INTO    THE 
DUTIES  OP  GOVERNMENT  OFFICERS. 

Mr.  Poindexter  had  offered  various  resolutions  con 
cerning  the  public  lands,  and  for  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  to  make  sundry  inquiries,  and  among  them 
one  in  relation  to  the  recorders  and  receivers  of  the  land 
offices,  and  how  they  had  performed  their  duties.  Mr. 
Shepley  moved  an  amendment  to  the  effect  that,  when  an 
inquiry  involved  the  legality  of  their  acts,  they  should 
be  notified  and  have  leave  to  present  their  defense. 
This  amendment  was  resisted  by  Mr.  Clay  and  others. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  sustained  the  amendment,  and  presented 
his  views  of  the  duties  of  committees  of  inquiry  when 
not  specially  instructed.  Under  the  resolutions,  as  modi 
fied,  he  would  have  presumed  that  notice  would  be  given. 
He  said  : 

"  He  was,  however,  now  at  liberty  to  make  this  presumption, 
because  it  had  been  distinctly  declared  by  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Connecticut  [Mr.  Smith],  and  intimated  by  several  other 
members,  in  the  course  of  their  remarks,  that  it  would  not  be 
the  duty  of  the  committee  to  give  any  notice  to  any  accused 
officer;  that  the  committee  were  a  mere  inquest;  that  they  were 
to  act  as  grand  jurors,  and  in  no  other  character;  that  they  were 
not  to  hear  exculpatory  evidence,  if  offered;  but  they  were  to 
act  exclusively  in  an  ex  parte  and  accusatory  character.  This 
was  presenting  the  duties  of  the  standing  committees  of  this 
body  in  a  new  light  to  him.  Were  they  mere  bodies  of  inquest, 
mere  ex  parte  examiners  of  the  subjects  referred  to  them  ?  He 
had  not  so  understood  the  matter.  He  had  understood  that  the 
duty  of  a  standing  committee  of  the  Senate  was  to  examine  the 
merits  of  the  questions  referred  to  them,  and  to  advise  the  Senate 


232  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

as  to  its  final  action.  Now  it  seemed  that  they  were  mere  bodies 
of  ex  parte  inquiry;  and  what,  he  would  ask,  was  to  be  done 
with  such  a  report  when  it  came  in?  What  was  this  ulterior 
and  final  action  of  which  gentlemen  spoke  ?  Was  it  to  refer  the 
report  back  to  the  same  committee,  with  instructions  to  examine 
the  other  side  of  the  subject  ?  What  else  could  it  be  ?  If  the 
Senate  was  not  to  obtain  full  information  through  its  committees, 
how  was  that  information  to  be  obtained  ?  What  was  the  course 
of  the  committees  upon  ordinary  subjects  ?  Was  it  merely  to 
make  ex  parte  inquiry  ?  If  so,  where  was  the  testimony  upon 
the  other  side  to  come  from  ?  Mr.  W.  said,  the  position  was  a 
mistaken  one.  The  committees  of  this  body  are  not  placed  in 
the  situation  of  grand  jurors.  It  is  not  their  duty  to  make  ex 
parte  examinations,  but  to  inquire  into  the  merits  of  all  subjects 
referred  to  them,  and  to  make  a  report  advising  the  Senate  as  to 
its  final  action.  Until,' therefore,  he  could  receive  some  informa 
tion  that  this  committee  would  so  consider  its  duties,  that  it 
would  feel  bound  to  notify  such  officers  as  might  be  accused 
before  it,  and  to  give  them  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  their 
own  defense,  he  could  not  vote  for  the  resolution,  as  modified  by 
the  honorable  mover,  but  must  vote  for  the  amendment  which 
made  that  an  express  duty.  He  could  not  believe  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  Senate  to  make  the  duties  of  this  committee 
under  the  resolution  accusatory  only ;  to  put  whole  classes  of 
officers  within  their  power  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  report 
to  the  Senate,  and  spread  before  the  public  ex  parte  examinations 
and  accusations  which  the  persons  accused  had  no  opportunity 
to  answer  or  explain.  Still,  such  had  been  the  practical  effect 
of  the  opinions  and  views  expressed  by  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Connecticut  [Mr.  Smith],  and,  as  he  understood,  assented 
to  by  others,  and,  until  counter  indications  should  be  given  by 
the  committee,  he  must  be  in  favor  of  the  amendment. 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said,  the  second  resolution  refers  to  the  combi 
nations  and  companies  to  which  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay]  alludes.  To  those  persons  he  did  not  ask 
that  notice  should  be  given.  He  cared  not  what  the  result  of  an 
investigation  might  be  to  them.  They  were  not  public  officers, 
and  had  acted  upon  their  private  responsibility  only.  But  if  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  233 

honorable  Senator  had  cast  his  eyes  over  the  third  resolution,  he 
would  have  seen  that  he  was  widely  mistaken  in  supposing  that 
the  express  direction  to  the  committee  was  not  to  inquire  into  the 
official  conduct  of  every  land  office  in  the  whole  United  States. 
He  would  read  the  resolution.  It  was  as  follows : 

"'  Resolved,  That  the  said  committee  be  instructed  to  inquire  whether  the 
registers  of  the  land  offices,  and  the  receivers  of  public  moneys,  at  any  of 
the  land  offices  of  the  United  States,  or  either  of  them,  have,  in  violation  of 
law,  and  of  their  official  duties,  demanded  or  accepted  a  bonus  or  premium 
from  any  purchaser  or  purchasers  of  the  public  lands  at  public  or  private 
sale,  for  the  benefit  of  such  officer  or  officers,  as  a  condition  on  which  such 
purchaser  or  purchasers  should  be  allowed  to  enter  or  purchase  any  tract 
or  tracts  of  land  offered  for  sale  by  the  United  States;  and,  also,  whether 
any  register  or  receiver,  as  aforesaid,  has  been  guilty  of  fraud  or  partiality 
in  the  sales  of  public  lands  by  adopting  rules  and  regulations,  in  their 
respective  offices,  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of  the  United  States.' 

"  Here  was  a  positive  direction  to  inquire  into  the  conduct  of 
these  officers,  and  into  their  violations  of  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  make  those  inquiries  only.  It  was  to  such  officers 
that  he  thought  notice  should  be  given.  He  did  not  believe  that 
they  should  be  condemned  unheard.  If  the  honorable  Senator 
would  look  further,  he  would  find  that  the  fourth  resolution  con 
tained  the  same  direction,  confined  to  the  land  offices  in  the 
State  of  Mississippi,  and  to  a  particular  description  of  illegal 
acts.  [Here  some  Senator  remarked  that  this  resolution  had 
been  so  modified  as  to  extend  to  all  the  land  offices  in  the  United 
States.]  Mr.  W.  proceeded.  He  said  he  stood  corrected;  that 
he  was  told  this  resolution  also  had  been  made  as  broad  as  the 
third,  and  it  only  strengthened  the  ground  for  which  he  con 
tended. 

"  The  Senate  would  see  that  he  could  feel  no  interest  in  these 
inquiries.  The  land  offices  were  so  far  removed  from  his  State 
that  neither  himself  nor  his  constituents  knew  much  about  them 
or  the  officers  who  occupied  them.  That  abuses  might  exist 
was  more  than  likely ;  and  he  hoped  to  be  believed  when  he  said 
that  no  member  of  the  Senate  was  more  willing  or  anxious  than 
he  was  that  where  they  existed  they  should  be  ferreted  out  and 
the  guilty  punished.  Still,  he  was  unprepared  to  say  that  ex  parte 
accusations  should  be  spread  before  the  public  against  any 


284  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

officer  of  the  government.  All  ought  to  be  heard  and  to  have 
an  opportunity  for  explanation  and  defense,  and  his  present  object 
was  to  cause  the  question  before  the  Senate  to  be  clearly  under 
stood,  that  every  member  inight  vote  as  his  judgment  should 
dictate.  For  his  own  part,  after  the  distinct  declaration  of  the 
honorable  member  of  the  committee  [Mr.  Clay],  that  notice  ought 
not  to  be  given,  that  he,  as  a  member  of  the  committee,  should 
not  feel  bound  to  give  such  notice,  but  should  consider  it  improper 
to  give  it,  he  [Mr.  W.]  had  no  alternative  but  to  vote  for  the 
amendment,  which  required  that  notice  should  be  given  to  any 
accused  officer,  and  that  he  should  be  allowed  to  cross-examine 
the  witnesses  against  him  and  to  make  his  defense." 

The  principles  thus  presented  it  seems  difficult  to  con 
trovert,  although  not  assented  to  by  a  majority  of  the 
Senate.  A  man' s  character  may  be  easily  destroyed  by 
ex  parte  evidence  taken  down  and  sworn  to,  and  pre 
sented  by  a  legislative  committee,  to  the  public,  and 
printed.  This  is  more  especially  so  when  the  movement 
has  its  origin  in  partisan  considerations,  and  its  execution 
is  designed  to  secure  a  particular  result.  The  rule  for 
which  Mr.  WRIGHT  contended,  if  fairly  carried  out  in 
practice,  would  defeat  the  possibility  of  such  results. 
Those  whose  acts  could  bear  the  test  of  scrutiny  would 
have  an  opportunity  for  self-defense,  while  justice  only 
would  be  meted  out  to  those  whose  conduct  should  be 
indefensible. 


Lisa  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  235 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

EXTENDING  THE  CHARTER  OF  THE  BANK  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

The  friends  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  were 
persevering  in  their  efforts  to  renew  its  charter.  Numer 
ous  speeches  were  made  in  Congress  in  favor  of  it,  and 
widely  circulated  throughout  the  country.  Its  opponents 
were  not  idle  in  their  efforts  to  defeat  that  object.  On 
the  18th  of  March,  1834,  Mr.  Webster  asked  leave  to 
introduce  a  bill,  in  the  Senate,  to  modify  and  extend  the 
charter  for  the  period  of  six  years.  His  motion,  unex 
pectedly  to  him,  brought  on  a  spirited  discussion  by  the 
ablest  debaters  in  the  Senate,  which  induced  him,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  March,  to  move  to  lay  his  motion  on  the 
table,  which  was  carried.  Among  those  opposed  to 
extending  the  charter  of  the  bank  was  Mr.  WRIGHT,  who, 
on  the  20th  of  March,  1834,  delivered  the  following  well- 
considered  and  effective  speech : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  enter  into  a  dis 
cussion  of  the  great  principles  involved  in  the  passage  of  the  bill 
upon  the  table.  His  object  in  obtaining  the  floor,  upon  a  former 
day,  had  been  to  reply  to  some  things  which  had  fallen  from  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh],  and  to  notice  a 
few  remarks  made  by  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Finance  [Mr.  Webster],  when  he  offered  the  bill.  He  must, 
he  said,  however,  be  permitted  to  congratulate  himself  that  the 
Senate  had  now  reached  what  he  had,  from  the  commencement 
of  the  session,  considered  the  true  question  before  Congress  and 
the  country ;  the  question  of  '  bank  or  no  bank ;'  the  question 
whether  the  present  Bank  of  the  United  States  should  be  rechar- 
tered  for  any  period  of  time,  or  whether  any  National  Bank 
should  be  created  by  the  authority  of  Congress,  after  the  expi- 


236  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ration  of  the  charter  of  the  present  bank.  These  questions,  he 
considered,  must  be  involved  in  the  present  discussion ;  and  he 
must  be  permitted  further  to  congratulate  himself  that,  as  to  the 
constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  pass  the  bill  now  under  con 
sideration,  or  any  bill  to  charter  a  bank  similar  to  that  now 
existing,  the  opinions  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia 
[Mr.  Leigh]  and  his  own  perfectly  coincided.  The  honorable 
Senator  did  riot  believe,  nor  did  he  himself  believe,  that  Congress 
possessed  any  such  power,  and  therefore,  so  far  as  their  action 
was  concerned,  no  such  bank  could  exist  after  the  year  1836, 
when  the  charter  of  the  present  bank  will  expire  by  its  own 
limitation. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  not  attempt  to  repeat  the  arguments 
which  the  honorable  Senator  had  so  happily  used,  in  his  clear 
and  strong  manner,  to  establish  the  correctness  of  their  opinions. 
Any  attempt  by  him  to  do  so  might  weaken  what  had  been  so 
well  and  so  concisely  said  by  the  Senator,  but  he  would  detain  the 
Senate  to  add  one  view  of  this  subject,  which  had  not  been  taken 
by  the  honorable  Senator,  and  which  had  struck  his  mind  with 
great  force.  Upon  all  former  occasions,  when  the  power  of 
Congress  to  charter  a  bank  had  been  under  discussion,  reference 
had  been  made  to  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  which  reads  in 
the  following  words: 

"  '  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  neces 
sary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all 
other  powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof.' 

"  All,  Mr.  W.  said,  as  he  understood,  had  formerly  argued  that 
this  necessity  must  be  shown  before  the  power  could  be  inferred, 
and  he  had  also  understood  that  all  had  admitted  that  this  consti 
tutional  necessity  must  be  a  necessity  growing  out  of  the  wants 
of  the  government,  and  not  out  of  the  wants  of  business  ;  that 
it  must  be  a  necessity  arising  from  the  collection,  distribution 
and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenues,  not  out  of  the  wants 
of  the  commercial  interests,  the  mercantile  interests,  the  manu 
facturing  interests,  or  any  other  branch  of  labor  and  enterprise; 
that  it  must  be  a  necessity  growing  out  of  the  wants  of  the 
public  treasury  and  the  administration  of  the  finances  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  237 

country,  and  not  out  of  the  wants  of  the  individual  citizens. 
What,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  have  we  heard  urged  as  con 
stituting  this  necessity,  in  the  whole  course  of  this  debate,  in  all 
the  various  shapes  and  forms  in  which  it  has  been  carried  on  in 
this  body  for  now  about  four  months?  The  wants  of  ordinary 
business,  the  demand  for  capital,  the  regulation  of  exchanges, 
the  importance  of  a  uniform  paper  currency ;  not  the  wants  of 
the  treasury.  These  last,  sir,  have  not  been  mentioned  in  the 
comparison,  while  the  former  are  made  the  indisputable  evidence 
that  a  bank  is  necessary.  Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  the  wants  of  the 
treasury,  and  the  wants  of  the  treasury  alone,  can  constitute  this 
constitutional  necessity.  The  wants  of  business  cannot  be  the 
legitimate  subjects  of  consideration  for  those  who  seek  to  derive 
the  power  to  charter  a  bank  from  this  provision  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  He  said  he  was  one  of  those  who  did  not  believe  that  any 
power  whatever  was  granted  to  Congress  by  this  provision,  much 
less  the  power  to  charter  a  bank;  but  he  must  believe  that  those 
who  did  imply  such  a  power  from  it  would,  at  least,  admit  the 
necessity  must  be  such  an  one  as  the  Constitution  contemplated, 
and  that  the  Constitution  could  not  have  contemplated  any  other 
than  a  necessity  connected  with  the  collection,  distribution  and 
disbursement  of  the  revenues  of  the  government;  not  the  ordinary 
necessities  of  trade  and  exchange.  These  last  were  the  wants 
which  gentlemen  feared  the  State  banks  could  not  supply,  though 
they  were  willing  to  engage  to  collect  and  distribute  the  public 
moneys  upon  the  same  terms  that  the  United  States  Bank  had 
done  it.  He  begged  the  Senate  to  look  at  this  view  of  the  case 
before  they  permitted  a  necessity,  imaginary  or  real,  unknown  to 
the  Constitution,  to  influence  their  action. 

"But,  said  Mr.  W.,  the  honorable  Senator  and  myself  have  no 
difficulties  of  this  sort  to  contend  with.  To  our  minds  it  is  clear 
that  the  power  to  pass  this  bill  is  not  granted  by  the  Constitution. 
Having  come  to  this  conclusion,  the  honorable  Senator  inquires, 
in  his  impressive  manner,  if  the  present  disposition  of  the  public 
deposits  with  the  State  banks  is  to  be  continued.  Sir,  said  Mr. 
W.,  I  will  avail  myself  of  a  privilege  belonging  to  my  country 
men,  the  Yankees,  and  answer  the  gentleman  by  asking  him  a 
question.  What  disposition  will  he  propose  to  make  of  these 


238  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

deposits  ?  What  plan  will  he  recommend  for  their  future  dispo 
sition  ?  We  agree  that  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  is  unconstitutional,  and  it  cannot,  therefore,  be  extended 
beyond  its  present  limit.  I  say  that,  in  the  absence  of  such  an 
institution,  the  State  banks  present  to  the  government  the  best 
and  most  convenient  fiscal  agents  of  which  the  nature  of  the 
case  is  susceptible.  I  have  said  upon  a  former  occasion,  and  I 
repeat,  that  I  think  them  perfectly  safe  agents.  I  have  said,  and 
I  repeat,  that  I  think  them  fully  competent  to  discharge  all  the 
duties  required  by  the  government  in  the  collection  and  disburse 
ment  of  the  public  revenues;  fully  competent  to  answer  every 
constitutional  necessity  of  the  treasury.  I  now  say,  further,  that 
I  am  not  alarmed  at  the  power  which  is  placed,  by  law,  in  the 
hands  of  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  over 
these  deposits.  It  is  the  same  power  which  was  placed  by  Con 
gress  in  the  hands  of  the  first  President  and  first  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  at  the  formation  of  the  government,  under  the  Consti 
tution;  it  is  the  same  power  which  existed  in  the  hands  of  those 
officers  from  1789  up  to  the  year  1816,  when  the  charter  of  the 
present  bank  was  granted.  During  all  that  period  the  liberties 
of  the  country  were  not  endangered  by  it ;  the  people  were  not 
then  taught  to  believe  that  the  exercise  of  that  power  was  usurpa 
tion  or  tyranny.  No  danger  was  then  seen  or  apprehended,  nor 
were  we  told  that  the  purse  and  the  sword  of  the  country  were 
united  in  one  hand.  Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  these  laws  have  undergone 
no  material  alteration  from  the  time  of  the  first  Congress  to  the 
present  day,  except  the  alteration  made  by  the  provisions  of  the 
present  bank  charter,  and  these  alterations  cease  to  be  applicable 
when  the  deposits  cease  to  be  made  with  that  institution.  Where, 
then,  is  the  ground  for  all  this  alarm,  all  this  apprehension  for 
our  liberties  ?  Still  the  honorable  Senator  expresses,  no  doubt 
most  sincerely,  the  greatest  apprehension.  Will  he  not,  then,  tell 
us  what  is  to  be  done?  Will  he  not  propose  what,  in  his  judg 
ment,  shall  avert  the  dangers  he  fears?  Sir,  I  wish  to  be  dis 
tinctly  understood  upon  this  point.  I  do  not  contend  that  these 
laws  may  not  be  beneficially  amended,  but  I  merely  say  that  they 
are  just  what  they  have  been  from  the  organization  of  the  govern 
ment,  with  the  single  exception  I  have  before  mentioned,  contained 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  239 

in  the  bank  charter.     If  they  are  bad,  alter  and  amend  them.     If 
the  powers  over  the  public  deposits  conferred  upon  ihe  Executive 
Department  are  too  broad,  limit  and  confine  them.    No  one  doubts 
or  questions  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  whole  matter;  no 
one  resists  the  action  of  Congress  upon  it.     Surely,  then,  it  does 
not  become  us  to  find  fault  with  the  executive  officers  of  the 
government  for  executing    the  laws  as  they  are,  while  we  do 
nothing  to  modify  the  law  and  make  it  what  we  would  wish  it 
to   be.     Our  duty,  as  legislators,  is  not  to  point  out  the  defects 
in  the  laws  merely,  but  to  apply  the  proper  remedies  for  those 
defects  —  to  examine  the  laws  as  they  are,  that  we  may  make 
them  what  they  ought  to  be  —  not  to  spend  our  time  in  deploring 
those  defects,  for  which  we  offer  no  remedy.     Sir,  said  Mr.  W., 
I  have  not  allowed  myself  time  to  make  such  an  examination  of 
the  laws  of  Congress  as  enables  me  to  say  whether  any,  and  what, 
alterations  are  required  in  those  relating  to  the  Treasury  Depart 
ment,  and  the  management  and  disposition  of  the  public  deposits. 
That  changes  for  the  better  may  be  made  is  more  than  probable; 
and  I  declare  myself  ready,  at  any  period,  to  act  upon  proposi 
tions  having  this  for  their  object,  come  from  what  source  they 
may.      J    am  sure,  however,  gentlemen  will  see  that   Congress 
should  discharge  its  duty  before  we  are  at  liberty  to  complain  of 
the  laws  as  they  are.     Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  we  all  know, 
and  know  well,  that  it  is  easy  to  find  fault;  that  it  is  easy  to  com 
plain  of  existing  evils,  when  it  may  be  very  difficult  to  propose 
remedies  which  will  even  suit  ourselves,  and  much  more  difficult 
to  propose  those  which  will  meet  the  approbation  of  Congress. 
I  have  said  that  I  am  not  prepared  to  make  propositions;  and  I 
venture  the  prediction  to  the  honorable  Senator  that  he,  and  those 
gentlemen  who,  with  him,  are  so  deeply  dissatisfied  with  the 
existing  law,  will  find  it  much  more  difficult  to  legislate  upon 
this  subject,  in  a  safe  and  proper  manner,  than  they  now  seem  to 
suppose,  and  that  they  will  find  the  changes  which  can  be  bene 
ficially  made  in  the  existing  laws  much  less  extensive  than  they, 
by  their  complaints,  would  indicate.     Still,  sir,  I  repeat,  gentle 
men  should  turn  their  attention  to  this,  subject.     If  we  are  to 
have  no  Bank  of  the  United  States,  some  disposition  must  be 
made  of  the  public  deposits.     I  say,  place  them  in  the  State 


240  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

banks;  but  if,  as  the  remarks  of  many  honorable  Senators  would 
seem  to  indicate,  the  State  banks  are  not  to  be  used,  they  are  surely 
bound  to  inform  us  what  disposition  they  intend  to  make  of  them. 
I  am  aware,  Mr.  President,  that  these  remarks  address  themselves 
less  appropriately  to  those  Senators  who  believe  we  ought  to 
have  a  national  bank,  and  propose  such  an  institution  as  their 
remedy  for  the  evils  of  which  they  complain,  than  to  those  who, 
With  the  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  and  myself,  believe 
that  the  Constitution  does  not  give  us  the  power  to  charter  such 
a  bank,  and  that,  therefore,  it  is  a  remedy  beyond  our  reach; 
but,  sir,  these  are  considerations  which  should  address  themselves 
to  the  serious  reflections  of  all.  They  are  considerations  con 
nected  with  our  duties  as  legislators,  and  in  reference  to  which 
it  is  now  most  likely  we  shall  be  soon  called  to  act. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  the  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh] 
had  told  us  that  the  present  year  might  throw  new  lights  upon 
this  subject,  and  might  develop,  in  his  own  State,  at  least,  a 
new  condition  of  public  feeling  in  reference  to  the  recharter 
of  the  bank.  The  State  of  Virginia,  he  said,  might  see  that 
the  present  bank  was  to  be  destroyed  merely  to  make  room 
for  another  national  bank,  in  a  greater  degree  subject  to  execu 
tive  influence,  and  located  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Well,  sir, 
said  Mr.  W.,  what  then  ?  Suppose  Virginia  does  so  see  (which 
I  think  she  will  not),  what  can  be  the  effect  upon  her  action? 
She  has  pronounced  the  charter  of  the  present  bank  unconsti 
tutional,  and  she  must,  therefore,  be  held  to  have  pronounced 
its  recharter,  or  the  chartering  of  any  similar  bank,  wherever 
located,  equally  unconstitutional.  Will  she  then  call  upon  her 
representatives  here  to  vote  for  a  law,  which  she  declares  to  be 
a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  to  prevent  a  change  in  the  loca 
tion  of  a  national  bank  ?  No,  sir.  With  all  deference,  I  say  the 
people  of  Virginia  do  not  change  their  constitutional  opinions 
for  such  reasons,  or  govern  their  constitutional  action  by  such 
motives.  She  will  not  give  her  voice  for  a  bank  which  she 
believes  to  be  unconstitutional,  to  secure  its  location  or  to  pre 
vent  its  location  anywhere. 

"But  again,  the  honorable  Senator  says,  the  State  of  Virginia 
may  see  that  the  State  banks  are  to  be  continued  as  the  fiscal 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  241 

agents  of  the  treasury,  and  that,  in  that  event,  the  control  of 
the  exchanges,  and  to  some  extent  of  the  currency  of  the  coun 
try,  must  pass  to  the  city  of  New  York.  He  assigns  as  the 
grounds  of  this  opinion,  that  the  position  of  New  York,  its  natu 
ral  advantages  and  great  capital,  have  hitherto  forced  a  large 
portion  of  the  foreign  trade  of  the  country  to  center  at  that 
point ;  that  this  will  continue  to  be  the  course  of  that  trade  ;  and 
that,  therefore,  commercial  men  in  all  parts  of  the  country  must 
have  money  current  in  New  York  to  carry  on  their  operations. 
Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  I  neither  affirm  nor  deny  the  gentleman's  posi 
tions,  but,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  suppose  them  to  be 
well  taken;  and  does  he  believe  that  the  State  of  Virginia  will 
invoke  the  aid  of  the  legislation  of  Congress,  and  that  too  by 
the  passage  of  a  law  which  she  herself  believes  to  be  unconstitu 
tional,  to  deprive  the  city  of  New  York  of  the  advantages  which 
nature  has  given  it  —  to  deprive  it  of  the  advantages  which  the 
enterprise  and  industry  of  its  citizens  have  acquired  for  it  ? 
Does  the  Senator  believe  it  possible  that  the  State  of  Virginia 
will  call  upon  her  representatives  here  or  elsewhere  to  vote  to 
recharter  a  bank  which  she  has  solemnly  pronounced  to  be  an 
institution  existing  in  violation  of  the  Constitution,  for  the  mere 
purpose  of  forcing  out  of  New  York  the  regulation  of  the 
exchanges  of  the  country  ?  Sir,  the  Senator  himself  does  not  so 
intend.  He  told  us,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  that  he  rejoiced 
at  the  prosperity  of  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  entertained 
not  the  least  invidious  feeling  toward  any.  It  must  be,  there 
fore,  either  that  I  have  misapprehended  the  force  of  the  remarks 
of  the  honorable  Senator,  or  that  he  did  not  sufficiently  develop 
his  ideas  to  give  us  their  true  bearing.  I  can  never  believe  that 
the  State  of  Virginia  will  ever  seek  to  do  injustice  to  a  sister 
State  ;  I  am  sure  she  will  never  do  what  she  pronounces  a  viola 
tion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  country  to  effect  such  an  object. 
"  The  honorable  gentleman  proceeds,  again,  to  say  that  the 
State  of  Virginia  may  see,  in  the  course  of  this  year,  that  the 
confederacy  cannot  sustain  the  destruction  of  this  bank  ;  that  its 
destruction  may  involve  the  dissolution  of  this  Union.  He  refers 
to  the  territorial  distribution  of  the  debt  due  to  the  bank,  and 
intimates  that  much  the  largest  portion  of  that  debt  is  due  from 
16 


242  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

citizens  of  the  western  States ;  and  then,  in  that  impressive  lan 
guage  in  which  everything  reaches  us  coming  from  the  honorable 
gentleman,  he  asks,  will  these  citizens  consent  to  have  their 
houses  sold  from  them,  and  themselves  and  their  families  to  be 
reduced  to  poverty  and  want,  for  the  sake  of  the  destruction  of 
the  bank  ?  It  is  not  my  purpose,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  to 
speak  of  the  pecuniary  condition  of  the  citizens  of  the  western 
States.  My  information  does  not  enable  me  so  to  speak.  One 
thing,  however,  I  do  know,  sir,  and  am  most  happy  to  be  able  to 
say,  that  no  portion  of  the  citizens  of  this  republic  have  hereto 
fore,  and  up  to  this  period,  been  more  patriotic,  more  devoted, 
more  disinterestedly  devoted,  to  the  safety  and  perpetuity  of  our 
civil  institutions,  and  to  the  integrity  of  our  Union,  than  the  citi 
zens  of  the  west  ;  none  have  more  willingly  or  more  severely 
suffered  to  secure  these  objects  than  they  have.  I  doubt  not  that 
the  same  spirit  and  patriotism  still  prevail  among  them;  and 
while  I  know  not  the  extent  of  their  indebtedness,  or  their  means 
of  payment,  I  hope  and  believe  they  have  not  arrived  at  that  state 
when  the  power  of  a  creditor  moneyed  corporation  is  paramount 
with  them  to  their  attachment  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
their  country. 

"  But,  sir,  the  effect  upon  the  action  of  Virginia  is  the  question 
I  propose  to  consider.  Will  that  patriotic  State  instruct  her 
Senators  to  vote  for  a  law  which  she  has  adjudged  a  violation  of 
the  Constitution,  because  the  debtors  of  a  bank,  created  by  an 
unconstitutional  law,  cannot  discharge  that  indebtedness  ?  Will 
the  State  of  Virginia  admit  that  a  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
with  a  charter  not  authorized  by  the  Constitution,  and  with 
seventeen  years  of  life  only,  has  the  power  to  destroy  the  con 
federacy  of  the  States  and  dismember  the  Union,  and  then,  by 
her  own  voice  and  action,  give  that  bank  further  life  and  further 
power  ?  I  cannot  think  so ;  and  I  am  convinced,  if  the  honorable 
Senator  [Mr.  Leigh]  reviews  the  tendency  of  his  remarks  and 
conclusions,  and  the  important  results  which  may  follow  the 
decision  of  the  question  now  before  us,  he  will  not,  he  cannot 
feel  that  indifference,  as  to  the  action  of  Congress  upon  the  bill 
now  under  consideration  to  reoharter  the  bank,  which  I  under 
stood  him  to  express  when  giving  his  sentiments  to  the  Senate. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  243 

"  Mr.  W.  said  the  honorable  Senator  had,  for  the  second  time, 
alluded  to  the  subject  of  the  transfer  drafts,  with  which  he  had, 
upon  both  occasions,  coupled  the  transactions  of  the  Post-office 
Department  ;  and  in  that  way  he  had  presented  to  the  Senate, 
with  his  characteristic  clearness  and  force,  a  case  of  mismanage 
ment  of  the  public  funds,  which,  upon  the  Senator's  first  exhibition 
of  it,  had  perceptibly  an  effect  upon  all  sides  of  the  House.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  as  the  head  of  one  of  the  execu 
tive  departments  of  the  government,  had  been  presented  to 
us  lending  money  from  the  public  treasury  gratuitously, 
and  without  interest,  to  the  State  banks,  to  enable  them  to  sus 
tain  themselves;  while  the  Postmaster-General  had  been  brought 
in,  upon  the  other  hand,  as  the  head  of  another  of  these  execu 
tive  departments,  borrowing  money  for  the  use  of  the  govern 
ment  and  paying  an  interest  of  six  per  cent  for  the  loans  so 
made.  Upon  this  presentation  of  the  case,  and  especially  with 
the  vivid  coloring  which  the  honorable  Senator  imparted  to  it, 
he,  Mr.  W.,  was  ready  to  admit  that  attention  was  justly  excited. 
He  had,  therefore,  taken  some  pains  to  inform  himself  as  to  the 
facts,  and  he  would  attempt  to  give  them  to  the  Senate  in  an 
intelligible  form,  and  leave  to  the  judgment  of  the  body  the 
degree  of  blame  which  should  be  considered  fairly  imputable 
anywhere  from  the  transactions.  The  first  and  great  error  in  the 
gentleman's  case  was  the  connection  of  the  Post-office  with  the 
Treasury  Department.  If  he  had  taken  the  trouble  to  examine 
the  subject,  he  would  have  found  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  could  no  more  pay  money  from  the  public  treasury  to 
answer  the  wants  of  the  Post-office  Department,  without  the 
authority  of  a  law  of  Congress,  than  he  could  pay  money  for  the 
wants  of  the  private  business  of  the  honorable  Senator  or  him 
self.  If  he  had  examined  the  laws  of  Congress  upon  the  subject, 
he  would  have  found  that  no  appropriation  of  money  from  the 
public  treasury  for  the  use  of  the  Post-office  Department  existed, 
which  had  not  been  promptly  and  fully  paid.  The  idea,  there 
fore,  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  might  have  taken  the 
money  on  deposit  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  to  the  credit 
of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  and  appropriated  it  to  the 
wants  of  the  Post-office  Department,  is  fallacious  and  deceptive. 


244  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Without  a  direct  and  palpable  violation  of  the  law,  and  of  Ids 
official  powers  and  duties,  he  could  not  have  made  any  such  dis 
position  of  these  moneys;  and  surely,  at  this  time,  when  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  so  broadly  accused  of  constitutional 
as  well  as  legal  violations,  the  gentlemen  who  make  the  accusa 
tions  will  not  be  disposed  to  censure  him  for  not  having  violated 
the  law  in  this  instance.  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  intend,  by  any 
expression  he  had  made  or  might  make,  to  convey  the  most  dis 
tant  impression  that  the  honorable  Senator  had  designedly  con 
veyed  an  erroneous  impression  as  to  the  relations  between  these 
two  departments  of  the  government.  Considering  both  as 
equally  public  interests,  he  had,  undoubtedly,  omitted  to  turn  his 
attention  to  the  want  of  legal  authority  to  make  the  payments, 
which  the  import  of  his  remarks  went  to  show  ought  to  have 
been  made,  from  the  moneys  remaining  in  the  treasury.  It  will 
be  seen,  however,  said  Mr.  W.,  that  the  imaginary  connection 
between  these  two  departments,  which  gave  to  the  Senator's  rela 
tion  the  most  point,  as  an  instance  of  executive  mismanagement, 
has  no  legal  existence  whatever,  and  therefore  we  have  the  Post- 
office  Department,  and  its  management  and  administration, 
wholly  separated  from  the  operations  of  the  treasury.  How, 
then,  stands  the  loans  to  the  State  banks  of  which  the  honorable 
Senator  speaks?  On  the  first  of  October  last,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  came  to  the  conclusion  to  change  the  deposit  of  the 
public  moneys,  thereafter  to  be  received,  from  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  and  its  branches  to  various  State  banks  which  had 
been  selected  by  him  for  that  purpose.  He  was  aware  that,  in 
consequence  of  the  deposits  having  been  previously  made  in  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  branches,  large  balances  must 
have  accrued  in  favor  of  the  deposit  bank  and  branches  against 
the  State  banks,  in  the  principal  commercial  cities,  because  the 
revenue  collected  in  those  cities  must  have  been  paid  by  the 
whole  trading  population,  who  must  derive  their  means  of  pay 
ment  from  all  the  banks,  while  those  means,  applied  to  those 
payments,  must  go  into  the  single  bank  or  branch  in  which  the 
public  moneys  were  kept;  he  was  further  apprehensive  that  the 
United  States  Bank  would  assume  a  hostile  attitude  towards  the 
banks  which  should  consent  to  receive  the  deposits  of  the  public 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  245 

moneys  in  lieu  of  that  institution,  and  would  call  for  any  bal 
ances  which  might  exist  in  its  favor  against  any  of  those  banks, 
and  would  require  the  payment  in  specie,  before  time  would  be 
allowed  for  the  banks  to  receive  any  benefit  from  the  deposits ; 
he  also  knew  that,  by  a  law  of  Congress,  the  public  revenue  was 
payable  in  the  bills  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its 
branches,  while  those  bills  could  not  be  converted  into  specie,  in 
case  the  bank  should  choose  not  to  redeem  them  at  the  points 
where  they  should  be  received,  except  by  causing  them  to  be 
presented  at  the  bank  or  office  which  issued  them,  or  where,  upon 
their  face,  they  might  be  made  payable;  he  also  knew  that,  by 
an  order  of  his  department,  a  certain  description  of  paper  put 
into  circulation  by  the  bank  and  its  branches,  and  known  by  the 
appellation  of  '  Bank  Drafts,'  but  which  Mr.  W.  said  he  believed 
the  highest  court  in  the  country  had  decided  were  neither  '  bills' 
nor  '  notes '  of  the  bank,  were  made  receivable  in  payment  of 
the  revenue,  which  drafts,  if  the  bank  should  refuse  to  receive 
them  as  money,  at  the  place  where  taken  in  payment,  could  not 
be  converted  into  specie,  or  even  into  bills  of  the  bank,  but  by 
presentment  at  the  bank  or  office  upon  which  they  were  drawn. 
The  knowledge  of  these  facts  showed  the  Secretary  that,  should 
the  bank  be  thus  disposed,  it  could  exert  a  double  power  of  injury 
against  the  State  institutions  which  were  to  take  the  deposits,  by 
instantly  calling  for  the  payment  in  coin  of  any  balances  in  its 
favor,  and  by  refusing  to  take  in  payment  of  those  balances  the 
notes  and  drafts  of  the  bank  itself,  not  made  payable  at  the 
bank  or  branch  where  the  payment  was  to  be  made.  In  this  way, 
and  by  this  double  power  of  oppression,  the  State  institutions 
might  be  severely  injured,  and  perhaps  ruined,  and  that,  too,  when 
the  balance  to  be  paid  had  accrued  solely  from  the  payments 
towards  the.  public  revenue,  and  when  the  notes  and  drafts, 
refused  in  payment,  had  also  been  received  in  collections  of  the 
public  revenue.  To  guard  against  this  contingency,  the  Secre 
tary  gave  to  a  few  of  the  banks,  in  the  large  cities,  the  transfer 
drafts  in  question,  which  drafts  were  made  upon  the  United 
States  bank,  or  the  branch  at  the  point  where  the  oppression  was 
apprehended,  and  in  favor  of  the  State  bank  upon  which  it  was 
anticipated  the  attempt  .might  be  made.  In  all  cases  precise 


246  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

instructions  were  given  that  the  drafts  should  be  returned  to 
the  department,  without  presentment,  unless  the  balance  before 
spoken  of  should  be  hastily  demanded  in  coin,  or  unless  the 
bank  or  branch  at  the  point  should  refuse  the  notes  of  other 
branches,  or  the  branch  drafts,  as  money ;  but  in  either  of  those 
contingencies  the  drafts  were  to  be  presented,  and  the  amount 
taken  from  the  public  money  left  with  the  bank  or  branch  was 
to  be  transferred  to  the  State  bank  and  passed  to  the  credit  of 
the  public  treasury  there.  The  honorable  Senator  has  selected 
the  Manhattan  Bank  of  New  York  to  illustrate  the  abuse  he 
supposed  to  exist.  In  that  case  the  balance  was  demanded,  and 
the  notes  of  other  branches  of  the  bank  and  the  branch  drafts 
were  refused  to  be  received  in  payment,  or  passed  to  the  credit 
of  the  bank  offering  them ;  the  draft  from  the  department  was 
presented  and  paid,  and  soon  after  the  bank  changed  its  course 
and  consented  to  receive  all  its  notes  and  drafts,  which  should 
be  taken  in  payment  of  the  public  revenue,  as  money.  Some  of 
the  other  drafts  were  presented,  and  others  were  returned  to  the 
department  without  presentment.  These  are  the  facts  as  to 
what  the  honorable  Senator  has  so  significantly  termed  loans  to 
the  State  banks.  How  far  they  deserve  that  appellation,  Mr. 
W.  said  he  would  most  cheerfully  leave  it  to  the  Senate  and  the 
public  to  judge.  But,  says  the  honorable  Senator,  the  loans 
were  made  without  interest.  Has  the  honorable  gentleman  over 
looked  the  fact  that  the  money  was  standing  to  the  credit  of  the 
Treasurer,  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  without  interest  ; 
that  the  transaction  was  a  mere  transfer  of  the  amount  of  the 
draft  from  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  without  interest,  in  one 
bank,  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  without  interest,  in  another 
bank  ;  that  the  draft  did  not  take  one  dollar  from  the  treasury  ; 
that  the  money,  when  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  in 
the  State  bank,  was  no  more  a  loan  to  it  than  when  standing  to 
the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  it 
was  a  loan  to  it ;  and  that,  in  either  situation,  the  amount  was 
equally  subject  to  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  at  pleasure  ? 

"  I  am  bound,  said  Mr.  W.,  to  give  to  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Virginia  my  unfeigned  thanks  for  according  to  me  sincerity 
in  the  declaration,  made  on  a  former  day,  that  my  opposition  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  247 

the  Bank  of  the  United  States  did  not  proceed  from  a  desire  to 
transfer  the  location  of  that  institution  to  my  own  State  ;  I  at 
the  same  time  expressed  my  most  firm  conviction  that  the  oppo 
sition  of  that  State  proceeded  from  no  such  motive.  Sir,  said 
Mr.  W.,  I  was  sincere  in  both  declarations.  The  republicans  of 
New  York  do  not  oppose  this  great  moneyed  power  upon  the 
narrow  ground  of  selfish  or  local  interest,  much  less  from  a  desire 
to  transfer  its  influence  within  the  limits  of  their  own  State. 
Their  opposition  proceeds  from  higher  motives  and  is  maintained 
for  nobler  purposes.  They  believe  it  to  be  a  power  dangerous 
to  the  government,  dangerous  to  the  purity  of  our  institutions, 
and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Many  of  them 
believe  it  to  be  a  power  unknown  to  the  Constitution,  while  others 
believe  the  constitutional  power  to  create  it  may  exist,  but  that 
it  is  a  power  which  ought  not  to  be  called  into  exercise.  Expe 
rience,  which  is  claimed  here  to  prove  the  necessity  of  such  a 
bank,  has  proved  to  them  that  such  an  institution  ought  not  to 
exist  in  a  free  country,  and  their  resistance  to  its  recharter 
is  based  upon  these  high  grounds  of  principle,  and  not  upon 
any  consideration  of  personal  or  local  interest.  The  honorable 
gentleman's  apprehensions,  therefore,  that  this  bank  is  to  be 
destroyed  merely  to  make  room  for  another,  similar  or  more 
powerful,  to  be  located  in  New  York,  are  without  foundation. 

"Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  am  I  required  to  adduce  proof 
of  this  assertion  ?  I  need  not  better  than  the  memorials  from 
New  York,  almost  daily  laid  before  you,  and,  nearly  without  an 
exception,  if  coming  from  the  opponents  of  the  administration, 
praying  for  the  recharter  of  the,  present  bank.  It  is  a  fact,  which 
does  not  admit  of  contradiction,  that  there  is  not,  at  this  moment, 
in  this  Union,  not  even  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  itself,  a  body 
of  men  more  earnest,  more  active  and  more  untiring  in  their 
efforts  to  effect  a  recharter  of  the  present  bank,  with  its  present 
location,  than  a  large  portion  of  the  merchants  and  business  men 
of  the  city  of  New  York.  The  honorable  Senator  has  told  us 
that  New  York  desires  the  regulation  of  the  exchanges  of  the 
country,  that  her  citizens  may  profit  from  the  purchase  and  sale 
of  bills.  Sir,  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  individuals  to  whom 
this  position  of  the  gentleman  would  apply,  in  case  those  who 


248  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

best  understood  the  subject  thought  it  applicable,  —  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  exchange  brokers  and  great  money  dealers  of 
New  York  are  foremost  in  the  cause  of  the  present  bank,  and  are 
using  their  utmost  exertions  to  produce  a  recharter.  Need  1 
stronger  evidence  to  show  that  no  concerted  local  movement,  nor 
any  perceptible  local  interest,  is  governing  the  course  of  that 
State  upon  this  great  question  ? 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  must  now  detain  the  Senate,  while  he  very 
briefly  replied  to  a  few  of  the  remarks  of  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Webster],  made  upon  the  presentation 
of  the  bill  to  the  Senate.  And  first,  the  honorable  gentleman 
had  stated  that  the  Safety  Fund  banks  of  New  York  were  under 
the  supervision  of  a  political  commission  appointed  by  the 
government.  He,  Mr.  W.,  must  express  his  profound  regret 
that  he  should  so  often  meet  with  statements  upon  this  floor,  in 
relation  to  the  Safety  Fund  banks  of  New  York,  which  were  errone 
ous  in  fact  and  in  conclusion,  besause  gentlemen  had  not  made 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  laws  of  that  State  regulating  those 
banks.  He  had  hoped  that  this  would  not  have  been  the  case  with 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  but  that  he  would  have 
made  himself  familiar  with  that  Safety  Fund  system  before  he  made 
it  the  subject  of  remark  here,  and  certainly  before  he  passed  sen 
tence  upon  it  as  a  political  system.  He  had  not  done  so,  however, 
as  was  evident  from  the  remark  above  referred  to.  The  Bank 
Commissioners  of  the  State  of  New  York  are  three  in  number, 
and  they  are  the  officers  whose  duty  it  is  to  supervise  the  banks 
subject  to  the  Safety  Fund  law.  So  far  from  being  a  political 
commission,  appointed  by  the  government  of  that  State,  as  the 
honorable  Senator  has  supposed,  but  one  of  the  three  commis 
sioners  is  so  appointed,  and  the  remaining  two  are  appointed  by 
the  banks  themselves  The  one  is  appointed  upon  the  nomination 
of  the  Governor,  and  by  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
of  the  State,  as  officers  of  this  government  are  appointed  by  the 
President  and  Senate;  and  this  commissioner  may  be  considered 
as  more  especially  the  representative  of  the  State,  and  of  the 
public  interests  in  the  board  of  commissioners.  The  State  is 
divided  into  two  districts  for  the  appointment  of  the  other  two 
commissioners,  and  each  is  appointed  by  the  banks  of  his  dis- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  249 

trict  —  every  bank  voting  upon  a  uniform  rule,  according  to  the 
amount  of  its  capital  stock.  These  commissioners,  thus  appointed, 
are  the  exclusive  representatives  of  the  banks  themselves,  though 
the  law  makes  no  discrimination  as  to  the  powers  and  duties  of 
the  different  members  of  the  board.  This  is  the  true  constitu 
tion  and  mode  of  appointment  of  that  commission,  which  the 
honorable  Senator  has  denominated  '  a  political  commission 
appointed  by  the  government.'  Sir,  his  mistake  must  have  pro 
ceeded  from  his  inattention  to  the  law  of  which  he  was  speaking, 
for  he  did  not  intend  to  produce  an  erroneous  impression  as  to 
the  character  of  these  officers.  He  may,  if  he  chooses,  consider 
the  commissioner  appointed  by  the  State  a  political  officer.  I  will 
not  occupy  the  time  of  the  Senate  to  point  out  the  injustice  of 
such  a  conclusion;  because,  when  I  find  that  officer  guarded  upon 
each  side  by  an  officer  of  equal  powers,  and  charged  with  the 
same  duties,  and  deriving,  in  both  cases,  their  official  character 
from  the  banks  themselves,  I  sufficiently  divest  the  board  of  the 
political  character  which  the  gentleman  has  ascribed  to  it.  I 
cannot  be  mistaken  in  this  conclusion,  unless  the  honorable  Sena 
tor  shall  contend  that  the  banks  select  politicians  as  their  repre 
sentatives  in  the  commission.  If  such  be  the  ground  he  intends 
to  assume,  I  can  tell  him,  if  the  position  were  established,  he, 
and  not  myself,  would  have  occasion  for  joy  that  the  commission 
was  made  political.  It  is  a  fact,  Mr.  President,  which  no  one 
acquainted  with  the  subject  will  deny,  that  a  very  large  majority, 
I  doubt  not  full  two-thirds,  of  all  the  stocks  of  all  the  Safety 
Fund  banks  in  the  State  of  New  York,  are  owned  and  held  by 
the  political  friends  of  the  honorable  gentleman,  —  by  persons 
opposed  in  politics  to  the  present  administration.  The  plain 
democrats  of  New  York,  sir,  are  not  rich;  they  hold  few  stocks; 
they  live  not  by  banks,  but  by  the  labor  of  their  hands.  Surely, 
then,  if  this  bank  commission,  constituted  as  I  have  related,  two 
of  the  three  commissioners  deriving  their  appointments  from  the 
votes  of  .the  holders  of  the  stocks  of  these  banks,  be  a  political 
commission,  it  must  represent  the  politics  which  the  Senator 
himself  approves,  and  it  is  not  for  him  to  complain  of  its  char 
acter.  But,  Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  is  mistaken ; 
this  commission  is  not  a  political  commission  ;  the  banks  in  New 


250  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

York  are  not  political  banks,  nor  do  they  attempt  to  exert  a 
political  influence.  The  citizens  of  that  State,  of  whatever 
political  party,  do  not  invest  their  capital  in  the  banks  for  politi 
cal  purposes ;  they  understand  their  interests  too  well  to  do  so ; 
they  make  their  investments  for  the  profit  to  be  derived  from 
them,  and  the  banks  are  conducted  with  a  single  view  to  this 
object.  I  wish,  sir,  I  had  the  power  to  persuade  honorable  Sena 
tors  to  permit  their  minds  to  be  undeceived  upon  this  point. 
They  lead. themselves  into  many  mistakes,  upon  the  subject  of  the 
New  York  banks,  by  adopting  this  error,  and  reasoning  from  it, 
without  a  proper  acquaintance  with  the  law  or  the  facts,  from 
which  correct  opinions  would  be  formed.  The  banks  of  New 
York  are  not  political  institutions.  Their  object  is  to  make 
money;  and  if  they  can  do  that,  and  if  the  laws  be  such  as  to 
protect  their  rights,  and  to  facilitate  their  operations  directed 
to  that  object,  they  care  not  who  rules,  what  political  party 
triumphs  or  what  politician  succeeds.  I  owe  it  to  candor  to  say, 
Mr.  President,  that  in  former  years,  and  before  the  establishment 
of  the  present  system  of  banking  in  that  State,  I  had  heard  of  a 
very  few  instances  in  which  banks  were  charged,  with  too  much 
appearance  of  truth,  with  interfering  in  the  politics  of  the  State  ; 
but  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  those  instances,  so  far  as 
my  information  extends,  have  been  '  few  and  far  between,'  while 
I  believe  time  has  shown  that  every  bank  against  which  this 
charge  was  strongly  supported  has  turned  out  to  be  insolvent. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  again  tells  us  that  the  representatives 
from  New  York  here  express  great  fears  of  the  power  and  influ 
ence  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  asks  if  that  State, 
with  its  league  of  banks,  comprising  together  a  capital  of  between 
$22,000,000  and  $23,000,000,  has  cause  to  fear  this  institution. 
[Here  Mr.  Webster  explained  that  Mr.  W.  had  misapprehended 
his  remark;  that  he  had  not  said  that  the  New  York  banks  had 
no  cause  to  fear  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  but  that  his 
argument  was,  that  the  Senators  from  that  State  expressed  great 
fear  as  to  the  power  and  influence  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  capital  of  $35,000,000,  extending  its  operations 
over  the  whole  Union,  while  they  expressed  no  fear  whatever  of 
the  power  and  influence  of  the  sixty-nine  banks  of  their  own 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  251 

State,  embodying  an  aggregate  capital  of  more  than  $22,000,000, 
and  leagued  together  by  legal  provisions.]  Mr.  WRIGHT  resumed. 
He  said  he  owed  it  to  the  Senator  to  say,  that  he  had  misappre 
hended  the  force  and  direction  of  his  remark,  and  he  would  con 
form  his  answer  to  his  present  understanding  of  its  application. 
This,  said  Mr.  W.,  will  make  it  necessary  for  me  to  inquire  how 
far  the  Safety  Fund  banks  of  New  York  are,  in  the  language  of 
the  honorable  Senator,  leagued  together,  so  as  to  be  properly 
viewed  as  one  consolidated  moneyed  power.  The  only  common 
interest  between  them,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  their  obligation  to  con 
tribute  to  a  common  fund,  which  fund  was  taken  possession  of 
by  the  State,  and  held  for  the  security  of  the  public  —  the  bill- 
holders  and  depositors  of  the  banks  first,  and  for  the  benefit  of 
the  banks  ulteriorly,  in  case  it  should  not  be  expended 
on  account  of  failures  of  the  banks.  To  what  extent  could 
this  contribution  be  carried,  because  that  was  the  measure 
of  the  league  between  the  banks?  In  the  first  instance,  to  a 
yearly  payment  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent  upon  the  amount 
of  the  capital  stock  of  each  bank,  which  yearly  payment 
was  to  be  extended  over  the  term  of  six  years,  and  to  amount, 
in  the  aggregate,  to  three  per  cent  upon  the  aggregate  capital 
stock  of  all  the  banks  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  Bank  Fund 
law.  These  contributions  were  to  constitute  the  fund,  the  man 
agement  of  which  remains  with  the  State  during  the  continuance 
of  the  charters  of  the  banks,  but  the  net  annual  income  of  which, 
over  and  above  expenses,  is  distributed  to  the  banks  in  the  pro 
portion  of  their  respective  contributions.  The  fund  is  a  trust 
fund  for  the  benefit  and  security  of  all  who  may  have  demands 
against  the  banks  other  than  the  stockholders,  and  the  State  is 
the  trustee;  but,  if  those  demands  are  discharged  by  the  banks 
themselves,  the  fund  is  theirs,  and  is  to  be  returned  to  them  at 
the  close  of  their  respective  charters,  according  to  their  respective 
interests  in  it;  and,  in  the  meantime,  as  I  have  before  remarked, 
the  annual  earnings  of  the  fund,  lawful  expenditures  from  it  being 
first  deducted,  are  annually  paid  to  the  banks.  This  is  the  first 
step  of  the  league.  Now  for  the  second..  In  case  a  bank,  subject 
to  the  Bank  Fund  law,  fails  and  the  capital  of  the  fund  be  reduced 
by  the  redemption  of  its  notes  —  which  are  made  redeemable  at 


252  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  Treasury  of  the  State  so  long  as  there  are  moneys  belonging 
to  the  Bank  Fund  in  the  treasury  to  redeem  them  with  —  then  the 
contribution  of  one-half  of  one  per  cent  upon  the  capital  stock  of 
all  the  banks  subject  to  the  law  again  commences,  and  continues 
until  all  obligations  against  the  failing  bank,  in  favor  of  bill- 
holders  and  depositors,  are  fully  discharged,  and  until  the  capital 
of  the  fund  is  again  restored  to  an  amount  equal  to  three  per 
cent  upon  the  aggregate  capitals  of  all  the  banks  making  the 
contributions.  This  completes  the  liability  of  the  New  York 
Safety  Fund  banks  for  each  other;  and  this  is  the  whole  extent 
of  all  the  provisions  of  the  laws  of  that  State  creating  such 
liability.  Do  they,  then,  deserve  the  appellation  of  '  leagued 
banks,'  in  the  general  acceptation  of  those  terms  ?  The  contribu 
tion  cannot,  in  any  case,  exceed  the  one-half  of  one  per  cent  per 
annum  upon  the  capital  stock  of  the  bank  upon  which  the 
liability  rests ;  there  is  no  community  of  capital ;  no  community 
of  dividends  ;  no  community  of  management,  for  each  bank  is 
managed  by  independent  officers  and  by  an  independent  board  of 
directors,  giving  to  the  business  of  the  institution  such  a  direction 
as  they  please,  without  any  control  from  or  necessary  consulta 
tion  with  its  neighboring  institutions  subject  to  the  same  law ; 
nor  is  there  any  community  of  liabilities  further  than  has  been 
before  mentioned,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  nothing  in  those 
liabilities  extends  any  community  of  security  to  the  stockholders 
of  the  separate  banks,  or  any  community  of  risk  and  hazard 
beyond  the  obligation  to  contribute  the  one-half  of  one  per  cent 
upon  their  capital  stock  yearly,  in  case  misfortunes  to  other 
institutions  should  make  such  a  call  necessary.  Are  we,  then,  to 
be  told  that  this  connection  between  independent  banks  consti 
tutes  a  moneyed  power  to  be  feared,  as  is  the  power  of  a  single 
bank  of  $12,000,000  greater  capital,  wielded  by  a  single  board 
of  directors,  by  a  single  set  of  officers,  and  the  whole  force  and 
influence  of  which,  for  any  purpose,  may  be  directed  to  a  single 
object  and  to  a  single  point  at  pleasure  ?  Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  I  do 
not  see  the  analogy.  The  New  York  banks  are  about  seventy  in 
number,  embodying  in  the  aggregate  less  than  $23,000,000 
of  capital  ;  each  owned  separately  by  separate  stockholders  ; 
each  having  separate  objects  and  separate  governments ;  all 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  253 

the  inducements  to  healthful  rivalship  open  to  each  as  against 
all  the  others  ;  with  no  common  interest  or  band  of  union  but 
the  contingent  liability  to  the  trifling  contribution  before  stated  ; 
a  liability,  to  say  the  most,  not  greater  than  is  required  to  restrain 
ruinous  competition.  Are  these  banks  such  a  moneyed  power  as 
to  deserve  a  comparison  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
with  its  $35,000,000  of  capital,  wielded  by  a  single  hand? 
The  republicans  of  New  York  think  not,  and  hence  they  choose 
their  own  system  as  much  the  lesser  evil,  and  seek  to  rid  them 
selves  and  the  country  of  the  power  and  influence  of  a  single 
institution  which  they  consider  dangerous  to  liberty.  This  is 
my  answer  to  the  honorable  Senator's  remark  that  we  seem  to  be 
inconsistent  in  professing  to  fear  the  power  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  while  we  say  nothing  as  to  the  power  of  our  State 
banks. 

"  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  it  has  been  said,  here  and  else 
where  (I  do  not  now  refer  to  any  remark  of  the  Senator  from 
Massachusetts),  that  this  contribution  from  the  State  banks  of 
New  York  might,  by  repeated  failures,  become  perpetual,  and 
might  dangerously  weaken  those  institutions.  Sir,  said  Mr.  W., 
if  I  am  not  in  error,  the  State  of  Massachusetts  imposes  a  per 
manent  tax  upon  all  the  banks  chartered  by  that  commonwealth 
of  one  per  cent  per  annum  for  the  support  of  the  government. 
This  tax  is  just  double  the  contribution  which  can  be  imposed 
upon  the  Safety  Fund  banks,  and  is  perpetual  without  con 
tingency  ;  it  is,  too,  a  tax  for  the  support  of  the  State  govern 
ment,  in  which  the  banks  can  have  no  interest  subsequent  to  the 
payment,  while  the  contributions  from  the  New  York  banks  inure 
to  the  benefit  of  the  banks  themselves,  if  a  failure  of  some  one  of 
the  institutions  does  not  consume  the  fund.  May  I  not,  then, 
believe  that  apprehension  upon  this  point  will  be  no  longer 
entertained  ? 

"  The  honorable  Senator  entered  his  protest  against  what  he 
called  the  war  waged  by  the  President  against  the  bank.  I  pro 
pose,  Mr.  President,  to  examine  the  facts  in  relation  to  this  con 
troversy,  and  I  feel  great  confidence  in  being  able  to  satisfy 
those  who  hear  me  that  this  protest  comes  from  the  wrong 
quarter  ;  that  the  protest,  if  one  is  to  be  made,  should  come 


254  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

from  the  other  side.  In  what  manner  has  the  President  of  the 
United  States  waged  war  upon  the  bank  ?  This  inquiry  will  be 
answered  by  a  reference  to  his  various  messages,  but  I  will  not 
trouble  the  Senate  further  than  to  read  from  a  singlo  one.  I 
find,  in  the  annual  message  communicated  to  Congress  on  the 
8th  day  of  December,  1829,  the  following  notice  of  the  bank  : 

"  'The  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  expires  in  1836,  and  its 
stockholders  will  most  probably  apply  for  a  renewal  of  their  privileges.  In 
order  to  avoid  the  evils  resulting  from  precipitancy  in  a  measure  involving 
such  important  principles  and  such  deep  pecuniary  interests,  I  feel  that  I 
cannot,  in  justice  to  the  parties  interested,  too  soon  present  it  to  the  delibe 
rate  consideration  of  the  Legislature  and  the  people.  Both  the  constitu 
tionality  and  the  expediency  of  the  law  creating  this  bank  are  well  questioned 
by  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  by  all 
that  it  has  failed  in  the  great  end  of  establishing  a  uniform  and  sound  cur 
rency.' 

"  This  is  the  mention  of  the  bank  made  in  the  first  message  of 
the  President,  and  what  is  it  ?  Not  an  attempt  to  interfere  with 
the  chartered  rights  and  privileges  of  the  institution,  but  a  timely 
expression  of  doubt  as  to  the  propriety  of  its  recharter,  conveyed 
in  the  mildest  language,  and  proceeding  from  the  best  of  motives, 
to  wit :  '  to  avoid  the  evils  resulting  from  precipitancy  in  a 
measure  involving  such  important  principles  and  such  deep  pecu 
niary  interests.'  Was  this  a  declaration  of  war  against  the  bank  V 
Was  it  an  act  of  hostility  to  that  institution,  thus  to  warn  it  to 
prepare  in  time  for  its  final  close  ?  Was  it  wrong  in  the  Presi 
dent  to  say,  what  he  knew  to  be  true,  that  '  both  the  constitu 
tionality  and  the  expediency  of  the  law  creating  this  bank  are 
well  questioned  by  a  large  portion  of  our  fellow-citizens  ?'  Was 
it  waging  war  against  the  bank  to  question  the  expediency  of  its 
recharter  ?  Sir,  the  bank  has  chosen  so  to  consider  it;  and  in  a 
publication  recently  made  by  its  board  of  directors,  the  paragraph 
I  have  just  read  from  the  message  of  1829  is  termed  an  *  assault ' 
upon  the  bank.  Notices  of  a  similar  character,  in  substance, 
were  taken  of  the  bank  in  the  two  following  annual  messages; 
and  in  1832,  when  both  Houses  of  Congress  passed  a  bill  to 
recharter  the  institution,  the  President  refused  his  assent  to  it, 
and  in  a  respectful  message  communicated  his  reasons  for  that 
refusal  to  this  body.  This  is  all  the  war  he  has  waged  against 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRKHIT.  255 

the  bank;  and  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay], 
upon  a  late  occasion,  told  us  that  these  messages  were  all  '  non 
committal  '  documents ;  that  they  did  not  even  make  known  to 
Congress  and  the  country  the  opinions  of  the  President  in  relation 
to  the  bank.  Permit  me  now,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  to 
examine  the  other  side  of  this  controversy.  Immediately  after 
the  publication  of  the  message  of  the  President,  in  December, 
1829,  the  bank  commenced  its  efforts  against  his  re-election.  By 
its  own  showing,  its  expenditures,  for  the  printing  and  distribu 
tion  of  matter  calculated  and  intended  to  influence  public  opinion, 
commenced  at  that  period,  and  were  continued  in  an  increasing 
ratio  through  that  whole  presidential  term.  It  made  itself  a 
political  instrument,  and  acted  in  open  and  avowed  hostility  to 
the  President.  Who  does  not  know,  sir,  that  the  immense  sums 
paid  for  printing  were  so  paid  for  printing  political  matter? 
Who  does  not  know  that  the  speeches  made  in  this  body  upon 
the  veto  message,  in  July,  1832,  were  calculated  and  intended  to 
influence  the  elections  of  the  coming  fall  ?  I  mean  no  disrespect, 
sir,  to  any  individual  by  the  remark.  The  speeches  upon  that  occa 
sion  could  not  fail  to  have  that  tendency,  nor  can  any  one  doubt 
that  they  were  reprinted  and  broadly  distributed  by  the  bank 
because  they  were  of  that  character.  It  is  also  abundantly  shown 
to  us  that  it  caused  to  be  printed,  and  spead  over  the  whole 
country,  newspapers  and  other  political  publications,  with  a  pro 
fusion  never  before  witnessed  upon  a  similar  occasion.  These 
were  the  first  steps  in  the  war  waged  by  the  bank  against  the 
President.  Upon  a  recent  occasion,  its  board  of  directors  have 
issued  to  the  public,  and  laid  upon  our  tables,  a  communication, 
in  which,  as  if  to  mark  the  character  of  their  hostility,  they  class 
the  President  of  the  United  States  with  the  persons  who  counter 
feit  their  notes,  and  tell  us  that,  as  kindred  subjects,  they  have 
received,  and  will  receive,  kindred  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the 
bank.  Is  not  this,  sir,  waging  war  against  the  President  ?  And 
who,  then,  should  protest?  I  pronounce  that, the  war  is  not  one 
waged  by  the  President  against  the  bank,  but  a  war  waged  by 
the  bank  against  the  President,  and,  as  such,  I  protest  against  it. 
The  country  will  protest  against  it  ;  the  people  who  have  elected 
the  President  do  and  will  protest  against  it. 


256  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  intimated,  in  the  course  of  his 
remarks,  that  I  had,  upon  a  former  occasion,  made  an  appeal  to 
the  prejudices  of  the  people  against  banks.  Sir,  I  have  made 
no  such  appeal.  I  did  appeal  to  their  good  sense,  as  applied  to 
the  information  before  them,  in  relation  to  the  conduct  of  this 
institution  to  which  I  have  just  referred  ;  to  its  interference  with 
the  election  of  officers  of  the  government  ;  to  its  open  and 
avowed  political  action;  to  its  treatment  of  the  President  of 
their  choice.  I  did  appeal  to  the  patriotism  and  love  of  liberty 
of  the  people  against  this  bank  for  having  thus  exerted  its  immense 
moneyed  power  to  corrupt  the  press,  endanger  the  safety  of  our 
free  institutions  and  control  the  government.  This  appeal  I  did 
make;  and  I  understood  the  honorable  Senator,  in  the  earnest 
ness  of  debate,  to  permit  himself  to  characterize  it  with  the 
harsh  appellation  of  a  fraud.  Sir,  this  may  be  the  honorable 
gentlemen's  opinion,  but,  in  matters  of  this  sort,  opinion  is  every 
thing.  Entertaining  the  opinions  I  entertain,  it  is  the  imperious 
duty  of  every  representative  of  the  people,  here  or  elsewhere, 
to  make  and  reiterate  these  appeals,  not  to  the  prejudices,  but 
to  the  intelligence  of  our  citizens  ;  to  expose  the  profligate 
conduct  of  this  bank ;  to  point  out  the  danger  to  our  free 
institutions  of  its  continued  existence,  and  to  mark  the  progress 
of  its  moneyed  power,  '  withering,  as  with  a  subtle  poison,'  that 
purity  and  truth  which  are  the  only  safeguards  of  freedom. 
Sir,  had  I,  with  my  opinions,  made  declarations  from  my  place 
here,  calculated  to  produce  alarm  in  the  public  mind  ;  to  shake 
the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  public  officers  of  their  own 
choice  ;  to  create  distrust  toward  the  local  banks  ;  to  unsettle 
dependence  upon  the  credit  and  currency  of  the  country 
generally  ;  and  to  produce  a  feeling  of  agitation  and  panic, 
1  ought  not  to  have  been  surprised  even  if  the  strong  charge  of 
an  attempt  to  practice  a  fraud  upon  the  public  had  been  made 
against  me.  Entertaining  the  opinions  I  do,  were  I  to  attempt 
to  convince  the  free  citizens  of  this  republic  that  the  country 
cannot  get  on  without  the  aid  of  an  immense  moneyed  incorpo 
ration;  without  the  aid  of  a  bank  large  enough  to  control  all  our 
moneyed  operations;  large  enough  to  control  the  government 
itself,  and  to  convince  them  that  the  continuance  of  their  liberties 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  257 

are  dependent  upon  such  an  institution,  I  should  subject  myself 
to  the  accusation  of  an  attempt  to  lead  them  into  error.  I  do 
not  intend,  Mr.  President,  in  making  these  remarks,  to  impute 
any  but  the  most  honorable  intentions  to  any  member  of  this 
body,  and  I  make  them  to  show  how  very  differently  we  view  the 
same  act;  how  very  different  our  opinions  are  in  reference  to  this 
bank.  I  think  the  honorable  Senator  could  not  have  given  suffi 
cient  weight  to  this  consideration  when  he  spoke  of  the  course  of 
any  individual  as  fraudulent  towards  the  public.  It  is  my 
design,  upon  this  as  upon  all  occasions,  to  extend  to  others  that 
charity  I  ask  for  myself,  and  while  I  claim  sincerity  of  purpose 
for  my  own  language,  and  my  own  acts,  I  as  readily  accord  it  to 
those  who  differ  with  me  in  opinion. 

"  Another  remark  of  the  honorable  Senator  appears  to  me  to 
deserve  a  similar  reply.  He  told  us,  in  his  usual  emphatic  man 
ner,  when  speaking  of  appeals  to  the  people,  that  he  knew  such 
appeals,  sometimes,  made  little  men  great,  but  that  great  men 
never  resorted  to  such  expedients.  I  have  before  remarked  that 
opinion,  in  matters  of  this  sort,  is  everything.  Now,  without 
the  least  design  to  impute  to  the  honorable  member  any  motive 
which  is  not  strictly  pure,  I  must  be  permitted  to  say  to  him, 
that  too  ardent  a  friendship  for  an  institution  such  as  I,  in  my 
conscience,  believe  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  to  be,  may  not 
make  great  men  greater. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  urges  that  this  bank,  having  been 
chartered,  and  having  incorporated  itself  and  its  transactions 
with  the  business  of  the  country,  ought  not  now  to  be  thus  sud 
denly  destroyed.  Is  it  right,  sir,  to  call  the  destruction  sudden  ? 
Did  not  the  President,  as  long  ago  as  in  December,  1829,  give  it 
the  most  emphatic  warning  to  prepare  for  its  final  close  ?  Has 
he  not  done  so  annually,  from  that  time  to  the  present  ?  What, 
Mr.  President,  was  the  effect  of  that  warning  ?  The  whole  debt 
due  to  the  bank  in  December,  1829,  when  the  first  message  of 
the  President  was  transmitted  to  Congress,  expressing  doubts  as 
to  the  constitutionality  or  expediency  of  a  recharter  of  the  bank, 
was,  I  think,  about  $42,000,000,  perhaps  $44,000,000,  as  I  speak 
from  memory,  and  cannot  pretend  to  be  precisely  accurate.  In 
May,  1832,  this  debt  had  increased  to  the  enormous  amount  of 
17 


258  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

more  than  $70,000,000,  thus  showing  a  constant  and  rapid  exten 
sion  of  its  loans  as  the  final  termination  of  its  charter  approached. 
Did  the  bank  suppose  that  the  grant  of  the  monopoly  to  it  for 
the  period  of  twenty  years  gave  it  a  right  to  expect  or  demand  a 
continuance?  Its  constant  extensions  of  its  business  as  it 
approached  the  close  of  its  chartered  term  would  seem  to  indi 
cate  such  an  opinion;  but  I  respectfully  submit  that  the  reverse 
ought  to  have  been  its  conclusion.  The  privileges  granted  to  it 
were  of  immense  value,  and  a  proper  sense  of  the  justice  of  Con 
gress  should  have  induced  the  stockholders  to  believe,  even  if 
the  existence  of  a  similar  bank  was  to  be  continued  in  the  coun 
try,  that  they  would  not  be  made,  for  a  second  term,  the  exclu 
sive  recipients  of  this  great  bounty. 

"  There  is,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  another  view  of  this 
subject  which  strikes  my  mind  with  great  force,  and  which,  in 
my  judgment,  justifies  the  charge  against  the  bank  of  a  violation 
of  one  of  its  highest  duties.  The  period  of  its  existence  was 
distinctly  fixed  upon  the  face  of  its  charter,  and  it  owed  it  to  the 
country,  as  its  highest  duty,  to  prepare  for  that  period  in  a  man 
ner  which  should  enable  it  to  go  out  of  existence  without  a 
shock  to  any  great  national  interest.  The  government  conferred 
upon  this  institution  privileges  and  benefits  inestimable,  and,  in 
return  for  that  liberality,  it  was  its  duty  to  come  into  exist 
ence,  to  pass  its  prescribed  term,  and  to  meet  its  close  without 
being  the  cause  of  any  convulsion  in  trade,  or  credit  or  currency. 
The  bank  was  a  creature  of  the  law,  and  with  the  law  it  should 
have  prepared  itself  to  die  quietly.  This  it  has  not  done,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  as  the  termination  of  its  legal  existence  approached, 
it  has  exerted  its  utmost  power  to  strengthen  its  claims  to  a  new 
existence.  It  has  spread  abroad  its  immense  resources,  and 
drawn  within  its  vortex  thousands  of  citizens,  who,  when  the 
warning  was  given  to  it  by  the  President  to  prepare  for  its  disso 
lution,  were  free  from  its  influence  and  independent  of  its  power. 
It  has  pursued  a  course  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  dictates  of 
interest,  if  it  had  intended  to  submit  to  the  contract  between  it 
and  the  government,  and  to  terminate  its  existence  at  the  pre 
scribed  limit.  Do  I,  then,  said  Mr.  W.,  do  injustice  to  the  bank 
when  I  infer  that  this  course  has  been  adopted  to  force  an  exten- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  259 

sion  of  its  charter?  Other  motive  for  the  admitted  conduct 
cannot  be  assigned. 

"  Still  we  are  told  that  this  bank  must  not  be  thus  suddenly 
closed,  because  the  shock  given  to  trade  and  commerce,  and  the 
call  upon  debtors,  will  be  greater  than  the  country  can  sustain; 
and  the  bill  before  us  proposes  to  extend  its  charter  for  the  term 
of  six  years,  to  enable  it  to  close  its  business.  Sir,  did  not  the 
President  give  to  this  institution  more  than  six  years'  notice,  that 
it  must  close  its  affairs  with  the  expiration  of  its  present  charter  ? 
Did  it  accept  that  notice  and  prepare  itself  for  the  event  ?  So 
far  from  it,  its  business  was  at  once  extended,  and  by  its  own 
acts  its  final  close  rendered  more  and  more  difficult,  without  dis 
tress  to  the  country.  Grant  it  the  time  proposed  by  the  bill 
before  the  Senate,  and  what  assurance  have  we  that,  at  the  expi 
ration  of  the  first  four  years  of  the  period,  its  debt  will  not  be 
extended  to  $100,000,000,  instead  of  being  reduced  below 
$55,000,000,  where  it  now  stands  ?  A  rapid  curtailment  has 
taken  place  for  the  last  five  months,  a  curtailment  so  rapid  as  to 
embarrass  and  distress  the  whole  country,  and  to  derange  all  its 
business  operations,  and  still  the  debt  due  to  the  bank  is  more 
than  $12,000,000  greater  than  it  was  in  December,  1829,  when  the 
President,  by  his  message  to  Congress,  warned  it  to  prepare  for 
its  final  close  at  the  expiration  of  its  charter.  I  must,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  be  permitted  to  express  my  full  conviction,  drawn  from 
these  facts,  that  it  is  not  the  design  of  the  bank  to  discharge  its 
duty  to  the  public  by  a  quiet  close  of  its  affairs,  but  that,  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  its  settled  purpose  to  force  a  re-existence,  to 
overrule  the  government,  coerce  public  opinion  and  compel  a 
recharter. 

"  We  are  told,  Mr.  President,  by  the  honorable  Senator  that  we 
must  have  a  national  bank;  and  what,  sir,  is  the  reason  urged,  as 
conclusive  upon  us,  to  establish  the  position?  It  is  the  existence 
of  the  present  pressure  upon  the  money  market  of  the  country, 
said  to  exist  in  contemplation  of  the  winding  up  of  the  present 
bank.  Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  this  proves  to  me  merely  not  that  we  want 
a  bank,  but  that  we  have  a  bank.  Whence  does  the  distress  and 
pressure  complained  of  proceed  ?  It,  no  doubt,  has  its  origin  in 
a  complication  of  causes,  among  which  a  general  system  of  over- 


260  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

trading  and  the  change  of  the  revenue  laws  are  among  the  most 
important ;  but  I  cannot  doubt  that  by  far  the  most  powerful 
cause,  at  this  time  in  operation,  is  the  hostile  attitude  which  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  has  thought  it  for  her  interest  to 
assume  toward  the  State  banks.  We  have  it  in  evidence,  among 
the  documents  of  Congress,  upon  the  oath  of  the  chief  officer  of 
the  bank,  Mr.  Biddle  himself,  that  that  institution  has  the  power 
to  crush  the  State  banks  at  its  pleasure ;  that  they  exist  by  its 
clemency  alone,  and  not  because  it  has  not  the  power  to  shut 
their  doors.  The  evidences  of  a  disposition  to  exert  that  power 
have,  for  the  last  few  months,  been  strong  and  numerous.  Have 
we  not  heard  it  predicted,  Mr.  President,  from  all  sides  of  this 
chamber,  that  the  State  banks  would  be  compelled  to  stop  specie 
payments  within  a  short  period  of  time  ?  Have  we  not  seen  the 
bank  press  calling  upon  the  community  to  make  runs  upon  those 
banks;  telling  the  poor  laborer,  who  had  a  five-dollar  note  of 
a  State  Bank,  to  call  and  get  the  specie  for  it  before  it  became  a 
valueless  rag  in  his  pocket.  Can  these  indications  have  been 
mistaken,  sir  ?  In  the  State  which  I  have  the  honor,  in  part,  to 
represent  here,  I  am  happy  to  know  that  they  have  not  either 
been  mistaken  or  disregarded,  and  I  hope  I  may  not  find  myself 
mistaken  in  the  belief  that  the  banks  of  that  State  are  prepared 
to  meet  the  blow  intended  for  them.  From  the  latest  advices  I 
have  received,  I  am  authorized  to  suppose  that  they  have  with 
drawn  from  circulation  and  redeemed  from  $4,000,000  to 
$5,000,000  of  their  notes,  within  the  last  sixty  or  seventy  days. 
The  effect  of  this  extensive  curtailment  upon  the  merchants,  and, 
indeed,  upon  all  classes  of  the  community,  must  be  severe,  but 
self-protection  and  self-preservation  require  the  course  at  the 
hands  of  the  banks,  and  they  have  no  volition.  It  would  be 
madness  for  them  not  to  prepare  for  their  defense,  when  they  are 
publicly  told  that  this  immense  moneyed  power,  with  $35,000,000 
of  capital  at  command,  is  about  to  aim  a  deadly  blow  at  them ; 
when  they  know  it  has  vaunted  its  power  over  them,  and  proved 
upon  oath  that  its  forbearance  was  the  tenure  by  which  they  held 
their  existence.  The  banks,  then,  cannot  extend  themselves 
while  this  all-powerful  enemy  stands  ready  to  take  the  first 
advantage  of  their  exposure,  and  to  push  it  to  their  ruin.  Sir,  is 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  2(31 

there  any  other  cause  for  this  rapid  curtailment,  and  this  close 
defensive  position  assumed  by  the  State  banks  ?  I  know  of  none. 
There  can  be  none.  There  is  no  peculiar  demand  for  specie  grow 
ing  out  of  the  state  of  trade,  and  the  condition  of  exchange;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  the  reverse  is,  to  a  greater  extent,  true,  than  it 
has  been  at  any  former  period  of  our  history.  Specie  is,  at  this 
moment,  abundant  in  the  country,  and  its  flow  is  to,  and  not 
from  us. 

"  I  cannot,  then,  be  mistaken,  when  I  say  that  if  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  would  cease  its  efforts  for,  and  its  hopes  of  a 
re-existence,  and  would  endeavor  to  perform  its  duty  to  the 
country,  by  closing  its  affairs  with  as  little  injury  as  possible  to 
any  individual  or  public  interest,  the  State  banks  would  be  able 
to  extend  their  loans,  confidence  would  be  restored,  and  the 
pressure  upon  the  money  market  would  soon  cease.  Apprehen 
sion,  a  just  apprehension  of  the  hostile  movements  of  this  great 
institution,  is  the  most  powerful  cause  of  the  present  scarcity  of 
money.  This  scarcity  must  exist  so  long  as  this  apprehension 
continues.  How,  then,  is  it  to  be  allayed,  would  seem  to  be  the 
pertinent  inquiry.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
answers  us  by  the  bill  upon  your  table.  Recharter  the  bank  ; 
appease  the  monster  by  prolonging  its  existence  and  increasing 
its  power.  I  say  no,  sir;  but  act  promptly  and  refuse  its  wish; 
destroy  its  hope  of  a  recharter,  and  you  destroy  its  inducement 
to  be  hostile  to  the  State  institutions.  A  different  interest,  the 
interest  of  its  stockholders,  to  wind  up  its  affairs  as  profitably  to 
themselves  as  possible,  becomes  its  ruling  object,  and  will  direct 
its  policy.  The  more  prosperous  the  country,  the  more  plenty  the 
money  of  other  institutions,  the  more  easily  and  safely  can  this 
object  be  accomplished  ;  and  every  hope  of  a  continued  exist 
ence  being  destroyed,  that  this  will  be  the  object  of  the  bank  is 
as  certain  as  that  its  moneyed  interest  governs  a  moneyed  incor 
poration.  Mr.  President,  this  is  unquestionably  the  opinion  of 
the  country.  Look,  sir,  at  the  files  of  memorials  upon  your 
table,  and  however  widely  they  may  differ  as  to  their  views  of 
the  bank,  they  all  hold  to  you  this  language,  '  act  speedily,  and 
finally  settle  the  question.' 

"  But  we  are  told,  sir,  that  the  country  cannot  sustain  the  wind- 


262  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ing  up  of  the  affairs  of  this  bank.  Is  this  so  ?  What  does  experi 
ence  teach  us  upon  this  subject?  The  old  bank  of  the  United 
States,  within  four  months  of  the  close  of  its  charter,  was  more 
extended  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  its  capital  than  the 
present  bank  is  at  this  moment,  and  still  it  is  almost  two  years  to 
the  close  of  its  charter.  The  old  bank  struggled  as  this  does  for 
a  re-existence  ;  the  country  was  then  alarmed  ;  memorials  in 
favor  of  the  bank  were  then  as  now  piled  upon  the  tables  of  the 
members  of  Congress;  the  cries  of  distress  rung  through  these 
halls  then  as  distinctly  as  they  now  do  ;  nay,  more,  gentlemen 
were  then  sent  here  from  the  commercial  cities  to  be  examined 
upon  oath,  before  the  committees  of  Congress,  to  prove  the  exist 
ence  and  the  extent  of  the  distress ;  business  was  then  in  a  state 
of  the  utmost  depression  in  all  parts  of  the  Union ;  commerce 
was  literally  suspended  by  the  restrictive  measures  of  the  govern 
ment  ;  trade  was  dull  beyond  any  former  example  ;  property  of 
all  kinds  was  unusually  depressed  in  price  ;  and  the  country  was 
on  the  eve  of  a  war  with  the  most  powerful  nation  in  the  world. 
Still  Congress  was  unmoved  and  the  old  bank  was  not  rechartered. 
Such  is  the  history  of  that  period,  and,  with  the  final  action  of 
Congress,  all  knowledge  of  the  distress  ceased.  Who  has  ever 
heard  of  disasters  to  the  business  of  the  country  proceeding  from 
winding  up  of  the  old  bank?  I,  sir,  can  find  no  trace  of  any 
such  consequences.  I  do  find  that,  in  a  period  of  about  eighteen 
months  after  the  expiration  of  the  charter,  the  bank  disposed  of 
its  other  obligations  and  divided  to  its  stockholders  about  eighty- 
eight  per  cent  upon  their  stock. 

"It  is  now  admitted,  on  all  hands,  that  the  country  is  rich  and 
prosperous  in  an  unusual  degree  ;  property  of  all  kinds  is  abun 
dant;  commerce  is  free  and  extensive,  and  flourishing,  and  business 
of  every  description  is  healthful  and  vigorous.  If  then  we  cannot, 
in  this  condition  of  things,  sustain  the  closing  of  the  affairs  .of 
this  great  moneyed  incorporation,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the 
country  will  never  see  the  time  when  it  can  do  it.  Grant  it  longer 
life  and  deeper  root,  and  in  vain  shall  we  try,  in  future,  to  shake 
it  from  us.  It  will  dictate  its  own  terms  and  command  its  own 
existence.  Indeed,  Mr.  President,  the  whole  tendency  of  the 
honorable  Senator's  argument  seemed  to  me  to  be,  to  prove  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  263 

necessity  of  a  perpetual  bank  of  this  description,  and  we  have 
been  repeatedly  told,  during  the  debate  of  the  last  three  months, 
that  this  free,  and  rich,  and  prosperous  country,  cannot  get  on 
without  a  great  moneyed  power  of  this  description  to  regulate 
its  affairs.  The  bill  before  the  Senate  proposes  to  repeal  the 
monopolizing  provisions  in  the  existing  charter,  and  the  honorable 
Senator  tells  us  that  this  is  to  be  done,  that  Congress  may,  within 
the  six  years  over  which  this  is  to  extend  the  life  of  the  present 
bank,  establish  a  new  bank  to  take  its  place,  and  into  which  the 
affairs  of  the  old  may  be  transferred  so  as  to  be  finally  closed 
without  a  shock  to  the  country.  Sir,  this  is  not  the  relief  I  seek. 
My  object  is  the  entire  discontinuance  and  eradication  of  this  or 
any  similar  institution.  We  are  told  the  distresses  of  the 
country  will  not  permit  this  now.  When,  sir,  will  it  ever  permit 
it  better  ?  When  will  the  time  come  that  this  odious  institution 
can  be  finally  closed  with  less  distress  than  now  ?  Never,  while 
cupidity  obeys  its  fixed  laws. 

"  This  distress,  Mr.  President,  did  not  exist  when  we  left  our 
homes  ;  we  heard  not  of  it  then ;  it  commenced  with  the  com 
mencement  of  our  debates  here,  and  I  doubt  not  it  will  end  when 
our  debates  end,  and  our  final  action  is  known,  whatever  may  be 
the  result  to  which  we  shall  arrive.  It  must  necessarily  be  tem 
porary,  and  it  does  not  prove  to  iny  mind  the  necessity  of  a  bank, 
but  the  mischiefs  a  bank  may  produce.  I  care  not  whether  it  be, 
or  be  not,  in  the  power  of  the  bank  to  ameliorate  the  evils  now 
complained  of.  That  it  can  cause  them  in  any  manner,  is  proof 
that,  if  the  disposition  exists,  it  can  cause  them  at  pleasure  ;  and 
this  very  fact  is  the  strongest  evidence,  to  my  mind,  that  no  insti 
tution,  with  such  a  power,  ought  to  exist  in  this  country. 

"  Sir,  the  subject  of  our  present  action  involves  two  great  prin 
ciples:  one  of  constitutional  power,  and  one  of  governmental 
expediency.  Upon  neither  should  our  action  be  governed  solely 
by  considerations  of  temporary  derangement  and  distress  in 
the  money  market.  Revulsions  in  trade  and  business,  and  in  pecu 
niary  affairs,  will  happen.  They  must  be  temporary ;  the  country 
will  restore  itself,  and  money  will  again  be  plenty  ;  but  the  set 
tlement  of  important  principles  must  involve  consequences  of  an 
enduriug  character,  consequences  which  will  exert  an  influence,  for 
good  or  for  evil,  through  all  time." 


264  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XLV1II. 

DEFENSE  OF  GENERAL  JACKSON'S  PROTEST. 

The  Senate  had  passed  resolutions  on  the  28th  of  March, 
1834,  condemning  Gen.  Jackson  for  the  removal  of  the 
deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  on  the 
fifteenth  of  April  he  sent  to  the  Senate  a  protest  against 
their  power  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  his  conduct  and  their 
proceedings  to  condemn  him  unheard.  The  friends  of 
the  bank  objected  to  receiving  the  protest  and  entering  it 
upon  the  Senate  journal,  claiming  that  the  protest  was  a 
breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  Senate.  The  motion 
against  receiving  and  recording  it  was  carried  by  a  vote 
of  27  in  its  favor. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  1834,  Mr.  WEIGHT  thus  addressed 
the  Senate : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  arose  and  said,  he  had  to  thank  the  Senate  for  its 
indulgence  in  permitting  him  now  to  extricate  himself  from  the 
unpleasant  position  in  which  he  had,  for  several  days,  been 
placed  in  relation  to  the  present  debate.  When  he  obtained  the 
floor,  four  days  ago,  his  principal  and  almost  only  object  was  to 
reply  to  some  of  the  remarks  which  had  on  that  day  been  made 
by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay].  Although 
time  had  been  given  to  him  for  further  reflection,  he  still  could 
not  consider  it  his  duty  materially  to  alter  that  course.  The 
proceedings  of  the  morning  had  evinced  to  him  a  strong  disposi 
tion  in  the  Senate  to  close  the  debate,  and  he  hoped  not  to  occupy 
so  much  of  their  time  as  to  show  any  other  inclination.  In 
answer  to  a  suggestion  which  had  fallen  from  some  honorable 
Senator  in  the  course  of  the  morning,  he  believed  he  could  say 
that  the  time  which  had  elapsed  since  he  had  been  entitled  to  the 
floor  would  not  induce  him  to  extend  his  remarks,  or  to  make  a 
larger  draft  upon  the  time  of  the  body  than  he  should  have  done 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  265 

if  he  had  been  permitted  to  succeed  the  honorable  Senator  more 
immediately.  The  delay  had  been  unpleasant  to  him,  but  he  had 
tried  to  improve  it  to  condense  rather  than  to  extend  his  remarks. 

"  The  question  before  the  Senate  was  the  disposition  which 
should  be  made,  by  that  body,  of  the  paper  upon  the  table, 
denominated  the  President's  protest. 

"The  paper  complained  that  the  Senate  had  passed  a  sentence 
against  the  President,  in  its  nature  and  character  judicial,  while 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  had  not  been  observed  in  the 
proceeding.  It  complained  that  the  Senate  had  virtually  consti 
tuted  itself  the  impeaching  body  by  the  course  it  had  taken, 
whereas  the  Constitution  had  conferred  the  sole  power  of  impeach 
ment  upon  the  House  of  Representatives;  that  it  had  proceeded 
to  final  judgment  and  sentence  against  the  accused,  without 
allowing  him  a  trial  upon  the  accusation,  or  the  privilege  of  being 
heard  in  his  defense;  that  the  laws  for  the  organization  of  the 
Senate  in  such  cases  had  not  been  observed,  inasmuch  as  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  had  not  been  called  to  pre 
side  over  its  deliberations,  and  as  no  '  oath  or  affirmation' had 
been  administered  to  the  individual  Senators,  —  a  qualification 
which  the  Constitution  expressly  required  to  enable  them  to  sit 
in  the  high  court  for  the  trial  of  impeachments.  And  it  further 
complained  that  the  sentence  of  the  Senate  had  been  pronounced 
and  made  a  perpetual  %*ecord,  by  entry  upon  its  journal,  without 
having  received  the  vote  of  two-thirds,  required  by  the  Constitu 
tion  to  authorize  the  Senate  to  enter  a  judgment  of  guilty  against 
any  public  officer. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  was  not  his  purpose,  at  this  time,  to  examine 
the  justice  of  these  complaints.  Upon  a  former  occasion,  and 
when  the  resolution  complained  of  was  before  the  Senate,  he  had 
been  indulged  with  the  opportunity  to  submit  his  views  upon  all 
the  important  questions  involved  in  the  paper  now  under  consid 
eration.  The  deliberate  conviction  of  his  own  mind  then  was, 
that  the  resolution  was,  and  must  be  considered,  judicial  in  its 
character;  that  its  passage  must  be  held  as  a  final  judgment  upon 
an  impeachment  for  the  offenses  specified,  in  it,  and  that  all  the 
moral  consequences  of  such  a  judgment,  upon  the  officer  against 
whom  it  was  directed,  might  follow  its  record  upon  the  journal 


266  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  Senate.  He  had  not,  however,  then  been  fortunate  enough 
to  convince  the  majority  of  the  Senate  that  his  positions  were 
well  taken,  and  he  had  no  hope  that  a  repetition  of  that  effort 
would  be  attended  with  any  better  success  now.  Upon  a  careful 
review  of  the  argument  he  had  then  made,  he  could  not  promise 
himself  that  he  could  mend  or  strengthen  it  by  a  repetition,  and 
he  would  not  consume  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  an  attempt  to 
do  so.  He  said  he  should  hold  himself  excused  from  the  discus 
sion  of  these  questions  upon  the  present  occasion,  even  if  he  had 
not  attempted  to  establish  them  by  argument  when  the  resolu 
tion  was  under  discussion,  because  the  communication  of  the 
President  argued  them  at  large,  and,  in  his  humble  judgment, 
that  paper  was  its  own  best  defense  upon  these  points.  He  had 
not  heard  its  material  facts  impugned,  or  its  reasoning  success 
fully  assailed;  and  surely  it  was  unnecessary  for  him  to  attempt 
to  defend  that  which  was  already  sufficiently  defended.  By  any 
attempt  to  strengthen  what  seemed  to  him  impregnable,  he  might 
impair  a  defense  which  did  not  call  for  his  support. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  his  object  would,  therefore,  be  to  give  to  the 
Senate,  as  concisely  as  he  might,  his  views  of  the  immediate  ques 
tions  presented  for  their  decision,  and  then  to  proceed  in  his 
replies  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky.  In  order,  how 
ever,  that  the  whole  subject  might  be  clearly  understood,  he  con 
sidered  it  his  duty,  before  he  proceeded  further,  to  correct  one 
mistake  which  several  gentlemen  seemed  to  have  fallen  into  at  the 
early  part  of  the  discussion.  He  referred  more  particularly  to 
both  the  honorable  Senators  from  New  Jersey,  because  their 
remarks  were  more  clearly  impressed  upon  his  memory.  They 
had  spoken  of  the  protest  as  embracing  and  complaining  of  the 
passage  of  both  the  resolutions  offered  by  the  honorable  member 
from  Kentucky.  This  was  a  mistake  of  fact,  important  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  discussion.  It  had  been  seen,  upon  the  first 
appearance  of  the  paper,  that  it  was  important  to  those  who  had 
sustained  the  resolution  complained  of,  to  show  that  it  was  con 
nected  with  the  legislation  of  the  Senate,  and  was  calculated  to 
lead  to  legislative  action.  In  their  ardor  to  show  this,  gentlemen 
had  carelessly  blended  the  two  resolutions,  and  had  discussed  the 
communication  of  the  President  as  referring;  to  both.  This  was 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  267 

not  so.  One  of  the  resolutions  merely  pronounced  upon  the 
official  conduct  of  the  President,  while  the  other  declared  the 
reasons  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  the  change  of  the 
public  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  to  the  State 
banks  '  unsatisfactory  and  insufficient,'  in  the  judgment  of  the 
Senate.  The  latter  resolution  might  lead  to  legislation,  and,  per 
haps,  was  calculated  to  do  so ;  for,  if  the  reasons  for  the  change 
of  the  deposits  were  considered  unsatisfactory,  the  Senate  might 
consider  it  proper  to  originate  a  law  or  joint  resolution  directing 
their  restoration.  This  would  be  within  the  conceded  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  Senate  ;  and  he  had  not  heard  that  either  the  Presi 
dent  or  any  one  else  denied  the  power  of  the  Senate  to  take  that 
course,  or  the  propriety  of  its  doing  so.  The  protest,  surely, 
contained  no  such  denial,  nor  did  it  contain  any  reference  whatever 
to  this  last-mentioned  resolution.  Its  complaints  were  all  directed 
to  the  first  ;  to  that  resolution  which  pronounced  the  President 
guilty  of  unconstitutional  and  illegal  acts,  without  any  reference 
to  legislation.  The  paper  left  no  room  for  misconception  or 
mistake  upon  this  point,  for  it  recited  at  length  the  resolution  to 
which  alone  it  referred.  He  must,  therefore,  insist  that  this 
point  should  be  clearly  understood  hereafter ;  and  that  the  Presi 
dent's  communication  should  not  be  either  condemned  or  pro 
nounced  erroneous  and  false  for  complaining  of  an  act  of  the 
Senate  to  which  it  did  not  contain  the  most  remote  reference. 
The  resolutions  were  entirely  independent  of  each  other,  and 
contained  expressions  of  opinion  upon  separate  and  entirely 
independent  subjects ;  and  the  President  had  only  complained  of 
that  one  which  criminated  him.  Of  that  which  simply  pro 
nounced  upon  the  reasons  of  the  Secretary  he  had  said  nothing. 

"  The  points  presented  for  the  decision  of  the  Senate,  as  the 
subject  presented  itself  to  his  mind,  Mr.  W.  said,  were  three  : 

"1st.  Had  the  President  a  right  to  send  the  protest  to  the 
Senate? 

"  2d.  Is  it  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  receive  it  ? 

"  3d.  Is  it  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  enter  it  upon  its  journal  ? 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  in  the  course  of  the  debate  frequent  reference 
had  been  made  to  the  duty  of  the  President,  found  in  the  Con 
stitution  in  the  following  words  : 


268  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  '  He  shall,  from  time  to  time,  give  to  tlie  Congress  information  of  the 
state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such  measures  as 
he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expedient.' 

"  And  the  question  had  been  confidently  asked,  and  more  confi 
dently  repeated,  '  Where  is  the  authority  in  this  provision  of  the 
Constitution  for  the  President  to  send  to  the  Senate  a  paper  of 
this  character?'  He  did  not  consider  the  communication  now 
under  discussion  as  having  any  relation  whatever  to  the  clause  of 
the  Constitution  he  had  just  read.  It  was  not,  in  any  sense,  a 
communication  giving  '  information  of  the  state  of  the  Union,' 
nor  did  it  recommend  any  measure  to  the  consideration  of  Con 
gress,  nor  was  it  a  communication  to  Congress  of  any  description. 
It  was  a  communication  to  the  Senate  alone,  simply  remonstrating 
against  a  proceeding  of  that  body  condemning  the  official  conduct 
of  the  President,  and  pronouncing  him  guilty  of  an  impeachable 
offense.  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  know  that  his  views  upon  this 
point  were  correct,  but  he  considered  the  right  of  the  President 
to  make  this  communication  the  same  which  every  citizen  of 
the  United  States  possessed  by  the  Constitution  to  address  either 
or  both  Houses  of  Congress  in  a  respectful  manner,  upon  any 
subject  in  which  his  individual  or  official  rights  and  interests  are 
involved.  What,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  the  character  of  the  com 
munication  before  us  ?  It  states  that  a  proceeding  of  the  Senate 
has  infringed  upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government  ;  that  we  have  pronounced  the  Presi 
dent,  as  such,  guilty  of  an  impeachable  offense,  and  have  thus 
visited  upon  his  character  and  fame  the  moral  effects,  so  far  as 
our  pronunciation  may  have  weight,  of  a  conviction  for  a  high 
crime,  although  the  legal  consequences  of  a  regular  sentence, 
after  a  trial  upon  an  impeachment,  do  not  follow.  Hence 
he  feels  himself  aggrieved,  both  personally  and  officially,  and 
he  sends  to  us  his  remonstrance  and  protest  against  the  injury. 
This  is  the  paper,  conceded  on  all  hands  to  be  respectful  in 
its  language  and  manner,  and  addressed  to  the  justice  of  the 
body  which  has  inflicted  the  injury.  That  any  private  citizen, 
who  might  feel  himself  aggrieved  by  the  action  of  the  Senate, 
would  possess  the  right  thus  to  remonstrate,  will  not  be  denied ; 
and  has  the  President  lost  that  right  because  he  happens  to  hold 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  269 

the  first  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people?  Is  the  possession  of  a 
public  office  to  deprive  the  citizen  of  his  constitutional  right  to 
protect  his  public  and  private  character,  or  even  of  the  humble 
right  of  complaint,  when  he  shall  consider  his  character  and  acts 
unjustly  assailed  ?  He,  Mr.  W.,  did  not  understand  that  any  such 
limitation  to  the  right  of  petition  or  remonstrance  had  been  pre 
scribed  by  the  Constitution  ;  he  had  not  been  able  to  find  any 
such  disability  annexed  to  the  possession  of  an  honorable  and 
responsible  office,  and  he  called  upon  honorable  Senators  to  pause 
and  reflect  before  they  attempted,  by  their  action  in  this  instance, 
to  establish  a  rule  which  might  not  only  bind  themselves,  but 
take  from  them  one  of  their  most  dear  and  invaluable  rights. 
This  was  his  view  of  the  right  of  the  President  to  send  this 
paper  to  the  Senate,  and  he  could  not  but  consider  it  as  clear 
and  indisputable  as  the  right  of  any  citizen  of  the  country  to 
petition  the  Senate  for  any  purpose  whatsoever. 

"  Is  it,  then,  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  receive  the  paper  ?  His 
answer  to  this  question  was,  that  the  duty  of  the  Senate,  as  to 
the  receipt  of  this  paper,  is  the  same  with  its  duty  as  to  the 
receipt  of  any  petition  or  remonstrance,  respectful  in  its  language 
and  manner,  and  addressed  to  the  body.  He  could  see  no  possi 
ble  distinction  ;  and  surely,  if  he  had  succeeded  in  establishing 
the  right  of  the  President  to  send  the  paper  to  the  Senate,  upon 
the  ground  upon  which  he  had  put  that  right,  there  could  be  no 
distinction.  Either  was  the  constitutional  right  of  the  citizen; 
and  that  the  injury  complained  of  in  this  instance  had  a  double 
bearing  —  that  the  President's  character,  in  an  official  as  well  as  in 
a  private  sense,  had  been  unjustly  assailed  and  deeply  injured, 
and  that  the  remonstrance  and  protest  reached  and  exposed  the 
injury  in  both  respects  —  could  not  affect  the  right  to  present  the 
paper,  or  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  receive  it  when  presented. 
Mr.  W.  said  he  had  already  remarked  that  the  communication  was 
admitted  upon  all  sides  to  be  respectful  in  its  language  and 
manner,  and  he  would  not  anticipate  any  objection  to  its  receipt, 
founded  upon  exceptions  in  these  particulars,  so  long  as  no  such 
exceptions  had  been  taken.  His  acquaintance  with  parliamentary 
rules  was  very  limited  ;  but  he  did  understand  it  to  be  the  duty  of 
every  legislative  body,  especially  of  the  legislative  bodies  of  this 


270  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  }\'IUGHT. 

country,  to  receive  every  petition  and  remonstrance,  addressed  to 
them  in  language  respectful  to  the  body  and  to  its  individual 
members,  and,  until  this  character  should  be  denied  to  the  paper 
before  the  Senate,  he  must  consider  it  the  imperative  duty  of  the 
Senate  to  receive  it. 

"  This,  Mr.  W.  said,  brought  him  to  his  third  point  :  Is  it  the 
duty  of  the  Senate  to  enter  the  protest  of  the  President  upon  its 
journal  ?  This  question  he  considered  addressed  itself  to  the  jus 
tice  of  the  Senate,  and  the  entry  of  the  paper  upon  the  journal 
became  a  duty  or  not,  as  the  Senate  she  aid  or  should  not  think 
its  entry  there  an  act  of  justice  to  itself  and  to  the  individual 
from  whom  it  came.  For  himself,  he  could  entertain  no  doubt  that 
justice  to  the  President,  to  the  Senate  and  to  the  public,  required 
that  it  should  be  made  a  perpetual  record,  by  an  entry  upon  the 
journal.  The  Senate  had  entered  upon  that  journal,  and  pro 
nounced  to  the  world,  the  high  charge  against  the  President  of  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws.  They  had  not  given  to 
the  President  any  opportunity  to  offer  his  defense  to  their 
accusations,  but,  without  notice  to  him,  they  had  made  them  a 
part  of  their  recorded  proceedings ;  and  their  journal,  laid  upon 
his  table,  and  showing  to  him  his  conviction,  was  his  only  notice 
of  their  action.  Feeling  aggrieved  personally  and  officially  by 
the  sentence  itself,  which  he  considers  unjust,  and  by  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  pronounced,  without  notice  to  him,  and  without 
any  opportunity  on  his  part  to  defend  himself,  and,  by  exhibiting 
the  truth,  to  defeat  a  conviction,  he  now  makes  this  communica 
tion,  setting  forth  the  injustice  of  the  proceeding  of  the  Senate 
toward  him,  and  presenting  his  defense  to  the  charges  made 
against  him,  so  far  as  any  such  charges  have  been  specifically  set 
forth.  This,  his  defense  and  exculpation,  he  respectfully  requests 
maybe  entered  upon  the  same  journal  upon  which  the  Senate  has 
recorded  his  guilt,  in  order  that  the  record,  which  carries  .down 
to  future  ages  the  resolution  condemning  him,  may  carry  along 
with  it  his  justification.  Is  not  the  request  a  reasonable  one  ?  Is 
it  not  an  act  of  duty  to  the  high  officer  accused  that  he  should 
thus  be  permitted  to  perpetuate  his  defense  against  an  irregular 
and  informal  condemnation  by  the  Senate?  Is  it  not  just  to  the 
President  that  his  defense  should  be  spread  upon  our  journal  by 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  271 

the  side  of  that  condemnation  which  we  have  voluntarily 
pronounced  against  him,  and  that  both  should  be  embraced  in 
the  same  record,  and  be  thus  left  together  for  the  inspection  and 
judgment  of  our  successors  and  the  public?  It  is  said,  as  a 
reason  for  refusing  this  communication  a  place  upon  the  journal 
of  the  Senate,  that  the  President  has  no  right  to  demand  its  entry 
there.  Sir,  said  Mr.  W.,  he  has  made  no  such  demand  ;  he 
claims  no  right  to  make  such  a  demand ;  he  merely  requests, 
respectfully  requests,  us  to  permit  its  being  thus  entered,  to  the 
end  that  in  all  future  time  the  journal  may  exhibit  the  whole 
case.  This  request  is  a  full  admission,  if  one  were  needed,  that 
the  President  makes  no  claim  of  right  to  have  this  paper  spread 
upon  our  journal.  Was  ever  such  a  request  found  in  those 
communications  which  the  President  makes  to  Congress  under  the 
clause  of  the  Constitution  before  quoted  ?  Certainly  not  ;  and 
this  simple  fact  shows  most  conclusively  that  the  President  did 
not  consider  this  communication  as  coming  at  all  within  the  class 
of  communications  there  mentioned,  or  as  made  by  virtue  of  the 
power  there  given,  or  rather  the  duty  there  imposed  upon  him. 
He  sends  his  paper  to  the  Senate  as  his  personal  and  official 
defense  against  a  personal  and  official  accusation  which  we  have 
entered  upon  our  journal,  and  he  asks  of  our  justice,  what  he 
does  not  claim  as  a  right,  that  we  shall  give  the  same  perpetuity 
and  publicity  to  his  defense  which  we  have  given  to  our  charges. 
It  is  further  said,  as  a  reason  both  for  refusing  to  enter  the 
communication  upon  our  journal,  and  for  refusing  even  to  receive 
it,  that  it  is  in  itself  a  breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  Senate. 
Mr.  W.  said  he  was  little,  very  little  acquainted  with  this  doctrine 
of  'the  privileges  of  Parliament.'  He  had  never  found  it  either 
pleasant  or  profitable  to  himself  to  study  the  doctrine,  and  after 
the  examples  given  to  the  Senate,  but  a  few  days  since,  by  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Kane],  of  the  odious  and 
disgusting  ceremonies  gravely  practiced  by  a  British  House  of 
Commons,  by  way  of  punishment  for  breaches  of  the  '  privileges ' 
of  that  legislative  body,  he  felt  sure  that  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  would  not  find  its  attachment  to  parliamentary 
privileges  strengthened.  Still,  British  precedents  had  been  cited 
to  justify  the  course  which  was  proposed  for  the  Senate  in  rela- 


272  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tion  to  this  message  from  the  President.  So  far  as  he  had  heard 
these  precedents  read,  and  so  far  as  he  had  been  able  to  examine 
them  in  the  course  of  his  partial  research,  he  believed  them  all  to 
be  wholly  inapplicable  to  the  case  before  the  Senate.  They  are 
all  cases  of  communications  from  the  Crown  to  the  one  or  the 
other  House  of  Parliament,  pending  some  legislative  action,  and 
designed  to  influence  that  action.  They  are  not  complaints  of 
individual  injustice  to  the  Prince,  or  of  encroachments  upon  the 
powers  and  rights  of  the  executive ;  but  they  are  attempts  on 
the  part  of  the  Crown  to  dictate  to  the  Legislature  its  course  of 
legislative  action.  Such  is  not  the  case  before  the  Senate.  Here 
is  no  effort  to  influence  the  action  of  the  Senate,  or  the  votes  of 
Senators,  for  the  votes  had  been  given  and  the  action  was  com 
plete  weeks  before  the  communication  came  to  the  Senate.  The 
communication  relates  to  an  act  of  the  Senate,  not  legislative, 
but  judicial  in  its  nature  and  character,  and  the  gravamen  of  the 
complaint  is  that  the  action  had  been  completed  and  the  sentence 
of  the  Senate  passed  without  notice  to  the  President,  who  was 
the  accused  officer,  and  without  allowing  him  to  be  heard  in  his 
defense.  Were  it  otherwise  ;  had  the  President  made  a  com 
munication  of  this  character  to  the  Senate  while  the  resolution 
complained  of  was  before  the  body,  and  not  definitely  acted 
upon  ;  and  had  the  complaint  then  been  made  of  an  attempt  by 
the  President  to  influence  the  action  of  the  Senate,  it  would  have 
seemed  to  be  worthy  of  some  attention.  But  surely  this  objec 
tion  comes  too  late,  when  our  votes  are  recorded,  our  resolution 
adopted,  and  our  action  not  only  completed  but  passed  beyond 
our  power  of  recall.  The  paper  before  us  is  not  designed  to 
influence  our  action,  but  to  show  that  we  have  acted  unlawfully 
and  unjustly,  and  have  thereby  deprived  a  distinguished  citizen, 
and  the  highest  officer  in  the  government,  of  his  constitutional 
and  legal  rights. 

"  But,  said  Mr.  W.,  without  dwelling  longer  upon  this  topic, 
let  me  caution  gentlemen  not  to  place  too  much  reliance  upon 
English  precedents  as  being  applicable  to  the  legislative  bodies  of 
this  country.  We  have  written  Constitutions,  defining  the  rights 
and  limiting  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  of  government. 
How  is  it  in  England  ?  What  is  the  Constitution  -of  the  govern- 


LIFE  AND  TIMP;S  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  273 

merit  of  Great  Britain  ?  It  is  the  will  of  Parliament.  What 
are  the  '  privileges '  of  the  British  Parliament  ?  They  are  the 
will  of  the  British  Parliament.  Mr.  W.  said  he  believed  that 
one  of  the  highest  courts  in  the  kingdom  had  uniformly  decided 
that  it  was  incompetent  for  that  court  to  adjudge  what  was 
and  what  was  not  a  '  privilege  '  of  Parliament,  because  the  '  privi 
leges  of  Parliament'  were  the  will  and  pleasure  of  Parliament. 
Would  any  one  contend  that  the  privileges  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  are  the  will  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  ?  That  the  privileges  of  the  Senate  are  the  will  of  the 
Senate  ?  Surely  not  ;  and  how,  then,  can  the  decisions  of  the 
British  Parliament,  as  to  questions  of  'privilege,'  form  safe 
precedents  for  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ?  The  power 
of  the  Parliament  over  the  subject  is  supreme,  and  any  deci 
sion  it  may  please  to  make  is  the  paramount  law  of  the  case. 
The  power  of  Congress  is  confined  to  the  specific  grants  of 
power  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
neither  it  nor  either  of  its  branches  can  claim  privileges  in 
contravention  of  that  instrument,  and  of  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  citizen.  Mr.  W.  said  he  could  not  consider  British 
precedents  upon  the  subject  of  parliamentary  privilege  as  deserv 
ing  of  much  weight  when  attempted  to  be  applied  to  our 
institutions.  He  rather  considered  them  as  dangerous  guides, 
calculated  to  mislead  us  in  the  rigid  construction  of  our  consti 
tutional  privileges,  and  to  draw  us  towards  those  parliamentary 
claims  which  have  proved  the  most  dangerous  to  civil  liberty  — 
the  claims  of  unrestrained  legislative  will  as  the  measure  of 
legislative  privilege.  Mr.  W.  said  he  knew  of  no  privilege  of 
the  Senate,  and  he  certainly  was  not  conscious  that  any  privilege 
of  his  own  was  violated  by  the  protest;  and  he  considered  it  not 
less  the  duty  of  the  Senate  than  an  act  of  justice  to  the  President 
that  it  should  be  entered  at  length  upon  the  journal,  to  remain 
forever  with  the  high  accusation  to  which  it  was  an  answer. 

"  Other  precedents,  Mr.  W.  said,  had  been  cited  for  another 
purpose,  drawn  from  the  acts  of  the  Senate  itself.  Reference 
had  been  made  to  the  proceedings  of  the  celebrated  Panama 
mission,  a  leading  measure  of  the  late  administration;  and  he 
understood  the  object  of  the  reference  to  be  to  justify  the  Senate 
18 


274  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

in  the  passage  of  the  resolution  of  which  the  protest  complained. 
He  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  examine  these  precedents,  because  he 
was  convinced  that  they  would  be  found  to  have  no  possible 
application  to  that  proceeding  which  they  were  adduced  to  jus 
tify.  The  cases  would  be  seen  to  be  wholly  unlike  in  every 
material  particular,  and  to  exhibit  no  analogy  and  resemblance 
other  than  that  which  may  be  imagined  between  the  view's  of 
the  judge  as  to  what  the  law  is,  wholly  disconnected  from  any 
consideration  of  an  act  done  or  crime  committed,  and  the  opinion 
of  that  same  judge,  judicially  pronounced,  passing  sentence  of 
condemnation  upon  a  culprit  for  a  violation  of  that  law.  Even 
this  resemblance,  if  it  deserved  that  appellation,  could  only  be 
traced  between  the  case  now  under  discussion  and  the  first  pre 
cedent  cited.  Between  the  present  question  and  the  latter  prece 
dent  relied  upon,  he  was  unable  to  discover  any  relationship  of 
any  denomination  whatsoever.  He  would  not,  however,  ask  the 
Senate  to  take  his  opinions  as  authority  upon  the  subject,  but  he 
would  detain  them  while  he  read  the  resolutions,  that  every 
Senator  might  form  his  own  opinion  as  to  the  extent  to  which 
they  were  precedents  for  the  unexampled  condemnation  which 
had  been  pronounced  upon  the  official  conduct  of  the  President 
by  the  resolution  complained  of.  He  then  read  from  the  journal 
of  the  Senate  of  1825-6,  page  414,  as  follows: 

"' Mr.  Branch  submitted  the  following  motion  for  consideration,  which 
was  read,  and  ordered  to  be  printed,  in  confidence,  for  the  use  of  the  mem 
bers: 

' '  '  WJiereas,  The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  opening  message  to 
Congress,  asserted  that  "  invitations  had  been  accepted,  and  that  ministers 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  would  be  commissioned  to  attend  the  delibe 
rations  at  Panama,"  without  submitting  said  nominations  to  the  Senate;  and 
whereas,  in  an  executive  communication  of  the  26th  of  December,  1825, 
although  he  submits  the  nominations,  yet  maintains  the  right,  previously 
announced  in  his  opening  message,  that  he  possesses  an  authority  to  make, 
such  appointments,  and  to  commission  them  without  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate;  and  whereas  a  silent  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  this  body 
may,  at  some  future  time,  be  drawn  into  dangerous  precedent;  therefore, 

"•'Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  does  not  constitution 
ally  possess  either  the  right  or  the  power  to  appoint  ambassadors  or  other 
public  ministers,  but  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  except 
when  vacancies  may  happen  in  the  recess.' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  275 

"  This,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  the  first  precedent  relied  upon  in  the 
practice  of  the  Senate;  and  what  is  it?  The  President  asserts  a 
power  as  constitutionally  resting  in  his  hands,  but  does  not 
attempt  its  exercise.  On  the  contrary,  he  does  what  the  resolu 
tion  declares  he  should  do,  and  makes  to  the  Senate  the  very 
nominations  which  the  resolution  declares  should  be  made  to 
that  body  before  commissions  issue;  but  in  the  communication 
transmitting  the  nominations  he  is  understood  to  reassert  the 
right  to  issue  the  commissions  without  first  having  obtained  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  For  over-caution,  and  lest 
the  silence  of  the  Senate  might  be  held  an  acquiescence  in  the 
assertion  of  power  made  by  the  President,  and  lest  that  assertion 
and  silence  might,  '  at  some  future  time,  be  drawn  into  dangerous 
precedent,'  the  resolution  is  offered,  counteracting  the  assertion 
of  power  made  by  the  President.  No  official  act  of  the  Presi 
dent  is  complained  of,  but  merely  the  assertion  of  an  opinion 
which  the  mover  of  the  resolution  held  to  be  erroneous,  and  con 
trary  to  the  constitutional  powers  conferred  upon  the  President. 
It  is  worthy  of  particular  remark  that  no  vote  of  the  Senate 
appears  ever  to  have  been  taken  upon  the  resolution;  and,  there 
fore,  it  goes  no  farther  as  a  precedent  than  that  it  was  offered 
by  an  individual  member  of  the  Senate,  received,  and  entered 
upon  the  journal,  but  never  acted  upon,  adopted,  or  in  any  other 
way  made  the  act  of  the  Senate.  As  has  been  before  remarked, 
the  resolution  refers  to  no  act  of  the  President,  official  or  unoffi 
cial,  other  than  an  expression  of  an  opinion  as  to  his  constitu 
tional  powers  in  the  appointment  and  commissioning  of  foreign 
ministers.  It  neither  answers  nor  condemns  any  act  of  the 
President,  official  or  unofficial,  but  merely  pronounces  an  opinion 
upon  the  point  involved,  contrary  to  the  opinion  entertained  and 
expressed  by  the  President,  but  never  acted  upon;  and  all  the 
record  shows  is,  that  the  then  President  believed  he  had  the 
right,  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  commis 
sion  ministers  to  represent  this  government  abroad,  and  at  places 
and  in  relations  where  no  such  representatives  of  the  government 
had  before  existed,  and  the  Senator  who- offered  the  resolution 
did  not  believe  that  he  possessed  any  such  power.  So  much  for 
the  first  precedent  cited  from  our  own  authority  to  sustain  the 


276  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

action  of  the  Senate  in  condemning,  without  trial,  the  President 
of  the  United  States  for  his  official  acts. 

"  Mr.  W.  then  read  from  the  same  journal,  page  461,  as  follows: 

"  'A  motion  was  made  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  amend  the  resolution  by 
adding  thereto  the  following : 

"  'Resolved,  That  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  authorizing  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  nominate,  and,  by  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate,  appoint  "  ambassadors  and  other  public  ministers,"  authorizes 
the  nomination  and  appointment  to  offices  of  a  diplomatic  character  only, 
existing  by  virtue  of  international  laws,  and  does  not  authorize  the  nomina 
tion  and  appointment  (under  the  name  of  ministers)  of  representatives  to  an 
assembly  of  nations,  like  the  proposed  Congress  of  Panama,  who,  from  the 
nature  of  their  appointment,  must  be  mere  deputies,  unknown  to  the  law  of 
nations,  and  without  diplomatic  character  or  privilege. 

"  ' Resolved,  That  the  power  of  forming  or  entering  (in  any  manner  what 
ever)  into  new  political  associations  or  confederacies  belongs  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  in  their  sovereign  character,  being  one  of  the  powers 
which,  not  having  been  delegated  to  the  government,  are  reserved  to  the 
States  or  people;  and  that  it  is  not  within  the  constitutional  power  of  the 
federal  government  to  appoint  deputies,  or  representatives  of  any  descrip 
tion,  to  represent  the  United  States  in  the  Congress  of  Panama,  or  to  partici 
pate  in  the  deliberation  or  discussion  or  recommendation  or  acts  of  that 
congress. 

"  'Resolved,  As  the  opinion  of  the  Senate,  that  (waiving  the  question  of 
constitutional  power)  the  appointment  of  deputies  to  the  Congress  of  Panama 
by  the  United  States,  according  to  the  invitation  given,  and  its  conditional 
acceptance,  would  be  a  departure  from  that  wise  and  settled  policy  by 
which  the  intercourse  of  the  United  States  with  foreign  nations  has  hitherto 
been  regulated,  and  may  endanger  the  friendly  relations  which  now  happily 
exist  between  us  and  the  Spanish- American  States,  by  creating  expectations 
that  engagements  will  be  entered  into  by  us,  at  that  congress,  which  the 
Senate  could  not  ratify,  and  of  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  would 
not  approve. 

"  'Resolved,  That  the  advantages  of  the  proposed  mission  to  the  Congress 
of  Panama,  if  attainable,  would,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Senate,  be  better 
obtained,  without  such  hazard,  by  the  attendance  of  one  of  our  present 
ministers  near  either  of  the  Spanish  governments,  authorized  to  express  the 
deep  interest  we  feel  in  their  prosperity,  and  instructed  fully  to  explain 
(when  requested)  the  great  principles  of  our  policy,  but  without  being  a 
member  of  that  congress,  and  without  power  to  commit  the  United  States 
to  any  stipulated  mode  of  enforcing  those  principles,  in  any  supposed  or 
possible  state  of  the  world.' 

"  This,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  the  second  precedent  relied  upon,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  277 

from  which  quotations  had  been  made,  to  sustain  the  resolution 
of  the  Senate  of  which  the  President  complains  in  the  protest. 
What  is  this  authority  ?  The  resolutions  deny  the  constitutional 
power  of  the  President  and  Senate,  under  the  authority  given  in 
that  instrument,  to  appoint  '  ambassadors  and  other  public  minis 
ters,'  to  appoint  representatives  to  a  congress  of  nations,  and 
assert  that  the  character  of  such  representatives  would  not  be 
diplomatic,  and  that  the  persons  appointed  would  not  be  entitled 
to  diplomatic  privileges;  that  the  federal  government,  in  all  its 
branches,  does  not  possess  the  constitutional  power  to  enter  into 
political  associations  and  confederacies,  new  in  their  character, 
and  unknown  to  the  country,  but  that  this  is  one  of  the  powers 
reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people;  that  the  appointment  of 
deputies  to  represent  the  United  States  in  the  proposed  congress 
of  nations  at  Panama  would  be  a  departure  from  the  wise  policy 
heretofore  pursued  by  the  government  in  its  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations,  and  might  endanger  the  friendly  relations  at  the 
time  existing  between  the  United  States  and  the  Spanish-Ameri 
can  States;  and  that  all  the  valuable  purposes  of  the  proposed 
mission,  or  representation,  might  be  better  attained  through  the 
agency  of  some  one  of  our  diplomatic  agents  near  those  States. 
This  is  the  substance  of  the  four  resolutions;  and  do  they  assume 
to  condemn  the  official  acts  of  the  then  President  ?  Do  they  even 
assume  to  deny  to  him  constitutional  powers  which  they  do  not, 
at  the  same  time,  deny  to  the  Senate  itself,  and  to  every  other 
branch  of  the  government  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  so  under 
stand  them,  and  he  had  been  wholly  unable  to  trace  the  most 
remote  analogy  between  these  resolutions  and  that  sentence  of 
the  Senate  pronounced  against  the  official  acts  of  the  President 
which  they  had  been  referred  to  to  sustain.  When  these  resolu 
tions  were  offered  to  the  Senate  no  effective  act  had  been  per 
formed  by  any  department  of  the  government.  The  President 
had  nominated  what  he  called  ministers  to  attend  the  congress 
of  nations  at  Panama,  but  he  had  not  attempted  to  commission 
and  despatch  them  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate; 
and  it  was  upon  the  question  of  giving  this  advice  and  consent 
that  these  resolutions,  as  weli  as  that  one  which  constituted  the 
first  precedent  quoted,  were  offered  to  the  attention  of  the  Sen- 


278  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ate.  The  questions  involved  in  both  were  those  of  constitutional 
power  in  some  one  or  in  all  of  the  departments  of  the  government, 
or  questions  of  political  expediency,  as  connected  with  the  wise 
and  safe  administration  of  our  foreign  relations.  No  official  act 
of  any  officer  of  the  government,  or  of  any  department  of  the 
government,  was  either  alluded  to  or  proposed  to  be  censured 
or  condemned.  The  whole  contest,  in  both  cases,  was  one  of 
opinion  merely,  and  not  of  action;  and,  whichever  way  it  should 
have  resulted,  no  officer  or  department  of  the  government  was 
either  impeached  or  condemned  for  acts  in  violation  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  laws.  It  is  also  a  fact  worthy  of  remark,  and  not 
to  be  overlooked,  that  these  last  resolutions  were  expressly 
rejected  by  the  Senate,  by  a  single  vote  taken  upon  the  whole. 

"Such,  Mr.  W.  said,  had  been  the  success  of  the  powerful 
advocates  of  the  proceeding  of  the  Senate  in  condemnation  of 
the  President,  in  their  attempts  to  support,  by  precedent  drawn 
from  our  own  parliamentary  history,  the  action  of  this  body. 
Might  he  not,  without  injustice  to  any  one,  assume  that  a  pro 
ceeding  so  novel,  and  which  found  such  very  slender  supports, 
or  rather  such  entire  want  of  support  from  any  former  expression 
ever  offered  to  either  branch  of  Congress,  must  be,  at  least, 
doubtful  as  to  either  its  legislative,  executive  or  judicial  pro 
priety  ?  He  must  be  permitted  to  think  that,  whichever  char 
acter  should  be  claimed  for  this  resolution  of  the  Senate,  it 
would  be  found  equally  indefensible  in  principle  and  precedent. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  now  remained  for  him  to  reply,  as  briefly  as 
possible,  to  some  of  the  remarks  of  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay],  and,  having  done  so,  he  would  relieve  the 
Senate  from  hearing  him  further. 

"The  honorable  Senator  told  us,  and  I  was  somewhat  surprised 
that  he  had  been  able  to  convince  himself  that  such  was  the  fact, 
that  the  advocates  of  the  resolution  uniformly  avoided  speaking 
of  the  motives  of  the  President.  Had  the  honorable  gentleman 
forgotten  that  in  almost  the  first  sentence  of  his  address,  on 
opening  the  debate,  he  pronounced  to  the  Senate  and  the  country 
that  the  President  was  attempting  to  grasp  all  the  powers  of  this 
government  into  his  single  hand  ?  Had  he  forgotten  how  fre 
quently  that  officer  of  the  government  was,  during  the  course  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  279 

this  debate,  termed  a  despot,  a  usurper,  a  military  chieftain;  how 
often  the  harsh  term  of  a  l  robbery  of  the  public  treasury '  was 
applied  to  the  act  of  the  removal  of  the  deposits?  [Here  Mr. 
Clay  explained.  He  said  he  did  not  intend  to  refer  to  the 
debates,  in  his  remarks  in  relation  to  the  President's  motives; 
that  what  he  had  intended  to  say  was,  that  the  resolution  con 
tained  no  imputation  npon  his  motives.]  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he 
would  accept  the  gentleman's  explanation;  for  he  felt  sure,  at 
the  time  he  heard  the  remark,  that  it  was  not  intended  in  its 
literal  sense.  The  gentleman  used  the  term  '  advocates,'  from 
which  Mr.  W.  inferred  that  he  alluded  to  the  debates;  but  as  his 
explanation  seemed  to  admit  that,  in  the  debates  upon  the  reso 
lution,  the  motives  of  the  President  were  not  permitted  to  escape 
accusation,  he  would  consider  the  remark  as  applied  to  the  resolu 
tion  itself.  And  what,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  the  resolution,  as  it  stands 
upon  the  journal  ?  Is  it  merely  an  accusation,  an  indictment,  an 
article  of  impeachment?  No,  sir.  It  is  a  judgment  upon  an 
accusation.  It  does  not  accuse;  but  assuming  all  anterior  pro 
ceedings,  it  convicts.  In  vain,  then,  do  gentlemen  tell  us  that  it 
does  not,  in  its  terms,  refer  to  the  motives  of  the  President,  and 
that  an  impeachment  must  accompany  an  accusation  of  crime, 
with  an  allegation  of  a  corrupt  or  wicked  intent.  The  position 
was  true  as  to  indictments,  and  might  be  true  as  to  impeachments, 
though  Mr.  W.  believed  the  allegation  of  wicked  intent  was  not 
indispensable  in  the  latter;  but  however  that  might  be,  no  one 
would  contend  that  any  reference  to  the  intention  of  the  defendant 
is  ever  made  in  the  entry  upon  the  record  of  a  criminal  judgment. 
That  entry  merely  pronounces  the  accused  guilty  of  the  crime, 
charged  in  the  most  general  language  ;  and  the  judgment  thus 
entered  carries  with  it,  by  necessary  implication,  all  that  is 
required  to  sustain  itself.  It  relates  back  to  the  proceedings  ante 
rior  to  the  judgment  for  the  form  of  accusation,  the  allegations 
of  intention,  and  all  else  which  should  have  existed  to  sustain 
the  judgment,  and,  in  the  absence  of  those  proceedings,  the  entry 
of  the  judgment  simply  must  be  held  as  the  strongest  prima 
facie  evidence  that  those  preliminary  proceedings  were  regular 
and  sufficient.  Such,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  the  light  in  which  he 
viewed  the  resolution  of  the  Senate.  It  pronounced  the  judg- 


280  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

ment  of  a  majority  of  the  Senate  upon  an  impeachable  offense 
charged  against  the  President.  This  pronunciation  of  a  judg 
ment  of  guilty  was  the  only  entry  upon  record,  and  that  entry 
must,  of  necessity,  carry  with  it  the  unavoidable  implication  of 
all  the  preliminary  proceedings  requisite  to  authorize  the  judg 
ment  to  be  so  entered.  Who,  then,  could  say  that  the  protest 
was  wrong  in  thus  stating  the  case  ?  And  who  will  say  that  the 
President  was  wrong  in  complaining  of  and  protesting  against 
this  conviction,  to  whom  it  shall  be  known  that  no  preliminary 
proceedings  whatever  were  had ;  that  no  accusation  was  ever 
made,  and  that  this  general  entry  of  a  judgment  of  condemnation 
is  the  only  step  ever  taken  ?  Mr.  W.  said,  if  there  were  no 
other  reason  for  entering  the  protest  upon  the  journal  of  the 
Senate,  this  consideration  alone,  in  his  judgment,  made  it  their 
imperious  duty  so  to  enter  it,  as  an  act  of  sheer  justice  to  the 
President,  because,  without  it,  the  journal  would  not  show  the 
true  history  of  the  transaction,  and  would  not,  therefore,  be  stript 
of  the  unjust,  and,  as  it  would  seem  from  the  remarks  of  gentle 
men  in  the  debate,  unintended  implication  to  which  he  had 
alluded. 

"Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  I  was  much  pleased  when  the 
honorable  Senator  told  us  that  this  message  of  the  President 
ought  to  be  diffused ;  that  he  hoped  a  copy  of  it  would  reach 
the  hands,  and  meet  the  eye  and  careful  perusal  of  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  country  ;  and  that  he  would  gladly  con 
tribute  from  his  own  private  means  to  give  it  circulation.  I 
agree  with  him  fully  in  this  opinion  and  this  wish;  but,  judging 
from  the  character  and  tendency  of  his  remarks,  we  must  have 
come  to  a  like  conclusion  from  very  different  views  of  the  paper, 
and  of  the  effects  to  be  produced  upon  the  public  mind  by  its 
extended  distribution.  I  think  it  eminently  calculated  to  justify 
not  only  the  motives  but  the  acts  of  the  President  with  the  pub 
lic;  to  arouse  the  public  attention  to  the  dangerous,  and,  as  I 
think,  unconstitutional  exercise  of  power  by  this  body,  in  their 
late  condemnation  of  the  President,  without  an  impeachment, 
and  without  a  trial;  and  to  extend  the  popularity  of  that  worthy 
public  servant,  and  strengthen  the  salutary  principles  of  his 
administration.  The  honorable  Senator  must  suppose  that  effects, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  281 

precisely  the  reverse  of  these,  will  be  produced  by  the  circula 
tion  of  this  message,  or,  surely,  he  would  not  voluntarily  contri 
bute  to  its  circulation.  He,  no  doubt,  thinks  that  the  paper  is 
calculated  to  produce  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  those  alarming 
encroachments  of  executive  power  against  which  he  so  frequently 
and  so  eloquently  warns  us.  But  whether  the  honorable  Senator 
or  myself  be  correct  in  our  impressions  as  to  the  effect  to  be  pro 
duced  by  the  circulation  of  the  message,  so  long  as  we  both  agree 
that  important  and  salutary  purposes  would  be  accomplished  by 
its  universal  distribution,  ought  we  not  also  to  agree  upon  the 
propriety  and  duty  of  making  so  important  a  paper,  and  from 
the  reading  of  which  we  anticipate  so  important  consequences, 
a  matter  of  perpetual  record  upon  our  journal  ?  I  appeal  to  the 
honorable  Senator  to  say  whether  the  consequence  he  has  him 
self  attached  to  the  message  does  not  show  that  it  ought  to  be 
perpetuated  as  a  part  of  our  national  history.  If  it  contain 
evidence  of  executive  encroachments  dangerous  to  our  civil  insti 
tutions,  ought  we  not  to  spread  it  upon  our  journal,  as  a  solemn 
warning  to  all  future  Presidents  against  the  like  attempts  ?  If  it 
unjustly  assail  the  Senate,  or  any  of  its  members,  do  we  not  owe 
it  to  ourselves  and  to  our  constituents  to  record  the  aggression 
and  to  place  our  answer  and  defense  by  its  side?  On  the  other 
hand,  if,  as  I  suppose,  the  Senate  have  encroached  upon  the  con 
stitutional  rights  of  the  executive,  and  the  message  exposes  the 
violation  of  our  powers,  are  we  not  bound,  in  strict  justice  to  the 
President,  to  give  the  exposition  a  place  upon  the  same  record 
which  contains  our  violation  ?  In  any  sense,  Mr.  W.  said,  in 
which  he  could  view  the  subject,  the  message  ought  to  be  entered 
upon  the  journal;  and  he  was  at  a  loss  to  know  how  gentlemen 
were  able  to  reconcile  it  to  their  feelings  to  pronounce  the  paper 
important,  and  its  wide  circulation  useful  and  desirable,  and  then 
contend  that  it  ought  not  to  be  thus  perpetuated.  They  could 
not  desire  to  fix  upon  it  this  mark  of  the  disapprobation  of  the 
Senate,  to  precede  its  circulation  among  the  people.  They  could 
not  fear  its  effects  in  the  hands  of  our  enlightened  citizens,  unless 
that  effect  shall  be  modified  by  this  unfavorable  treatment  of  the 
paper  here.  He  did  hope  Senators  would  reflect  upon  the  import 
ance  of  the  questions  involved,  and  would  give  the  message  its 


282  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

place  upon  the  journal  of  the  Senate.  But,  Mr.  President,  if  the 
Senate  shall  conclude  to  refuse  the  paper  an  entry  upon  the 
journal,  will  they  enter  upon  that  journal  the  resolution  before 
you,  characterizing  and  condemning  it  ?  Will  they  pronounce  the 
message  unconstitutional,  an  encroachment  of  executive  power, 
and  a  breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  Senate,  and  not  let  that 
journal  show  upon  what  that  harsh  judgment  was  formed  ?  Will 
they  compel  us  to  record  our  names  against  the  resolutions,  and 
refuse  us  an  entry  of  the  paper  to  justify  or  condemn  our  course  ? 
I  hope  not.  If  the  message  is  to  be  excluded,  I  do  hope  that  the 
Senate  will  be  content  with  its  exclusion  simply;  and  that,  if  its 
contents  are  to  be  examined  for  grounds  upon  which  to  condemn 
it,  the  paper  itself  may  be  allowed  a  place  by  the  side  of  our 
condemning  sentence,  that  all  who  hereafter  read  our  journal 
may  be  able  to  judge  between  those  who  approve  and  those  who 
disapprove  it. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  the  honorable  Senator  had  told  us  that  the 
President  had  not  come  here  in  the  humbled  and  subdued  tone 
of  a  convicted  culprit,  but  in  the  tone  and  spirit  indicating  a 
feeling  far  above  any  tribunal  of  the  country.  He  does  not  come 
here,  sir,  in  the  tone  of  a  criminal  or  convict,  for  he  is  neither; 
but  he  conies  here  in  the  tone  and  spirit  of  an  injured  man.  His 
personal  and  official  rights  have  been  assailed  and  violated,  and 
a  sentence  has  been  pronounced  against  him  calculated  to  have  the 
moral  influence,  upon  his  character  and  fame,  of  a  conviction  for 
crime,  while  he  has  not  even  been  constitutionally  accused,  much 
less  tried  or  convicted.  It  is  of  this  he  complains.  He  is  not 
resisting  a  judicial  sentence,  regularly  pronounced,  but  an  effort 
to  visit  upon  him  the  evil  consequences  of  such  a  sentence,  with 
out  allowing  him  a  trial,  and  against  the  positive  provisions  of 
the  Constitution.  Should  he  then  come  in  the  subdued  spirit  of 
a  convict  ?  But  where  does  the  Senate  find  authority  for  saying 
that  the  message  displays  a  feeling  in  the  President  '  far,  far  above 
any  tribunal  of  the  country  ?'  To  what  tribunals  of  the  country 
is  the  President,  as  such,  legally  subject  ?  To  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  by  way  of  impeachment,  and  to  this  body  by  way 
of  trial  upon  such  impeachment,  and  to  the  great  tribunal  of  the 
people.  Has  he  not  in  the  message  expressly  recognized  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  283 

acknowledged  his  subjection,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution,  to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  ?  Is  not  his  com 
plaint  that  the  provisions  of  that  instrument  have  not  been 
regarded  in  the  late  action  of  the  Senate,  but  that  this  House  of 
Congress  has  stepped  by  the  other  and  assumed  a  jurisdiction  not 
conferred  upon  it  by  the  Constitution  ?  And  is  not  the  message 
itself  an  appeal  to  the  Senate  against  its  own  injustice,  and,  in 
effect,  through  the  Senate,  to  the  tribunal  of  public  opinion,  the 
only  tribunal  to  which  an  appeal  can  be  taken  from  the  decisions 
of  the  Senate  ?  Is  it  right,  then,  to  say  that  the  President,  in  his 
message,  has  exhibited  a  feeling  above  the  tribunals  of  the  country 
to  which  he  is  responsible  ?  I  am  sure  the  Senator's  sense  of 
justice  will  show  him  that  he  does  the  President  manifest  wrong 
in  this  declaration. 

"  The  conduct  of  the  President,  in  sending  this  protest  to  the 
Senate,  Mr.  W.  said,  had  been  the  subject  of  severe  animadver 
sion,  and  the  act  had  been  pronounced  unprecedented  and  unau 
thorized.  To  rebut  these  suggestions,  the  Senator  from  Illinois 
[Mr.  Kane]  had  presented  a  precedent  from  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania,  which  was  supposed  strongly  to  support  the  course 
pursued  by  the  President  upon  this  occasion.  The  honorable 
Senator  from  Kentucky  had  commented  upon  the  Pennsylvania 
case,  and  seemed  to  have  satisfied  himself  that  it  did  not  go,  in 
any  degree,  to  support  the  communication  of  the  President  now 
before  the  Senate,  and  the  request  accompanying  it,  that  it  should 
be  entered  upon  the  journal.  Mr.  W.  said  it  would  be  his  duty 
very  briefly  to  examine  the  two  cases,  that  the  Senate  might  the 
better  determine  how  far  the  one  would  justify  the  other.  He 
had  understood  the  honorable  Senator  to  say  that  the  attempt 
was  to  impeach  Governor  McKean,  then  the  Governor  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  before  the  House  of  Representatives  of  that 
State,  the  body  possessing,  by  the  State  Constitution,  the  power 
of  impeachment  ;  and  that  a  committee  of  the  House  reported 
certain  accusations  against  the  Governor,  concluding  with  instruc 
tions  that  articles  of  impeachment  should  be  prepared  ;  that  a 
majority  of  the  House,  acting  upon  the  report  of  the  committee, 
negatived  the  accusations,  and  refused  to  order  an  impeachment; 
that  the  resolutions,  by  way  of  accusation,  reported  by  the  com- 


284  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

mittee,  although  negatived  by  a  majority  of  the  House,  were 
entered  upon  its  journal  in  the  due  course  of  the  action  of  the 
House  upon  them;  and  that,  subsequent  to  the  final  action  of  the 
House,  the  Governor  sent  to  it  his  defense  against  the  accusations, 
which  was  received,  and  ordered  to  be  entered  upon  the  journal, 
that  the  accusation  and  defense  might  remain  together  as  matter 
of  record  for  all  succeeding  ages.  This  was  the  Pennsylvania 
case,  as  he  had  understood  the  honorable  Senator  to  relate  it,  and 
as  he  understood  the  facts  to  be.  What  was  the  case  now  before 
the  Senate  ?  No  attempt  had  been  made  to  impeach  the  Presi 
dent  before  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  body  alone  pos 
sessing  the  constitutional  power  to  find  an  impeachment  against 
him  ;  but  the  Senate,  passing  by  the  action  of  the  House,  had 
proceeded  in  a  summary  manner,  and  without  impeachment  or 
trial,  to  pass  a  sentence  of  condemnation  against  him  for  a  high 
crime,  not  assuming  to  act  in  its  judicial  character,  as  trying  an 
impeachment,  but  in  its  legislative  character,  without  any  prac 
tical  legislative  purpose.  Against  this  sentence,  thus  pronounced, 
the  President  remonstrates,  and  sends  his  remonstrance  to  the 
Senate,  and  one  of  the  questions  before  us  is,  shall  it  be  entered 
upon  the  journal  ?  The  Senator  says,  the  case  of  Governor 
McKean  is  not  an  authority  in  favor  of  allowing  the  request  of  the 
President,  because,  in  that  case,  there  was  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  impeach,  and  the  majority  of  the  body  to  which  the  protest 
was  sent  justified  the  conduct  of  the  officer  ;  whereas  here  has 
been  no  attempt  to  impeach,  but  the  majority  of  the  Senate  (the 
judicial  tribunal)  have  condemned  without  impeachment,  and  as 
a  mere  legislative  expression.  What  is  the  force  of  this  reason 
ing  ?  Where  an  attempt  is  made  to  accuse  a  public  officer,  which 
attempt  is  unsuccessful,  because  the  majority  of  the  impeaching 
body  think  him  innocent,  and  refuse  to  accuse  him,  the  officer 
shall  have  the  right  to  defend  himself  against  the  unsuccessful 
accusations,  and  shall  be  permitted  to  spread  his  defense  upon 
the  same  record  where  the  rejected  accusations  are  to  be  found ; 
but  if  the  body,  not  authorized  to  accuse,  but  judicially  to  try  an 
accusation,  shall  overstep  the  accusing  power,  and  pronounce 
their  sentence  without  either  accusation  or  trial,  then  the  officer 
shall  not  be  permitted  to  offer  his  defense,  or  to  have  it  made  a  part 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  285 

of  that  record  which  proclaims  to  the  public  his  condemnation. 
Surely  the  Senator  will  not,  upon  more  reflection,  contend  for  so 
inconsistent  a  rule  as  this.  In  the  one  case  the  accusation  is 
destroyed  by  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  body  to  which  it  is 
submitted,  and  then  the  officer's  defense  is  received  and  recorded ; 
in  the  other  case  the  sentence  of  guilty  is  entered  upon  its  record 
by  the  judicial  body,  while  neither  accusation  nor  trial  have  pre 
ceded  it,  and  then  the  defense  is  refused  a  place  upon  that  same 
record.  Can  any  one  fail  to  see  that,  if  the  Pennsylvania  case 
is  good  parliamentary  authority,  the  case  of  the  President,  in  this 
instance,  is,  in  all  respects,  much  stronger. 

"  This,  Mr.  W.  said,  brought  him  to  the  consideration  of  the 
resolution  of  the  Senate,  and  of  the  various  changes  which  it  had 
undergone  between  the  time  of  its  introduction  and  the  time  when 
the  vote  of  the  Senate  was  taken  upon  it.  The  honorable  Sena 
tor  had  said  that  '  the  President  had  been  declared  by  the  Senate 
to  have  violated  the  Constitution  and  laws,  in  the  particulars 
mentioned  in  the  resolution.'  Mr.  W.  said  the  remark  struck  him 
with  peculiar  force  when  it  was  made,  as  it  appeared  to  him  to 
evince  an  unchanged  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  Senator,  although 
it  indicated  a  forgetf ulness  of  the  material  difference  between  the 
resolution  in  its  present  shape,  and  that  resolution  which  he  had 
at  first  proposed.  One  of  the  principal  complaints  in  the  protest, 
and  one  which  he,  Mr.  W.,  thought  entitled  to  peculiar  weight, 
grew  out  of  these  changes  of  the  resolution,  and,  that  the  force 
of  that  complaint  might  be  accurately  understood,  he  considered 
it  his  duty  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  what  the  resolu 
tion  was,  as  introduced,  to  what  it  is,  as  passed,  and  to  its 
progress  from  the  one  form  to  the  other.  The  original  resolution 
offered  by  the  honorable  Senator  was  in  these  words  : 

"  *  Resolved,  That  by  dismissing  the  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  because 
he  would  not,  contrary  to  his  sense  of  his  own  duty,  remove  the  money  of 
the  United  States  in  deposit  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its 
branches,  in  conformity  with  the  President's  opinion,  and  by  appointing 
his  successor  to  effect  such  removal,  which  has  been  done,  the  President 
has  assumed  the  exercise  of  a  power  over  the  treasury  of  the  United  States 
not  granted  to  him  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  and  dangerous  to  the 
liberties  of  the  people.' 


286  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Here  Mr.  W.  said,  specific  grounds  of  violation  were  assigned. 
In  this  shape  of  the  resolution,  the  President  could  know  what 
acts  of  his  were  complained  of.  Here,  when  he  was  charged  with 
a  violation  of  the  Constitution  arid  laws,  he  was  told  wherein 
the  alleged  violations  consisted.  The  removal  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  because  he  declined  to  do  a  specified  act,  and 
the  appointment  of  a  successor  to  do  that  act,  were  the  violations 
assigned.  In  this  shape  the  resolution  remained,  without  an 
intimation  that  it  was  to  undergo  any  material  change,  until  after 
the  honorable  Senator  was  in  the  occupation  of  the  floor  to  make 
a  final  close  of  the  debate.  For  full  three  months  the  debate 
1  continued,  and  was  entirely  directed  to  these  specified  acts  of  the 
President,  the  one  side  laboring  to  sustain  the  acts  as  constitu 
tional  and  lawful,  and  the  other  side  attempting,  with  equal  per 
severance,  to  prove  them  to  be  above  and  beyond  the  authority 
conferred  upon  the  President  by  the  Constitution  and  the  law. 
On  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  the  honorable  Senator's 
closing  speech,  he  offered  the  following,  as  a  modification  of  the 
original  resolution  : 

"  '  Resolved,  That,  in  taking  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  removing 
the  deposits  of  the  public  money  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  has  assumed  the  exercise  of  a  power  over  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  not  granted  to  him  by  the  Constitution  and 
laws,  and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.' 

"  Here  was  a  departure  from  the  point  which  had  been  debated, 
and  a  new  fact  assumed,  upon  which  the  condemnation  of  the 
President  was  to  rest.  This  modification  charges  upon  him  the 
removal  of  the  deposits,'  and  assigns  that  act  as  the  assumption 
of  a  power  'not  granted  to  him  by  the  Constitution  and  laws, 
and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people.'  Although  objec 
tionable  as  assuming  new  ground  after  the  debate  had  closed,  this 
proposition,  like  the  original,  pointed  to  a  specific  act,  and 
assigned  that  act  as  the  violation  charged.  After  the  honorable 
Senator  had  closed  his  remarks,  and  at  the  moment  when  the 
question  was  being  stated  from  the  chair,  the  modification  above 
given  was  withdrawn,  and  the  following  was  offered  in  its  place, 
and  in  the  place  of  the  original  resolution : 

;  '  Resolved,  That  the  President,  in  the  late  executive  proceedings  in  rela- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  287 

tion  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power 
not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both.' 

"  No  question  having  been  taken  upon  the  resolution,  it  was 
in  the  power  of  the  mover  to  modify  it  at  his  pleasure,  without 
any  vote  of  the  Senate,  and,  by  the  exercise  of  that  right,  on  his 
part,  it  was  made  to  assume  the  above  shape,  in  which  shape  it 
was  adopted  by  the  Senate,  as  stated  in  the  protest.  Mr.  W. 
said  he  considered  this  last  modification  of  the  resolution  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  and  indefensible  steps  in  the  proceeding  of 
the  Senate.  Here  the  President  is  charged  with  a  violation  of 
the  Constitution  and  laws,  and  no  act  of  his,  whatever,  is  named 
as  constituting  the  violation  complained  of.  The  President  is 
not  informed  wherein  his  guilt  consists,  though  he  is  pronounced 
guilty  of  a  high  crime,  and  no  man  can  say  what  act  of  his  was 
the  act  which,  in  the  mind  of  the  Senate,  constituted  the  viola 
tion  the  resolution  pronounces  against  him.  '  The  late  executive 
proceedings  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue '  is  the  specification, 
while  every  one  knows  that  there  is  not  a  day  when  '  executive 
proceedings  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue '  do  not  take  place. 
The  President,  then,  may  justify,  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  man 
in  the  country,  every  executive  act  of  his  official  life  relating  to 
the  public  revenue,  save  one,  and,  be  that  act  what  it  may,  he 
stands  condemned  by  this  resolution,  in  consequence  of  it,  of  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  and  it  will  be  compe 
tent  for  those  who  voted  for  the  resolution  to  assign  that  act  in 
justification  of  their  votes,  even  though  the  act  itself  shall  never 
yet  have  been  the  subject  of  attention  in  the  Senate.  Are  citi 
zens  and  high  public  officers  in  this  free  country  to  be  not  only 
accused,  but  condemned,  in  this  blind  and  general  manner  ?  Is 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  first  officer  of  the  govern 
ment,  to  be  thus  pronounced  guilty  of  a  high  crime  without 
notice  and  without  a  trial,  and  not  to  be  told  what  acts  of  his  life 
have  drawn  down  upon  him  the  heavy  sentence  ?  When  this 
is  done,  as  it  has  been  done  by  the  action  of  the  Senate,  is  he 
to  be  denied  the  poor  privilege  of  complaint,  the  humble  satis 
faction  of  pointing  out  the  injustice  ? 

Mr.  W.  said  he  was  well  aware  that  certain  acts  of  the  Presi 
dent  were  occupying  the  public  attention,  as  the  acts  intended  to 


288  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

be  condemned  by  the  Senate  in  the  passage  of  the  resolution; 
and  that  those  acts  were  the  removal  of  the  late  and  the  appoint 
ment  of  the  present  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  change 
of  the  deposits  by  the  latter  officer;  or,  if  gentlemen  please,  by 
the  President,  through  him,  as  his  proper  subordinate  in  the  per 
formance  of  that  duty.  But  will  it  be  now  contended  that  these 
were  the  acts  which  influenced  the  majority  of  the  Senate  in  the 
passage  of  the  resolution  ?  The  first  of  those  acts,  to  wit,  the 
removal  of  the  one  secretary  and  the  appointment  of  the  other, 
were  specifically  assigned  as  the  acts  of  violation,  in  the  resolu 
tion  as  first  offered  by  the  honorable  Senator.  They  remained 
the  acts,  and  the  only  acts  assigned,  during  the  debate  of  three 
months.  At  the  close  of  that  debate  they  were  with  drawn, 
surely  for  no  other  cause  than  that  they  would  not  sustain  the 
conclusion  sought  to  be  pronounced.  The  removal  of  '  the 
deposits  of  the  public  moneys  from  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,'  was  then  substituted  as  the  act  of  violation  which  was  to 
constitute  the  President's  guilt.  This  last  act  continued  to  be 
the  specification  during  the  closing  day  of  the  Senator's  closing 
speech,  only  when  it  too  was  found  insufficient  to  warrant  the 
conclusion  contained  in  the  resolution,  and  was  withdrawn  to 
give  place  to  the  last-named  modification,  containing  no  other 
indication  of  the  act  or  acts  complained  of  than  '  the  late  execu 
tive  proceedings  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue;'  more  properly 
speaking,  containing  no  specification  of  the  act  or  acts  of  viola 
tion.  Who  can  now  say  what  act  of  the  President  has  been  pro 
nounced  by  the  Senate  an  assumption  of  '  authority  and  power 
not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  law,  but  in  derogation  of 
both?'  Is  it  the  removal  of  the  late  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
from  office,  or  the  cause  for  which  that  removal  is  said  to  have 
been  made?  No;  for  that  act  and  its  alleged  cause  have  been 
assigned  to  support  the  resolution,  and  have  been  withdrawn. 
Is  it  the  appointment  of  the  present  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
with  the  intention  that  he  should  remove  the  deposits  ?  No;  for 
that  act  and  intention  have  been  assigned  to  support  the  resolu 
tion,  and  have  been  withdrawn.  Is  is  both  these  acts,  with  the 
cause  assigned  for  the  one,  and  the  intention  imputed  to  the 
other?  No;  for  all  were  assigned  together  and  withdrawn 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  or  SILAS  WRIGHT.  289 

together.  Is  it  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  and  the  agency 
which  the  President  had  in  that  removal  ?  No;  for  that  removal, 
an  act,  the  responsibility  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  taken  upon 
himself,  was  assigned  to  support  the  resolution,  and  was,  on  the 
same  day,  withdrawn.  Who,  then,  can  say  what  act  of  the 
President  has  made  him  guilty  of  a  violation  of  the  law  and  the 
Constitution  ?  And  yet  we  censure  him  for  complaining  that  he 
has  been  condemned  without  a  hearing,  and  without  being 
informed  what  has  been  his  offense. 

"Mr.  W.  said,  the  honorable  Senator  had  told  us  that  the 
President  was  the  last  man  in  the  world  who  had  a  right  to  com 
plain  of  the  action  of  the  Senate;  that  he  should  have  left  his 
grievances  to  the  redress  of  public  opinion.  And  is  it  so  ?  Is 
the  man  who  finds  himself  under  sentence  for  a  high  crime,  with 
out  even  having  known  that  he  had  been  accused;  without  having 
been  allowed  a  trial  by  his  peers;  without  having  been  heard  in 
his  defense  —  the  last  man  in  the  world  who  had  a  right  to  com 
plain  of  the  proceeding?  Let  me,  said  Mr.  VV.,  ask  the  honorable 
Senator,  should  he  to-day  find  published  to  the  world  a  judgment 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  convicting  him  of  a 
high  crime,  and  should  that  publication  be  the  first  notice  to  him 
that  he  was  even  accused,  would  he  permit  me  to  tell  him,  *  You, 
sir,  are  the  last  man  in  the  world  who  has  a  right  to  complain  of 
the  injustice.  True  it  is,  the  sentence  has  gone  forth  against  you, 
and  its  moral  influence  visits  itself  upon  your  character  and 
fame,  and  upon  the  reputation  and  feelings  of  your  family  and 
friends ;  true  it  is  that  the  sentence  has  been  passed  in  direct  vio 
lation  of  some  of  the  dearest  rights  secured  to  you  by  the  Con 
stitution  of  your  country;  but  you  must  not  complain  ;  you  must 
leave  your  grievances  to  be  redressed  by  public  opinion,  and  you 
must  not  inform  that  public  that  your  rights  have  been  thus 
invaded  ?'  No,  Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  would  not 
permit  me  to  address  to  him  this  language  in  the  supposed  case; 
he  would  complain,  and  give  his  complaints  to  the  public,  and  I 
feel  sure  that  reflection  will  convince  him  that  he  has  laid  down 
a  rule  for  the  President,  in  this  instance,  which  he  himself  would 
not  observe. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  he  considered  it  proper,  in  this  place,  to  notice 
19 


290  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

an  argument  of  the  honorable  Senator,  which  seemed  to  him 
rather  specious  than  sound,  but  which  was  calculated  to  mislead 
the  public  mind.  The  honorable  gentleman,  in  his  forcible  and 
happy  manner,  inquired  '  if  the  Senate  can  pronounce  the  act  of 
the  President  constitutional,  can  they  not  also  pronounce  that 
same  act  unconstitutional  ?'  And  having  thus  shaped  his  posi 
tion,  he  went  on  to  say  that  the  complaint  was  not  that  the 
Senate  had  acted  upon  the  subject  and  expressed  its  opinion  upon 
the  President's  official  conduct,  but  that  it  had  pronounced  that 
opinion  unfavorable.  The  position,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  gratuitous, 
and  not  warranted  by  anything  to  be  found  in  the  message;  and 
that  one  of  the  premises  taken  for  granted  was  distinctly  denied, 
and  without  that  the  reasoning  and  conclusion  fell  to  the  ground. 
It  was  not  admitted,  in  a  case  where  an  impeachable  charge  was 
made,  that  the  Senate  could  pronounce  in  favor  of  the  officer 
accused,  until  the  presentation  of  an  impeachment  enabled  it 
to  assume  its  judicial  character,  and  to  hear,  try  and  determine 
the  questions  submitted.  Mr.  W.  said  he  had,  upon  a  former 
occasion,  attempted  to  establish  the  position,  that  a  judgment  of 
acquittal  was  as  much  judicial  as  a  judgment  of  conviction;  and 
hence,  that  the  quo  animo  of  a  public  officer,  charged  with  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution  and  law,  could  not  be  examined 
legislatively,  because  such  an  examination,  even  for  the  sake  of 
excusing  the  officer  from  criminal  intent,  must  of  necessity  be 
judicial.  He  now  repeated  the  same  opinion;  and  to  make  it 
more  plain  to  the  Senate  that  exculpatory  action  in  the  case  sup 
posed  would  be  a  violation  of  its  constitutional  powers  and 
duties,  he  would  suppose  a  case  growing  out  of  the  existing  state 
of  things.  Suppose,  then,  that  the  opinion  of  the  two  Houses  of 
Congress  upon  the  subject  of  the  removal  of  the  public  deposits 
were  reversed ;  that  the  majority  of  the  Senate  believed  that  the 
executive  had  discharged  his  constitutional  duty  faithfully,. and 
that  the  majority  of  the  House  of  Representatives  held  a  con 
trary  opinion ;  that  the  House  was  proceeding  to  impeach  the 
President  for  his  acts  upon  that  subject,  and  that  the  Senate 
should,  pending  that  proceeding,  in  an  assumed  legislative  char 
acter,  originate  and  pass  resolutions  declaring  constitutional  and 
legal  those  very  acts  of  the  President  upon  which  the  House 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  291 

were,  at  the  time,  founding  articles  of  impeachment,  as  being 
violations  of  the  Constitution  and  the  law.  Will  any  one  doubt 
that  such  a  judgment  of  acquittal  by  the  Senate  would  be  a  vio 
lation  of  its  duty  as  a  judicial  body,  and  a  prejudging  of  a  case 
about  to  be  presented  judicially  before  it  ?  It  is  not,  then,  true 
that  the  Senate  can  properly  pronounce  in  favor  of  an  accused 
officer,  until  he  is  regularly  put  upon  his  trial  before  the  body; 
and  the  argument  of  the  Senator,  based  upon  this  assumption, 
wholly  fails,  and  requires  no  further  answer  than  the  single  alle 
gation  that  the  position  belongs  to  the  Senator  himself,  and  not 
to  anything  to  be  found  in  the  President's  communication. 

"Again,  the  honorable  Senator  contends  that  the  President  says, 
'  the  Senate  did  not  originally  intend  any  legislation  by  the  pas 
sage  of  the  resolution.'  As  well  in  reference  to  the  remarks  of 
the  honorable  Senator  upon  this  point,  as  to  those  of  the  member 
from  New  Jersey,  who  was  not  in  his  seat  [Mr.  Southard],  Mr. 
W.  said  he  deemed  it  important  to  see  what  the  President  had  in 
fact  said.  He  would,  therefore,  read  from  the  second  column  of 
page  four  of  the  message,  as  published  in  pamphlet  at  the  Globe 
office.  The  language  was  as  follows: 

"  '  The  resolution  in  question  was  introduced,  discussed  and  passed,  not 
as  a  joint,  but  as  a  separate  resolution.  It  asserts  no  legislative  power;  pro 
poses  no  legislative  action;  and  neither  possesses  the  form  nor  any  of  the 
attributes  of  a  legislative  measure.  It  does  not  appear  to  have  been  enter 
tained  or  passed  with  any  view  or  expectation  of  its  issuing  in  a  law  or  joint 
resolution,  or  in  the  repeal  of  any  law  or  joint  resolution,  or  in  any  other 
legislative  action.' 

"  This,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  what  the  President  has  said  upon  the 
point,  and  I  appeal  to  every  Senator  to  say  if  the  language  bears 
out  the  declaration  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky.  It 
is  merely  that  the  resolution  does  not  'appear'  to  have  been 
entertained  or  passed  with  a  view  to  legislation.  The  President 
does  not  assume  to  assert  the  fact  of  intention  and  purpose,  but 
merely  the  appearance.  How,  then,  stands  the  case  with  the  Sena 
tor  from  New  Jersey  ?  He  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  Presi 
dent  had  stated  what  was  untrue,  and  what  he  knew  to  be 
untrue  in  this  particular.  I  believe,  said  Mr.  W.,  that  this  was 
the  first  instance  in  which  a  Senator  had  so  far  forgotten  himself, 


292  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  what  was  due  to  his  situation,  as,  in  his  place,  to  charge  the 
President  of  the  United  States  with  known  and  intentional  false 
hood;  and  I  shall  make  no  other  answer  to  such  a  charge  than  to 
refer  again  to  what  the  President  has  said,  and  to  what  the 
Senator  did  charge. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  must,  however,  draw  the  attention  of  the 
Senate  to  the  fact  that,  in  the  whole  course  of  the  debate  upon 
the  resolution  referred  to,  from  the  first  sentence,  almost,  in  the 
remarks  made  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Ben- 
ton],  in  opening  the  debate  against  the  resolution,  to  the  remarks 
made  by  himself  at  the  close  of  the  debate  upon  that  side,  it  had 
been  asserted  and  repeated  that  the  resolution  was  judicial  in  its 
character;  that  it  did  not  and  could  not  lead  to  legislation,  and 
that  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  it,  legislatively,  was  palpably 
unconstitutional  and  a  usurpation  of  power.  In  answer  to  these 
assertions  and  arguments  he  had  not  once  heard  an  attempt  to 
point  out  the  legislation  designed  to  be  promoted  by  the  passage 
of  the  resolution,  though  it  had  been  contended  that  the  Senate 
had  a  right  to  pass  it  to  protect  its  legislative  powers.  He  had 
not  himself  believed,  when  the  resolution  was  before  the  Senate, 
that  it  was  calculated  to  lead  to  any  legislative  action,  and  on 
and  since  its  passage  he  had  exercised  his  ingenuity  in  vain  to 
conjecture  what  possible  act  of  legislation  could  follow  from  it. 
His  surprise,  then,  could  be  well  imagined  when  he  had  heard 
the  chief  magistrate,  a  man  who  had  never,  by  his  most  bitter 
enemy,  been  accused  of  evasion  or  subterfuge,  directly  charged 
with  intentional  falsehood  for  saying  that  this  resolution  did  not 
'  appear '  to  have  been  entertained  or  passed  with  a  view  to  legis 
lation.  He  now  called  upon  honorable  gentlemen  to  point  out 
the  legislation  intended  to  follow  the  expression  of  opinion  con 
tained  in  this  resolution;  and  he  must  be  permitted  to  hope  that 
the  charge  of  falsehood  againt  the  President,  for  speaking  of  the 
appearance  only  of  the  measure,  would  not  be  repeated  until 
this  call  should  be  answered.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky,  while  he  contended  that  the  resolution  was  intended  to  lead 
to  legislation,  admitted  fully  that  any  attempt  to  reduce  the 
intent  to  practice  was  contingent,  and  depended  upon  the  dispo 
sition  of  the  other  branch  of  Congress  to  concur  with  the  views 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  293 

of  the  Senate.  This  was  another  fact  going  far  to  justify  the 
President,  and  much  farther  to  show  that  no  legislation,  depend 
ent  upon  such  a  contingency,  could  have  been  reasonably  expected. 
"  The  honorable  Senator  next  introduced  the  subject  of  privi 
lege,  and,  among  other  things,  contended  that  the  message  was 
a  breach  of  the  privileges  of  the  Senate,  in  its  reference  to  the 
votes  of  individual  Senators  upon  the  resolution  complained  of. 
Mr.  W.  said  he  would  make  no  other  reply  to  this  position  than 
to  repeat  what  had  been  already  said  by  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Illinois  :  '  that  the  people  of  every  State  were  as  much  the 
constituents  of  the  President  as  they  were  of  the  Senators  from 
the  given  State  ;  that  the  relations  between  them  and  the  Presi 
dent  were  more  immediate  than  between  them  and  their  Senators; 
that  the  President  had  an  equal  right  with  any  Senator  to  speak 
of  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  the  State  from  which  the  Senator 
might  come,  to  exhibit  the  evidence  of  what  those  wishes  were, 
and  to  draw  conclusions  from  that  evidence.'  This,  if  any,  was 
the  offense  of  the  President  here  complained  of.  The  Legisla 
tures  of  certain  States  had  instructed  their  Senators  to  support 
the  President  in  the  acts  which  the  resolution  condemns.  Some 
of  the  Senators,  so  instructed,  had  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  dis 
regard  their  instructions,  and  to  unite  in  the  condemnation  of 
the  President  for  the  acts  which  the  Legislatures  of  their  States 
have  expressly  approved.  The  President  is  called  upon  to  make 
his  defense  against  the  condemnation  thus  pronounced  upon  him, 
and,  among  other  things,  he  proceeds  to  show  that  his  measures 
have  been  in  accordance  with  the  public  will ;  that,  in  his  judg 
ment,  an  expression  from  a  State  Legislature  is  the  most  authentic 
evidence  of  the  wishes  of  those  whom  that  Legislature  repre 
sents,  when  the  people  have  not  had  an  opportunity,  directly 
through  the  ballot-boxes,  to  make  their  expression  upon  the  point 
in  controversy ;  that,  assuming  that  evidence  to  be  the  true  index 
of  the  will  of  the  States  mentioned,  he  is  sustained  by  them  ; 
and  that,  had  their  Senators  acted  in  accordance  with  this  will, 
thus  expressed,  he  should  have  been  sustained,  and  not  condemned 
by  the  Senate.  The  President  expressly  disclaims  all  intention 
to  interfere  with  the  relations  between  the  Senators  and  their 
constituents,  and  says,  in  terms,  that  his  only  object  in  referring 


294  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

to  the  action  of  their  respective  Legislatures  was  to  connect 
those  expressions  with  the  history  of  the  acts  for  which  he 
had  been  accused.  If  this  is  to  be  denounced  as  a  breach  of  the 
privileges  of  the  Senate,  we  can  effectually  seal  the  lips  of  the 
President,  so  far  as  the  opinions  and  wishes  of  the  people  of  the 
States  or  the  expressions  of  their  respective  Legislatures  are  con 
cerned,  lest  in  speaking  of  them,  although  his  immediate  constitu 
ents,  he  may  be  guilty  of  a  trespass  upon  the  privileges  of  this 
body. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  next  tells  us  that  the  President  has  no 
right  to  ask  the  Senate  to  record  a  message  which  proposes  no 
legislative  action.  It  has  already  been  seen  that  the  President 
does  not  demand  that  the  message  before  the  Senate  should  be 
recorded  as  a  matter  of  right,  but  respectfully  requests  it  as  a 
matter  of  justice ;  not  that  it  has  any  relation  to  those  messages, 
upon  subjects  of  legislation,  which  it  is  his  duty,  by  the  Consti 
tution,  to  send  to  the  Congress,  but  that  it  is  a  communication 
called  from  him  by  resolution  of  the  Senate,  unjustly  accusing 
him  of  crime,  and  unconstitutionally  encroaching  upon  his  rights 
as  a  citizen  and  a  public  officer  of  the  government.  Thus  much 
being  premised,  it  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  this  position  to  say 
that,  when  the  Senate  shall  abstain  from  expressions,  spread  upon 
its  journal,  condemning  the  President's  official  acts,  and  thus 
bringing  reproach  upon  him  as  a  magistrate  and  a  citizen,  without 
any  reference  to  legislative  action,  that  officer  will  have  no  occa 
sion  to  ask  this  body  to  record  messages  in  answer  to  such  expres 
sions,  and  in  defense  of  himself,  which  propose  no  legislative 
action. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  had  now  reached  an  argument  not  confined 
to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky,  but  which  had  been 
used  by  most  of  those  who  had  addressed  the  Senate  upon  the 
subject  of  the  protest,  on  that  side  of  the  House.  He  referred 
to  the  allegation,  so  often  repeated,  that  the  President,  in  this 
paper,  had  set  up  a  claim,  on  behalf  of  the  executive  branch 
of  the  government,  to  the  possession  and  custody  of  not  only 
the  treasure,  but  all  the  property  of  the  government,  of  every 
name  and  description  whatsoever.  To  this  argument,  or  rather 
allegation,  he  believed  it  was  in  his  power  to  give,  and  he  intended 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  295 

to  give,  a  full  and  perfect  answer.  It  will  be  recollected,  said 
Mr.  W.,  that  the  protest  appeared  here  on  the  seventeenth  of  the 
last  month,  and  that  upon  the  twenty-first,  four  days  after,  an 
explanatory  communication  was  made  by  the  President  to  that 
part  of  the  paper  from  which  this  position  is  drawn.  Upon 
the  reading  of  the  explanatory  communication,  an  honorable 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Preston]  took  the  floor,  and 
congratulated  the  Senate  'upon  the  retraxit"*  of  the  President. 
Since  that  period,  he,  Mr.  W.,  had  understood  the  honorable 
gentleman  to  say  that,  upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  two 
papers,  he  had  strong  doubts  whether  the  second  paper  was  a 
'  retraxitj  and  whether  the  proper  construction  of  the  first  mes 
sage  was  not  substantially  that  given  to  it  by  the  second.  The 
honorable  Senator  from  Maine  [Mr.  Sprague]  had  said  distinctly, 
on  a  late  day,  that  the  second  message  was  no  modification  what 
ever  of  the  first,  but  that  all  the  claims  of  power,  in  the  execu 
tive  department  of  the  government,  made  in  the  first  message, 
were  wholly  unimpaired,  and  only  rendered  more  obscure  and 
unintelligible  by  the  second.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  adopted,  in  their  whole  extent, 
the  positions  taken  by  the  Senator  from  Maine,  and  declared  that 
they  were  so  clear,  so  sound,  and  so  fully  applicable  to  the  facts, 
that  he  would  not  spend  the  time  of  the  Senate  in  attempting 
further  to  establish  them. 

"  Here,  then,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  we  have  three  dis 
tinguished  gentlemen  of  the  opposition,  all  perfectly  agreeing 
that  the  explanatory  message  does  not  retract  anything  from  the 
true  and  fair  construction  of  that  communication  to  which  it  was 
intended  as  an  explanation,  but  that  all  the  claims  of  power,  be 
they  right  or  be  they  wrong,  which  were  made  in  the  first  mes 
sage,  are  repeated  and  reasserted  in  the  second.  I,  sir,  fully  agree 
with  the  gentlemen  that  this  is  so ;  and  I  congratulate  the  Senate 
and  the  country  that,  while  every  inch  of  ground  upon  this  vexed 
topic  is  so  strenuously  contested,  we  have  here  a  single  point 
upon  which  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion.  Considering  the 
point,  therefore,  as  fully  settled,  that  both  the  messages  make 
the  same  claims  of  power,  in  the  executive  department  of  the 
government,  as  to  the  possession  and  custody  of  the  public  money 


296  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  property,  and  that  there  is  no  longer  any  dispute  about  that 
matter,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  read  from  the  explanatory  message, 
to  determine  what  these  claims  in  fact  were.  The  language  of 
the  President,  he  said,  was  as  follows  : 

"  'I  admit,  without  reserve,  as  I  have  before  done,  the  constitutional 
power  of  the  Legislature  to  prescribe  by  law  the  place  in  which  the  public 
money  or  other  property  is  to  be  deposited ;  and  to  make  such  regulations 
concerning  its  custody,  removal  or  disposition  as  they  may  think  proper  to 
enact.  Nor  do  I  claim  for  the  executive  any  right  to  the  possession  or  dis 
position  of  the  public  property  or  treasure,  or  any  authority  to  interfere 
with  the  same,  except  when  such  possession,  disposition  or  authority  is 
given  to  him  by  law.  Nor  do  I  claim  the  right  in  any  manner  to  supervise 
or  interfere  with  the  person  intrusted  with  such  property  or  treasure,  unless 
he  be  an  officer  whose  appointment  is,  under  the  Constitution  and  laws, 
devolved  upon  the  President  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  the  Senate,  and 
for  whose  conduct  he  is  constitutionally  responsible. ' 

"  Here,  then,  said  Mr.  W.,  by  the  consent  of  all,  are  the  claims 
of  power  upon  this  deeply  important  part  of  the  subject,  the 
possession  and  custody  of  the  public  property  and  treasure.  It 
is  true,  the  honorable  Senator  from  Maine  has  said  that  the  above 
language  only  tends  to  obscurity  and  doubt  ;  but,  with  all  pro 
per  deference  for  the  clear  intellect  of  that  honorable  gentleman, 
I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the  darkness  or  obscurity  of  the 
language  I  have  just  read  from  this  second  message  —  and  so 
confident  am  I  that  nothing  which  I  can  address  to  the  Senate 
will  make  it  more  clear  and  intelligible,  either  to  the  members  of 
this  body  or  to  the  intelligent  citizens  of  the  country  generally, 
that  I  abstain  from  comment  wholly,  and  most  fearlessly  leave 
the  claims  of  power  here  set  forth  to  be  decided  by  the  plain 
reading  of  the  Constitution  and  the  judgment  of  our  constituents. 

"  I  next,  said  Mr.  W.,  meet  the  augury  of  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Kentucky.  He  says  he  told  us,  but  a  few  weeks  since,  that 
the  President  would  set  up  new  claims  of  power  derived  from 
his  oath  of  office,  and  that  lo  !  already  his  prophecy  is  fulfilled. 
How,  Mr.  President,  is  the  fact  ?  Has  the  President  made  any 
claim  of  power  predicated  upon  his  oath  of  office  ?  I  have  dis 
covered  no  such  claim.  He  does  tell  us,  in  the  protest,  that  he 
considered  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  executive  department 
of  the  government  infringed  upon  by  the  resolution  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  297 

Senate  ;  that  these  rights  were  intrusted  to  his  care  by  virtue  of 
his  office,  and  that  his  oath  made  it  the  more  imperatively  his 
duty  to  defend  them.  Is  this  a  claim  of  power  from  that  oath, 
or  is  it  a  presentation  of  the  oath  as  an  obligation  of  duty  which 
he  could  not  forego  ?  I  understand  the  latter  to  be  a  fair  con 
struction  of  the  President's  language,  and  I  cheerfully  leave  the 
decision  of  the  point  to  those  who  will  read  the  message.  I 
must,  however,  be  permitted  to  make  a  single  inquiry  as  to  the 
prophecy.  Was  it  the  result  of  a  genuine  spirit  of  divination,  or 
did  the  conscience  of  the  honorable  Senator  prompt  him  so  cor 
rectly  as  to  what  would  be  the  constitutional  duty  of  the  Presi 
dent,  in  the  event  of  the  passage  of  his  resolution,  that  he  was 
enabled  to  foretell  the  binding  obligation  of  his  oath,  and  to  turn 
it  into  a  new  claim  of  power  ?  In  any  event,  it  is  ungenerous  for 
the  Senator  to  make  this  use  of  the  President's  reference  to  his  offi 
cial  oath;  for,  in  his  remarks  upon  that  very  portion  of  the  mes 
sage,  he  told  us  that  he  too  had  taken  an  oath  to  support  the 
Constitution,  and  that  his  oath  compelled  him  to  make  the  remarks 
which  he  then  submitted  to  the  Senate.  He  surely  would  not 
consider  it  just,  in  me,  to  charge  him  with  having  instituted  a 
new  claim  of  power,  founded  upon  his  oath  of  office,  in  conse 
quence  of  that  remark ;  and  he  should  not,  therefore,  in  a  like 
case,  make  the  same  charge  against  the  President. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  the  honorable  Senator  had  asked,  *  What  has 
been  the  cause  of  the  present  tremendous  agitation  of  the  coun 
try  —  an  agitation  bordering  upon  civil  war  ?'  To  answer  the 
question,  he  must  ask,  what  did  the  gentleman  who  differed  from 
him  propose  as  a  remedy  for  that  agitation  ?  Was  it  a  restora 
tion  of  the  public  deposits  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  ? 
[Here  Mr  Clay  nodded  assent  to  the  question.]  Mr.  W.  said 
the  honorable  Senator  gave  an  affirmative  to  his  inquiry,  but  he 
would  find  very  few  of  his  friends,  either  in  or  out  of  this 
House,  who  would  agree  with  him.  What  had  been  the  remedy 
almost  universally  demanded  by  the  opponents  of  the  adminis 
tration  in  a1!  portions  of  the  country  ?  The  answer  was  sim 
ple, —  a  recharter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  That,  and 
that  alone,  it  was  said,  would  quiet  the  agitations  now  prevailing 
as  to  the  moneyed  concerns  of  the  country.  Would  the  restora- 


998  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tion  of  the  deposits  do  it  —  and  how  ?  Only  by  a  recharter  of  the 
bank.  Mr.  W.  said  he  hazarded  nothing  in  saying  that,  were  it 
unalterably  determined  that  the  charter  of  the  bank  could  not  be 
extended,  that  institution  would  not  accept,  to-day,  the  public 
deposits,  if  offered  to  it.  Should  it  do  so  ?  The  removal  has  been 
made,  and  the  shock  consequent  upon  that  change  had  been  experi 
enced,  and  its  effects  had  nearly  ceased.  Were,  then,  that  immense 
institution  to  know  that  a  final  close  must  be  made  of  its  affairs 
by  the  3d  of  March,  1836,  could  it  desire  the  possession  of  these 
deposits  for  the  short  period  of  twenty  months,  with  the  certainty 
that  they  must  then  again  be  delivered  to  other  hands  ?  Could 
it  wish  to  create  the  shock  which  must  be  produced  by  taking 
them  from  the  institutions  where  they  now  are,  for  the  mere  pur 
pose  of  keeping  them  for  that  short  period,  during  which  its  own 
capital  will  furnish  it  with  more  means  than  it  can  prudently 
use,  with  a  due  regard  to  its  final  close,  and  under  the  certain 
knowledge  that  the  same  shock  must  be  again  repeated  when  the 
expiration  of  its  charter  should  compel  it  to  cease  its  agency  ? 
Such  a  desire  is  contrary  to  reason  and  to  the  interests  of  the 
institution,  and  cannot  exist;  and  he  who  expects  to  quiet  the 
present  agitations  in  the  public  mind  by  a  series  of  changes  of 
the  public  deposits,  such  as  this  policy  would  produce,  must  have 
looked  very  partially  into  the  true  causes  of  the  present  state  of 
things.  No,  Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  is  wholly  mis 
taken.  Any  disposition  of  the  public  deposits  will  not  produce 
the  quiet  he  supposes.  A  bank!  a  bank!  is  the  cry.  Look  at 
the  memorials  upon  your  table,  and  say  if  that  is  not  the  remedy 
which  the  friends  of  the  Senator  almost  universally  point  out. 
The  honorable  gentleman  said  it  had  been  attempted  to  establish 
the  belief  that  the  question  was  '  bank  or  no  bank,'  with  an  evi 
dent  allusion  to  some  remarks  made  by  myself  upon  a  former 
occasion.  Sir,  I  did  then  say  the  question  was  '  bank  or  no  bank,' 
and  I  repeat  the  opinion  with  undiminished  confidence.  I  do 
not  question  the  sincerity  of  the  honorable  Senator's  opinion  that 
certain  executive  encroachments  are  the  great  causes  of  these 
agitations;  but  I  can  assure  him,  as  my  sincere  belief,  that  if 
himself  and  his  friends  would  come  to  the  conclusion  to  say  'no 
bank,'  the  agitations  would  instantly  cease,  and  his  imaginary 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  299 

executive  encroachments  would  appear,  as  I  believe  them  to  be, 
the  ordinary  action  of  the  executive  branch  of  the' government, 
When  the  calm  would  come,  it  was  out  of  his  power  to  say  ;  but 
he  believed,  with  the  honorable  Senator  and  others  who  had 
expressed  similar  opinions,  that  another  trial  was  to  take  place  at 
the  ballot-boxes,  before  it  would  arrive.  For  himself,  he  would 
wait  that  trial  patiently,  and  confident  of  the  result. 

"  The  expression  of  the  honorable  Senator,  that  the  present 
agitations  are  bordering  upon  civil  war,  Mr.  W.  said  he  had 
heard  with  unfeigned  regret.  The  time  was  one  of  excitement, 
and  he  was  sorry  to  see  efforts  from  any  quarter  to  increase  the 
passion  which  was  already  aroused.  He  did  not  believe  such 
efforts  would  tend  to  any  salutary  result.  For  his  own  part,  he 
had  not  permitted  himself,  for  one  moment,  to  be  alarmed  at  the 
danger  of  civil  war  in  this  prosperous  and  happy  country.  He 
knew  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  our  citizens  too  well  not 
to  know  that  they  were  not  prepared  to  plunge  the  country  into 
a  civil  war,  to  meet  each  other  in  the  field  of  blood,  and  to  point 
the  bayonet  at  each  other's  breasts,  for  the  sake  of  a  bank.  The 
honorable  Senator  need  have  no  alarm  upon  that  point.  No 
blood  would  be  shed  in  that  way,  to  defend  the  fancied  rights  or 
to  gratify  the  insatiable  wants  of  a  moneyed  monopoly.  If 
encroachments  of  power  from  any  department  of  the  government, 
dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  and  to  the  perpetuity  of 
our  free  institutions,  shall  appear,  they  will  be  resisted  and  put 
down,  not  by  the  force  of  arms  and  the  power  of  the  sword,  but 
by  the  silent  and  sure  operation  of  a  calm  and  enlightened  public 
opinion  and  the  power  of  the  ballot-boxes.  They  will  work  all 
the  revolution  we  are  yet  to  experience,  and  it  will  be  decisive 
and  effectual. 

"  The  honorable  Senator,  and  my  esteemed  friend  from 
Tennessee  [Mr.  Grundy],  have  discussed  their  respective  claims 
to  the  ancient  federal  party,  and  to  the  modern  appellation 
of  whig,  most  satisfactorily  to  my  feelings,  and  I  have  no 
disposition  to  interfere  with  either  their  claims  or  their  protesta 
tions.  I  must  be  permitted,  however,  to  say  that  I  was  pleased 
to  hear  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky  recognize  his  claim  to  the 
larger  portion  of  that  class  of  politicians.  Still,  I  could  not  but 


300  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

feel  convinced  that  the  honorable  Senator  permitted  himself  to 
do  great  injustice  to  the  intelligent  few  of  that  party  who,  to 
use  his  own  phrase,  '  had  gone  over  to  Jacksonism.'  Surely  the 
gentleman  will  not  deny  that  the  great  fault  with  these  men  has 
been  the  radical  errors  of  their  political  faith,  and  he  will  freely 
admit  that  the  renunciation  of  error  is  creditable  both  to  the 
head  and  heart  of  him  who,  being  convinced  of  his  error,  goes 
over  to  the  truth.  And  as  the  numbers  are  small  who  have  thus 
left  the  ranks  of  the  honorable  Senator,  he  ought  not,  on  that 
account,  to  permit  his  feelings  to  characterize  them  so  harshly  as 
his  remarks  indicated. 

"Mr.  W.  said  there  was  one  position  of  the  honorable  Senator, 
however,  upon  this  point,  which  he  could  not  admit.  The  honor 
able  gentleman  had  stated  that  all  the  causes  of  these  old  political 
divisions  had  passed  away.  So  far  from  it,  said  Mr.  W.,  in  my 
opinion,  the  very  causes  which  mainly  produced  those  divisions 
in  1789  have  never,  since  that  period,  been  in  more  active  opera 
tion  than  at  this  moment.  They  have  been  brought  again  into 
action  by  the  present  controversy ;  and  however  individuals  may 
change  sides,  the  same  great  causes  will  continue  to  operate, 
whenever  the  principles  which  gave  them  existence  shall  be 
revived.  Those  causes  form  one  of  the  strongest  agents  in  the 
political  excitements  at  present  experienced,  and  they  will  con 
tinue  to  operate  now,  as  they  have  ever  done  heretofore,  while 
hope  for  their  success  can  be  kept  alive  with  those  who  espouse 
the  principles  referred  to. 

"  The  honorable  Senator,  Mr.  W.  said,  had  closed  his  remarks 
with  a  prediction  most  appalling  in  its  terms,  and,  if  the  prophet 
were  infallible,  which  would  effectually  dishearten  the  friends  of 
the  administration  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  was,  'that 
this  protest  of  the  President  would  prove  to  be  the  last  blow 
upon  the  last  nail  in  the  coffin  of  Jacksonism.'  Mr.  W.  said  he 
claimed  no  gift  of  prophecy,  nor  did  he  ever  permit  himself  to 
speak  with  too  much  confidence  of  the  future,  or  with  too  great 
certainty  attempt  to  foretell  future  effects  from  present  causes. 
It  was  not  now  his  purpose  to  speak  of  this  prediction  with  any 
such  design ;  but  he  thought,  for  the  encouragement  of  his  politi 
cal  friends,  he  might  be  permitted  to  allude  to  a  former  prophetic 


LJFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  301 

anticipation  of  the  honorable  member,  to  prove  that  his  predic 
tions  had  not  always  been  fulfilled,  and  that,  hitherto,  he  had  not 
been  an  infallible  prophet.  During  the  session  of  1832,  and 
prior  to  the  great  contest  for  the  presidency  of  that  year,  this 
same  subject  of  the  bank  was  before  Congress.  Then  the  Presi 
dent  returned  the  bill  to  the  Senate  with  his  '  veto  proper,'  as  I 
think  it  is  classed  in  the  honorable  gentleman's  classification. 
When  that  paper  was  under  consideration,  the  Senator  addressed 
this  body,  and  indulged  in  the  most  confident  anticipations  of 
effects  cheering  to  him  and  his  friends  and  disastrous  to  the 
friends  of  the  administration,  to  be  produced  by  that  veto. 
With  his  usual  aptness  in  illustrations,  he  introduced  Dr.  Frank 
lin's  celebrated  fable  of  the  eagle  and  the  cat,  and  dignified  the 
friends  of  the  administration  by  assigning  to  them  the  emblem 
of  the  eagle,  while  that  of  the  cat  was  reserved  for  the  bank. 
Having  told  the  story,  the  result  was  announced  in  triumph  and 
with  evident  exultation  :  the  cat  had  brought  the  towering  eagle 
to  its  own  terms  of  capitulation  and  compromise.  The  event, 
however,  did  not  realize  the  honorable  gentleman's  fond  antici 
pations.  The  result  of  that  election  exhibited  the  administration 
with  vast  accessions  of  strength  and  a  general  improvement  of 
prospects.  The  eagle  was  not  brought  to  capitulate  to  the  cat  ; 
and,  Mr.  President,  let  me  congratulate  the  honorable  Senator 
and  the  country  that  his  eagle  yet  soars  aloft  upon  the  dense 
atmosphere  of  an  enlightened  public  opinion  ;  and  happy  am  I 
to  be  able  to  say  I  have  lost  none  of  my  confidence  that  his 
flight  will  continue  to  be  upward  and  onward.  But  if  that  mous 
ing  cat  shall  ever  succeed  in  bringing  him  to  the  ground,  I  can 
tell  the  Senator  the  proudest  plumage  in  the  eagle  of  his  country 
will  be  soiled  ;  the  spirit  of  that  lofty  bird  will  be  forever 
broken;  and  thereafter,  if  indeed  he  shall  ever  rise  from  the 
unnatural  grasp,  his  flights  may  be  expected  to  be  made  for  hire, 
not  from  independent  pride  ;  with  the  tamed  spirit  of  the  caged 
bird,  not  the  rich  luxuriance  of  his  native  freedom." 


302  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

AN  INVITATION  DECLINED. 

The  first  session  of  the  twenty-third  Congress  closed 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1834.  At  no  period  in  our  govern 
ment  had  the  debates  in  the  Senate  been  conducted  with 
more  ability,  or  involved  more  important  or  momentous 
questions.  No  legislative  body  ever  assembled  was 
superior  to  the  Senate  in  talent,  or  skill  in  discussions. 
It  included  a  very  large  number  of  members  who  had 
had  great  experience  in  legislation,  and  other  public 
affairs.  Clay,  Webster,  Forsyth,  G-rundy,  Benton,  Cal- 
houn  and  many  others  were  in  their  prime.  The  young 
Senator  from  New  York  had  sustained  himself  even 
beyond  the  expectations  of  his  friends,  and  had  proved 
that  he  was  the  equal  of  the  ablest  of  them  in  parliamen 
tary  debate,  which  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  states 
men.  His  eminent  success,  attracting  the  attention  and 
securing  the  admiration  of  his  friends  at  the  State  capital, 
had  induced  them  to  invite  him  to  partake  of  a  public 
dinner  at  Albany,  on  his  way  to  Washington,  prior  to 
the  next  session.  This  he  declined  in  a  characteristic 
lettter,  from  which  we  make  an  extract : 

"  You  will  believe  me,  gentlemen,  when  I  say  that  from  no 
quarter  could  such  a  mark  of  friendship  and  confidence  come  to 
me  more  acceptably  than  from  the  democratic  citizens  of  Albany. 
With  them  for  my  associates  and  counselors,  and  under  their  per 
sonal  observation,  has  much  the  largest  portion  of  my  public 
duties  been  discharged;  and  this  evidence  that  I  have  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  secure  their  approbation  is  most  gratifying,  as  it 
permits  me  to  hope  that  my  efforts  to  be  faithful  to  the  public 
have  not  been  wholly  unsuccessful.  A  proper  attention  to  the 
same  duties  compels  me  to  ask  you,  and  those  whom  you  repre 
sent,  to  excuse  me  from  meeting  you  and  them  as  you  request. 
My  short  stay  in  the  city  must  be  wholly  devoted  to  public  busi 
ness  and  public  interests  of  great  importance,  a  necessary  atten 
tion  to  which  brought  me  here  thus  early,  on  my  way  to  the  seat  of 
government;  and  while  I  will  not  attempt  to  express  my  regret 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  303 

that  I  cannot  enjoy  the  social  meeting  to  which  you  invite  me,  I 
am  consoled  by  the  reflection  that  the  loss  will  be  mine  —  not 
that  of  the  friends  who  are  thus  partial  to  me." 

Mr.  WRIGHT  did  not  participate  in  the  very  common 
desire  of  mankind  to  attract  public  attention  and  to 
become  the  center  of  observation.  He  preferred  to  pass 
along  in  quiet,  and  devote  his  energies  to  his  duties  in 
life,  whatever  they  might  be.  Although  often  invited 
to  do  so,  it  is  not  remembered  that  he  ever  accepted  an 
invitation  to  partake  of  a  public  dinner  tendered  him. 


304  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

THE  BILL  TO  PAY  FOR  FRENCH  SPOLIATIONS  PRIOR  TO  1800. 

Whoever  has  been  familiar  with  the  debates  in  Con 
gress  for  the  last  seventy  years,  must  have  heard  of  the 
French  Spoliation  Claims.  They  had  their  origin  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  last  century,  amid  the  armed  con 
flicts  in  Europe,  in  which  France  was  a  party.  During 
these,  neutral  commerce  suffered  severely.  Under  dif 
ferent  pretenses  American  shipping  interests  were  subject 
to  many  losses.  The  difficulties  began  as  early  as  1793, 
and  continued  until  1800.  During  the  two  last  years  of 
this  period,  the  legislation  of  Congress  and  acts  of  violence 
and  bloodshed  at  sea  show  that  there  was  actual  war 
between  the  United  States  and  France.  In  1800  a  treaty 
of  amity  and  commerce  was  entered  into  between  the 
French  Government  and  ours.  In  1803,  we  purchased 
Louisiana  of  France,  and  agreed  to  pay  a  portion  of  the 
purchase-money  to  certain  claimants,  which  we  actually 
did.  These  unadjusted  claims  now  amount  to  many 
millions  of  dollars. 

The  claimants  not  provided  for  in  the  treaty  have 
insisted  that  the  United  States  were  bound  to  pay  their 
demands,  for  the  following  reasons  : 

First.  That  our  government  had  not  used  due  diligence 
and  proper  exertions  to  obtain  from  France  what  she 
ought  to  pay  them. 

Second.  That  our  government,  by  the  treaty  of  1800, 
had  released  these  claims  for  a  consideration,  thus  estab 
lishing  an  equitable,  if  not  a  legal  claim. 

Those  opposed  to  the  claims  have  uniformly  denied  the 
charge  of  negligence,  or  that  any  release  was  ever  actually 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  305 

made,  or  intended  to  be,  even  by  implication.  The  affir 
mative  of  these  questions  rests  with  the  claimants.  Those 
insisting  that  the  government  was  in  nowise  liable  have 
ever  assumed  that  there  was  not  the  slightest  evidence  to 
sustain  either  point. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  opposed  these  claims  in  an  extended 
speech,  from  which  extracts  are  given  sufficiently  at 
length  to  show  why  he  took  ground  against  them.  He 
said: 

"  He  felt  safe  in  the  assertion  that  during  no  equal  period 
in  the  history  of  our  government  could  there  be  found  such 
untiring  and  unremitted  exertions  to  obtain  justice  for  citizens 
who  had  been  injured  in  their  properties  by  the  unlawful  acts 
of  a  foreign  power.  Any  one  who  would  read  the  mass  of  diplo 
matic  correspondence  between  this  government  and  France,  from 
1793  to  1798,  and  who  would  mark  the  frequent  and  extra 
ordinary  missions,  bearing  constantly  in  mind  that  the  recovery 
of  these  claims  was  the  only  ground  upon  our  part  for  the  whole 
negotiation,  would  find  it  difficult  to  say  where  negligence 
toward  the  rights  and  interests  of  its  citizens  is  irnputable  to  the 
government  of  the  United  States  during  this  period.  He  was 
not  aware  that  such  an  imputation  had  been  or  would  be  made ; 
but  sure  he  was  that  it  could  not  be  made  with  justice,  or  sus 
tained  by  the  facts  upon  the  record.  No  liability,  therefore, 
equitable  or  legal,  has  been  incurred  up  to  the  year  1798. 

"And  if,  said  Mr.  W.,  negligence  is  not  imputable  prior  to 
1798,  and  no  liability  had  then  been  incurred,  how  is  it  for  the 
second  period,  from  1798  to  1800?  The  efforts  of  the  former 
period  were  negotiation,  constant,  earnest,  extraordinary  negotia 
tion.  What  were  they  for  the  latter  period  ?  His  answer  was, 
war,  actual,  open  war  ;  and  he  believed  the  statute  book  of  the 
United  States  would  justify  him  in  the  position.  He  was  well 
aware  that  this  point  would  be  strenuously  controverted,  because 
the  friends  of  the  bill  would  admit  that,  if  a  state  of  war 
between  the  two  countries  did  exist,  it  put  an  end  to  claims  exist 
ing  prior  to  the  war,  and  not  provided  for  in  the  treaty  of  peace, 
as  well  as  to  all  pretense  for  claims  to  indemnity  for  injuries  to 
20 


306  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

our  commerce  committed  by  our  enemy  in  time  of  war.  Mr. 
W.  said  he  had  found  the  evidences  so  numerous  to  establish  his 
position  that  a  state  of  actual  war  did  exist,  that  he  had  been 
quite  at  a  loss  from  what  portion  of  the  testimony  of  record  to 
make  his  selections,  so  as  to  establish  the  fact  beyond  reasonable 
dispute,  and,  at  the  same  time,  not  to  weary  the  Senate  by  tedious 
references  to  laws  and  documents.  He  had  finally  concluded  to 
confine  himself  exclusively  to  the  statute  book,  as  the  highest 
possible  evidence,  as  in  his  judgment  entirely  conclusive,  and  as 
being  susceptible  of  an  arrangement  and  condensation  which 
would  convey  to  the  Senate  the  whole  material  evidence  in  a 
satisfactory  manner,  and  in  less  compass  than  the  proofs  to  be 
drawn  from  any  other  source.  He  had,  therefore,  made  a  very 
brief  abstract  of  a  few  statutes,  which  he  would  read  in  his 
place." 

After  reading  from  numerous  acts  of  Congress,  clearly 
proving  the  existence  of  actual  war,  lie  said  : 

"  He  had  now  closed  the  references  he  proposed  to  make  to 
the  laws  of  Congress,  to  prove  that  war,  actual  war,  existed 
between  the  United  States  and  France,  from  July,  1798,  until 
that  war  was  terminated  by  the  treaty  of  the  30th  of  Septem 
ber,  1800.  He  had,  he  hoped,  before  shown  that  the  measures 
of  Congress,  up  to  the  passage  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  the 
25th  of  June,  1798,  and  including  that  act,  were  appropriate 
measures  preparatory  to  a  state  of  war  ;  and  he  had  now  shown 
a  total  suspension  of  the  peaceable  relations  between  the  two 
governments,  by  the  declaration  of  Congress  that  the  treaties 
should  no  longer  be  considered  binding  and  obligatory  upon  our 
government  or  its  citizens.  What,  then,  but  war  could  be  inferred 
from  an  indiscriminate  direction  to  our  public  armed  vessels,  put 
in  a  state  of  preparation  by  preparatory  acts,  to  capture  all 
armed  French  vessels  upon  the  high  seas,  and  from  granting 
commissions  to  our  whole  commercial  marine,  also  armed  by  the 
operation  of  previous  acts  of  Congress,  authorizing  them  to  make 
the  same  captures,  with  regulations  applicable  to  both  for  the 
condemnation  of  the  prizes,  the  distribution  of  the  prize  money, 
and  the  detention,  support  and  exchange  of  the  prisoners  taken 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  307 

in  the  captured  vessels  ?     Will  any  man,  said  Mr.  W.,  call   this 
a  state  of  peace  ?  " 

Mr.  WEIGHT  proceeded : 

"Pie  said  he  was  not  deeply  read  in  the  treatises  upon  national 
law,  and  he  should  never  dispute  with  that  learned  gentleman 
upon  the  technical  definitions  of  peace  and  war,  as  given  in  the 
books  ;  but  his  appeal  was  to  the  plain  sense  of  every  Senator 
and  every  citizen  of  the  country.  Would  either  call  that  state 
of  things  which  he  had  described,  and  which  he  had  shown  to 
exist  from  the  highest  of  all  evidence,  the  laws  of  Congress  alone, 
peace  ?  It  was  a  state  of  open  and  undisguised  hostility,  of  force 
opposed  to  force,  of  war  upon  the  ocean,  as  far  as  our  govern 
ment  were  in  command  of  the  means  to  carry  on  a  maritime  war. 
If  it  was  peace,  he  should  like  to  be  informed  by  the  friends  of 
the  bill  what  would  be  war.  This  was  violence  and  bloodshed, 
the  power  of  one  nation  against  the  power  of  the  other,  recipro 
cally  exhibited  by  physical  force. 

"  Couple  with  this  the  withdrawal  by  France  of  her  minister 
from  this  government,  and  her  refusal  to  receive  the  American 
commission,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Marshall,  Pinckney  and  Gerry, 
and  the  consequent  suspension  of  negotiations  between  the  two 
governments  during  the  period  referred  to,  and,  Mr.  W.  said,  if 
the  facts  and  the  national  records  did  not  show  a  state  of  war,  he 
was  at  a  loss  to  know  what  state  of  things  between  nations  should 
be  called  war. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  now  came  to  the  consideration  of  the  liability 
of  the  United  States  to  these  claimants,  in  case  it  shall  be  deter 
mined  by  the  Senate  that  a  war  between  France  and  the  United 
States  had  not  existed  to  bar  all  ground  of  claim  either  against 
France  or  the  United  States.  He  understood  the  claimants  to 
put  this  liability  upon  the  assertion  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  had  released  their  claims  against  France  by  the 
treaty  of  the  30th  of  September,  1800,  and  that  the  release  was 
made  for  a  full  and  valuable  consideration  passing  to  the  United 
States,  which  in  law  and  equity  made  it  their  duty  to  pay  the 
claims.  The  consideration  passing  to  the  United  States  is  alleged 
to  be  their  release  from  the  onerous  obligations  imposed  upon 


308  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

them  by  the  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  and  alliance  of  1778, 
and  the  consular  convention  of  1778,  and  especially  and  princi 
pally  by  the  seventeenth  article  of  the  treaty  of  amity  and  com 
merce,  in  relation  to  armed  vessels,  privateers  and  prizes,  and  by 
the  eleventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  alliance,  containing  the  mutual 
guarantees. 

"  The  release,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  claimed  to  have  been  made  in 
the  striking  out,  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  of  the 
second  article  of  the  treaty  of  30th  September,  1800,  as  that 
article  was  originally  inserted  and  agreed  upon  by  the  respective 
negotiators  of  the  two  powers,  and  as  it  stood  at  the  time  the 
treaty  was  signed.  To  cause  this  point  to  be  clearly  understood, 
it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to  trouble  the  Senate  with  a  history 
of  the  ratification  of  this  treaty.  The  second  article,  as  inserted 
by  the  negotiators,  and  as  standing  at  the  time  of  the  signing  of 
the  treaty,  was  in  the  following  words  : 

"  'AiiT.  2.  The  ministers  plenipotentiary  of  the  two  powers  not  being 
able  to  agree,  at  present,  respecting  the  treaty  of  alliance  of  6th  February, 
1778,  the  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  of  the  same  date,  and  the  conven 
tion  of  14th  November,  1788,  nor  upon  the  indemnities  mutually  due  or 
claimed,  the  parties  will  negotiate  further  upon  these  subjects  at  a  convenient 
time  ;  and,  until  they  may  have  agreed  upon  these  points,  the  said  treaties 
and  convention  shall  have  no  operation,  and  the  relations  of  the  two  coun 
tries  shall  be  regulated  as  follows.' 

"  The  Senate  refused  to  advise  and  consent  to  this  article,  and 
expunged  it  from  the  treaty,  inserting  in  its  place  the  following: 

"  '  It  is  agreed  that  the  present  convention  shall  be  in  force  for  the  term 
of  eight  years  from  the  time  of  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications. ' 

"  In  this  shape,  and  with  this  modification,  the  treaty  was  duly 
ratified  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  returned  to 
the  French  government  for  its  dissent  or  concurrence.  Bona 
parte,  then  First  Consul,  concurred  in  the  modification  made  by 
the  Senate,  in  the  following  language,  and  upon  the  condition 
therein  expressed  : 

"  '  The  Government  of  the  United  States  having  added  to  its  ratification 
that  the  convention  should  be  in  force  for  the  space  of  eight  years,  and  having 
omitted  the  second  article,  the  government  of  the  French  Republic  consents 
to  accept,  ratify  and  confirm  the  above  convention,  with  the  addition,  pur 
porting  that  the  convention  shall  be  in  force  for  the  space  of  eight  years, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  309 

and  with  the  retrenchment  of  the  second  article  :  Provided,  That,  by  this 
retrenchment,  the  two  States  renounce  the  respective  pretensions  which  are 
the  object  of  the  said  article.' 

"  This  ratification  by  the  French  Republic,  thus  qualified,  was 
returned  to  the  United  States,  and  the  treaty,  with  the  respective 
conditional  ratifications,  was  again  submitted  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  the  Senate.  That  body  '  resolved  that 
they  considered  the  said  convention  as  fully  ratified,  and  returned 
the  same  to  the  President  for  the  usual  promulgation  ;'  where 
upon  he  completed  the  ratification  in  the  usual  forms  and  by  the 
usual  publication. 

"  What  was  the  value  or  the  burden  of  such  an  obligation  upon 
the  United  States?  for  this  was  the  only  obligation  from  which 
our  government  was  released  by  striking  out  the  article.  The 
value,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  the  value  of  the  privilege,  being  perfectly 
at  liberty  in  the  premises  of  assenting  to  or  dissenting  from  a 
bad  bargain,  —  a  matter  of  negotiation  between  ourselves  and  a 
foreign  power.  This  was  the  consideration  passing  to  the  United 
States,  and,  so  far  as  he  was  able  to  view  the  subject,  this  was 
all  the  consideration  the  government  had  received,  if  it  be  granted 
(which  he  must  by  no  means  be  understood  to  admit)  that  the 
striking  out  of  the  article  was  a  release  of  the  claims,  and  that 
such  release  was  intended  as  a  consideration  for  the  benefits  to 
accrue  from  the  act. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  felt  bound  to  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  this 
point.  What  was  the  value  of  an  obligation  to  negotiate  '  at  a 
convenient  time  ?  '  Was  it  anything  to  be  valued  ?  The  '  con 
venient  time '  might  never  arrive;  or,  if  it  did  arrive,  and  negotia 
tions  were  opened,  were  not  the  government  as  much  at  liberty, 
as  in  any  other  case  of  negotiation,  to  refuse  propositions  which 
were  deemed  disadvantageous  to  itself  ? 

"  He  could  not  view  the  obligation  released  —  a  mere  obligation 
to  negotiate  —  as  onerous  at  all,  or  as  forming  any  consideration 
whatever  for  a  pecuniary  liability,  much  less  for  a  liability  for 
millions. 

"  He  had  now,  Mr.  W.  said,  attempted  to  establish  the  follow 
ing  propositions,  viz.  : 

"  1.  That  a  state  of  actual  war,  by  which  he  meant  a  state  of 


310  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

actual  hostilities  and  of  force,  and  an  interruption  of  all  diplo 
matic  or  friendly  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and 
France,  had  existed  from  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  acts  of 
the  7th  and  9th  July,  1798,  before  referred  to,  until  the  sending 
of  the  negotiators,  Ellsworth,  Davie  and  Murray,  in  1800,  to 
make  a  treaty  which  put  an  end  to  the  hostilities  existing,  upon 
the  best  terms  that  could  be  obtained ;  and  that  the  treaty  of 
the  30th  of  September,  1800,  concluded  by  these  negotiators, 
was,  in  fact,  and  so  far  as  private  claims  were  concerned,  to  be 
considered  as  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  to  conclude  all  such  claims, 
not  reserved  by  it,  as  finally  ratified  by  the  two  powers. 

"  2.  That  the  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce,  and  the  treaty  of 
alliance  of  1778,  as  well  as  the  consular  convention  of  1788,  were 
suspended  by  the  second  article  of  the  treaty  of  1800,  and  from 
that  time  became  mere  matters  for  negotiation  between  the  par 
ties  at  a  convenient  time ;  that,  therefore,  the  desire  to  get  rid  of 
these  treaties,  and  of  any  '  onerous  obligations '  contained  in 
them,  was  only  the  desire  to  get  rid  of  an  obligation  to  negotiate 
'  at  a  convenient  time ;'  and  that  such  a  consideration  could  not 
have  induced  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  expunge  that 
article  from  the  treaty,  if  thereby  that  body  had  supposed  it  was 
imposing  upon  the  country  a  liability  to  pay  to  its  citizens  the 
sum  of  $5,000,000 — a  sum  much  larger  than  France  had  asked, 
in  money,  for  a  full  discharge  from  the  '  onerous  obligations ' 
relied  upon. 

"  3.  That  the  treaty  of  1800  reserved  and  provided  for  certain 
portions  of  the  claims ;  that  payment,  according  to  such  reserva 
tions,  was  made  under  the  treaty  of  1803,  and  that  it  is  at  least 
doubtful  whether  the  payment  thus  made  did  not  cover  all  the 
claims  ever  admitted,  or  ever  intended  to  be  paid  by  France  ;  for 
which  reason  the  expunging  of  the  second  article  of  the  treaty 
of  1800  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  all  probability, 
released  nothing  which  ever  had,  or  which  was  ever  likely  to 
have,  value. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  if  he  had  been  successful  in  establishing  either  of 
these  positions,  there  was  an  end  of  the  claims,  and,  by  conse 
quence,  a  defeat  of  the  bill.  " 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  311 

The  bill  then  pending  passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of 
25  to  20,  on  the  3d  of  February,  1835,  and  was  sent  to 
the  House  of  Representatives.  In  the  House  there  were 
motions  to  commit  the  bill  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  on  Claims,  on  Foreign  Affairs,  and,  by  the  author, 
to  that  on  the  Judiciary.  After  a  long  discussion  it  was 
finally  sent  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  which, 
on  the  twenty-first  of  the  month,  reported  that  there  was 
not  sufficient  time  of  the  session  left  to  consider  and  act 
upon  it,  and  the  committee  were  discharged  from  its 
further  consideration. 

During  Mr.  Pierce' s  administration  a  bill  for  the  pay 
ment  of  these  claims  was  passed,  which  encountered  his 
veto  and  failed  to  become  a  law. 


312  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 


CHAPTER  L. 

EXECUTIVE  PATRONAGE,  OR  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  FOUR- 
YEAR  LAW. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  the  republic,  there  was  no  limi 
tation  of  the  term  of  service  of  any  officer  appointed  by 
the  President,  except  judges  under  the  Constitution. 
Vacancies  came  only  by  death  or  removal.  Few  died,  and 
removing  was  often  a  disagreeable  duty,  frequently  dis 
charged  with  extreme  reluctance.  It  was  deemed  fitting 
and  proper  for  each  incoming  President  to  make  changes, 
so  as  to  secure  the  assistance  of  known  friends  to  aid  him 
in  the  discharge  of  his  constitutional  duties,  enemies  not 
being  deemed  suitable  for  that  purpose.  This  induced 
Congress,  prior  to  Mr.  Monroe's  second  election,  when 
it  was  supposed  another  might  be  elected  in  his  place,  to 
pass  an  act  limiting  the  term  of  office  to  four  years  —  the 
presidential  term  —  of  district  attorneys,  collectors  of  the 
customs,  naval  officers  and  surveyors  of  the  customs, 
navy  agents,  receivers  of  public  moneys  for  lands,  regis 
ters  of  land  offices,  paymasters  in  the  army,  the  apothe 
caries-general  and  the  commissary -general  of  purchases. 

By  the  act  of  1789,  creating  the  office,  the  term  of 
service  of  marshals  was  limited  to  four  years. 

On  the  6th  of  January,  1835,  Mr.  Calhoun  moved  a 
select  committee  of  six  to  inquire  into  the  matter  of  exec 
utive  patronage  and  its  reduction,  and  one  was  appointed 
of  which  he  was  chairman.  This  committee,  through 
their  chairman,  reported  on  the  ninth  of  February,  and 
presented  three  propositions.  The  first  proposed  to 
amend  the  Constitution,  so  as  to  authorize  the  distribu 
tion  of  the  surplus  revenues  among  the  States  and  Terri- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  313 

tories  until  1843.  The  second,  to  regulate  the  deposits  of 
the  public  money,  and  the  third,  to  repeal  that  portion  of 
the  act  of  1820,  as  to  the  limitation  of  the  official  term 
of  service  of  the  officers  therein  named.  This  last  propo 
sition  was  made  the  special  order  for  a  subsequent  day. 
On  the  13th  of  February,  Mr.  Calhoun  opened  the  dis 
cussion  on  this  bill,  which  was  continued  several  days,  and 
the  bill  finally  passed  the  Senate  on  the  twenty-first,  by  a 
vote  of  31  to  16;  but  it  subsequently  failed  in  the  House. 

The  debate  on  it  took  a  very  wide  range.  One  of  its 
provisions  required  the  President,  in  case  of  a  vacancy 
made  by  removal,  when  nominating  for  filling  it,  to  assign 
his  reasons  for  the  removal.  An  amendment  was  pro 
posed  by  Mr.  Clay,  declaring  that  "  the  power  of  removal 
shall  be  exercised  only  in  concurrence  with  the  Senate." 
Mr.  Webster  questioned  the  constitutional  right  of 
removal.  In  this  opinion  many  concurred  ;  some  insist 
ing  that  "the  tenure  of  office,  when  the  duties  were  pro 
perly  performed,  ought  to  be  as  stable  as  a  freehold." 
Great  fears  were  expressed  that  the  executive  would,  by 
his  patronage,  absorb  all  the  powers  of  the  Government 
and  control  its  whole  action,  thus  enabling  him,  practi 
cally,  to  play  the  uncontrolled  despot.  These,  and  the 
like  arguments,  were  answered  with  great  power  by  able 
Senators. 

On  the  16th  of  February,  1835,  Mr.  WEIGHT  addressed 
the  Senate,  at  length,  on  the  subject  before  them,  as 
follows : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  had  hoped  that  some  one  of  the  indivi 
duals  who  had  been  so  emphatically  called  upon  by  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay],  on  a  former  day,  as  the 
leaders  of  the  administration  party,  would  have  come  forward  in 
the  debate  then  pending,  and  thus  have  saved  him  the  trouble 
of  addressing  the  Senate.  But,  as  no  such  individual  appeared, 
and  ad  the  bill  was  about  to  be  reported,  he  felt  bound  to  give 
his  humble  voice  against  it,  before  it  proceeded  further. 


814  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  He  could  not,  he  said,  pursue  the  course  which  an  answer  to 
the  argument  of  the  learned  Senator,  who  had  just  resumed  his 
seat  [Mr.  Webster],  would  require,  nor  could  he  comply  with 
the  call  and  intimation  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  to  which 
he  had  alluded. 

"  His  object  was  to  repel  an  implication  which  might  attend 
the  passage  of  this  bill,  and  for  that  purpose  to  refer  to  such 
portions  of  the  report  of  the  committee  as  appeared  to  him  to 
relate  to  the  provisions  of  the  bill  itself,  and  the  considerations 
involved  in  the  legislation  proposed.  He  did  not  intend  to 
notice,  upon  this  occasion,  any  other  parts  of  the  report  than 
those  which  treated  of  the  patronage  of  the  executive,  growing 
out  of  his  connection  with  and  influence  over  persons  dependent 
upon  and  receiving  their  support  from  the  government.  The 
bill  under  consideration  was  all  the  legislation  proposed  by  the 
committee  in  reference  to  this  part  of  the  executive  patronage, 
and  he  must  suppose  that  so  much  of  the  report  as  discussed  this 
point  was  the  legitimate  subject  of  comment  in  connection  with 
the  bill. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  understand  the  rule  of  order  to  be 
that  laid  down  by  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  Southard], 
when  he  addressed  the  Senate  on  Friday  last.  He  had  under 
stood  that  honorable  gentleman  then  to  state  that  the  report  of 
the  committee  was  not  before  the  Senate,  and  proper  matter  for 
remark,  while  proceeding  upon  this  bill.  He  held  a  different 
rule.  The  bill  was  reported  by  a  select  committee  of  the  Senate. 
It  was  one  of  the  results  to  which  that  committee  had  arrived, 
after  great  labor  and  deliberation,  and  they  had  spread  before 
the  Senate  a  mass  of  facts  and  a  long  train  of  reasoning  as  the 
grounds  upon  which  the  bill  was  recommended  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  body.  Could  it,  then,  be  true  that  these  facts  and  this 
reasoning,  constituting  the  report  of  the  committee,  were, not 
proper  subjects  for  remark  when  acting  upon  the  bill?  He  was 
sure  the  honorable  Senator,  upon  more  mature  reflection,  would 
change  his  opinion,  and  hold  the  report  fully  before  the  Senate. 
He  believed  that  any  and  every  part  of  the  report  might  be  pro 
perly  discussed  upon  either  of  the  propositions  with  which  the 
committee  had  concluded,  but  he  did  not  choose,  himself,  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  315 

notice  more  of  it  now  than  was  pertinent  to  the  matter  before 
him. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  must  be  permitted  to  remark,  before  he  pro 
ceeded,  that  he  had  been  wholly  unable  to  feel  or  discover  the 
necessity  for  the  somber  and  alarming  picture  of  danger  to  our 
happy  form  of  government  which  the  committee  had  thought  it 
their  duty  to  present.  He  could  not  feel  that  the  safety  or 
perpetuity  of  our  institutions  was  peculiarly  threatened  at  the 
present,  more  than  at  any  former  period  of  our  history.  On  the 
contrary,  he  had  supposed  he  could  justly  felicitate  the  Senate 
and  the  country  upon  the  fact,  which  he  had  expected  would 
have  been  admitted  by  all,  that  our  condition  was  rapidly 
improving.  No  man  in  these  seats  had  forgotten  the  picture 
drawn  to  our  imaginations  twelve  months  since  —  a  picture  which 
not  only  shocked  us,  but  shocked  this  whole  widely-extended 
country  to  a  degree  never  before  witnessed  in  the  period  of  his 
recollection.  Then,  however,  executive  patronage  was  not  the 
danger,  but  executive  usurpation.  The  sword  and  the  purse  of 
the  nation  were  in  one  hand,  and  our  liberties  were  about  to  be 
cloven  down.  The  fractured  and  broken  pillars  of  the  Constitu 
tion  were  scattered  before  us,  to  display  the  ruin  which  had  been 
made,  and  to  warn  us  of  the  danger  which  impended. 

"That  time  and  that  danger  had  gone  by.  A  distinct  issue 
was  formed  and  submitted  to  the  sober  and  intelligent  sense  of 
the  American  people,  and  their  decision  had  put  an  end  to  the 
agitation.  Executive  patronage  was  then  a  consideration  too 
trifling  to  have  a  place  in  the  leading  discussions.  Some  mention 
of  an  army  of  40,000  office-holders  might  have  been  made, 
but  they  were  incidental  and  unimportant.  Usurpation  was 
the  order  of  the  day,  and  tyranny  and  despotism  were  upon 
us.  Mr.  W.  said  he  supposed  he  might  congratulate  every  patriot 
and  lover  of  his  country  that  this  great  danger  had  been  passed, 
and  its  horrible  evils  averted,  by  the  single  and  silent  operation 
of  an  election  ;  and  he  had  hoped  that  increased  confidence  in 
the  safety  and  durability  of  our  institutions  would  have  followed 
this  gratifying  experience.  How  different  was  the  fact  ?  He 
now  found,  in  the  report  of  the  committee  before  him,  abundant 
evidence  —  if  the  sad  imaginings  of  the  committee  were  facts  — 


316  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

that  we  were  much  nearer  final  ruin  than  at  the  period  to  which 
he  had  alluded.  Now,  usurpations  by  the  executive  had  ceased 
to  be  dangerous,  but  the  great  patronage  in  the  hands  of  the 
President  was  fast  driving  this  fine  ship  of  State  upon  the  rocks, 
and  imminently  threatening  the  only  free  government  in  the 
world  with  utter  and  irretrievable  ruin. 

"  Under  this  renewed  attempt  to  excite  alarm  and  apprehension 
in  the  minds  of  the  peaceful  citizens  of  the  country,  he  felt  it  to 
be  his  imperative  duty  to  proclaim  an  entire  absence  of  the 
threatened  dangers.  The  country  was  sound  and  healthful,  and 
prosperous  and  happy,  and  the  patronage  of  the  executive  was 
not  to  corrupt  its  morals,  endanger  its  peace  or  destroy  its  liber 
ties.  The  mistake  of  the  committee  had  proceeded  from  the 
assumption  of  premises  wholly  erroneous,  and  the  consequent 
deduction  of  unfounded  conclusions. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  would  proceed  to  show  this  by  a  partial  analy 
sis  of  their  principal  fact,  and  by  an  exposition  of  the  fallacious 
conclusions  drawn  from  it.  They  state  that  the  number  of  per 
sons  dependent  upon  the  government  for  support  is  100,079,  and 
they  assume  that  all  such  persons  are  '  supple  instruments  of 
power.'  This  great  number  of  persons,  thus  exhibited  and  thus 
characterized,  was  calculated  to  startle  the  mind.  It  had  shocked 
him  when  he  first  heard  the  report  read  at  the  secretary's  table. 
He  had  heard  much  said  during  the  last  year,  both  at  home  and 
here,  by  the  opponents  of  the  administration,  of  the  danger  to 
the  country  from  an  army  of  40,000  office-holders,  but  his  fears 
had  not  been  excited,  and  he  had  never  attempted  to  examine 
the  composition  of  the  corps.  When,  however,  he  found  the 
number  swelled,  by  the  report  of  the  committee,  to  more  than 
100,000,  he  felt  impelled  to  inquire  who  were  these  100,000  men 
paid  by  this  free  govermnent  that  they  might  wield  public  opinion 
to  its  destruction.  He  had  made  the  inquiry,  and  to  exhibit  the 
results  to  the  Senate  and  the  country,  and  thus  to  repel  the 
alarming  implication  of  danger  to  our  institutions  which  might 
otherwise  arise  from  our  action  upon  this  bill,  was  the  principal 
object  he  had  in  view  upon  the  present  occasion. 

"  First,  then,  he  found  the  whole  army,  officers,  soldiers,  waiters, 
and  dependents,  included  in  the  list.  And  are  the  soldiers  of  our 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  317 

little  army,  said  Mr.  W.,  to  be  held  up  to  the  country  as  a  body 
of  men  wielding  its  public  opinion  and  directing  it  to  the  destruc 
tion  of  our  institutions  ?  Are  they  to  be  pointed  at  as  objects  of 
jealousy  and  apprehension?  Where  are  they,  Mr.  President? 
Almost  the  whole  body  of  them  pushed  beyond  the  line  of  settle 
ment  upon  your  frontier,  and  there  stationed,  the  companions  of 
the  wild  Indian  only,  to  defend  your  citizens  from  the  tomahawk 
and  scalping-knife.  Are  they,  thus  located,  the  body  of  men 
who  are  to  bring  this  happy  government  to  a  speedy  termination  ? 
No,  sir,  they  will  defend  it  with  their  lives,  but  never  will  endan 
ger  it  by  their  influence  over  public  opinion.  The  officers  of  the 
army  are  also  embraced  in  this  class.  They,  sir,  are  office-holders, 
but  are  they  formidable  to  the  country  ?  Are  those  brave  men 
who  bore  the  arms  of  the  country  during  the  late  war,  against 
the  most  formidable  enemy  in  the  world,  and  bore  them  success 
fully,  triumphantly,  victoriously  —  are  they  to  destroy  this  govern 
ment  ?  Are  they  to  be  guarded  against  as  '  supple  instruments  of 
power,'  as  '  subservient  partisans,  ready  for  every  service,  however 
base  and  corrupt  ?  '  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  they  merit  not 
the  sentence.  Where  are  they  ?  Shut  up  in  your  fortifications 
and  military  posts,  performing  their  dull  and  uninteresting  round 
of  official  duty,  or  ordered  beyond  your  frontier  and  deprived  of 
the  benefits  of  civilized  society,  to  protect  their  fellow-citizens  from 
rapine  and  plunder.  Thus  situated,  are  they  to  be  held  up  to  us  as 
objects  of  alarm  ?  Are  our  jealousies  to  be  directed  against  them, 
as  the  persons  likely  to  work  out  the  full  ruin  of  their  country? 
Sir,  the  committee  have  made  an  egregious  mistake  as  to  these 
brave  and  patriotic  officers.  They  will  not  destroy  but  defend  the 
republic.  Who  has  seen  them  mingling  improperly.in  the  political 
strifes  of  the  day,  or  attempting  unduly  to  influence  public  opinion 
Mr.  W.  said. he  had  never  witnessed  such  an  instance  of  improper 
conduct  in  an  officer  of  the  army,  and  he  was  yet  to  learn  that 
such  instances  had  been  witnessed  by  others.  But  another  large 
enumeration  of  citizens  aided  to  complete  this  division  of  the 
dangerous  corps  of  more  than  100,000.  All  the  contractors, 
workmen  and  laborers,  upon  our  public  works  in  the  charge 
of  the  War  Department,  such  as  fortifications,  rivers,  canals, 
roads,  harbors  and  all  the  other  works  of  a  similar  description  in 


318  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

construction  at  the  expense  of  the  government,  were  counted 
to  make  up  this  formidable  number  of  '  supple  instruments  of 
power.'  Yes,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  the  humble  carrier 
of  the  hod  upon  one  of  your  batteries,  who  toils  on  for  his  daily 
allowance  of  a  few  shillings,  unconscious  of  his  agency,  is  one 
of  the  number  of  individuals  whom  the  committee  suppose 
material  and  dangerous  agents  in  the  work  of  ruin  to  the  most 
free  and  happy  government  upon  the  earth.  Each  laborer  of 
this  description  is  held  to  be  a  'supple  instrument  of  power,' 
a  subservient  partisan,  '  ready  for  every  service,  however  base 
and  corrupt.'  Sir,  tell  this  to  the  great  body  of  the  yeomanry 
of  this  country,  and  what  will  they  say  of  this  danger?  They 
will  smile  at  the  credulity  of  the  committee,  and  say  they  are 
mistaken  in  their  apprehensions.  This  closes  the  first  class  of  the 
great  catalogue,  consisting  of  16,722  individuals. 

"  Second.  Mr.  W.  said  he  found  the  whole  navy,  including  the 
marine  corps,  and  comprehending  altogether  8,784  individuals. 
Here,  again,  was  a  class  of  men  whom  he  had  not  been  taught 
to  consider  '  supple  instruments  of  power,'  '  subservient  partisans, 
ready  for  every  service,  however  base  and  corrupt.'  Sir,  said  he, 
are  the  gallant  tars  who  bear  the  flag  of  our  country  proudly 
and  triumphantly  upon  every  sea,  and  to  every  corner  of  the 
globe,  the  mere  '  supple  instruments  of  power  ?'  Are  the  brave 
and  fearless  officers  who  command  them  '  subservient  partisans, 
ready  for  every  service,  however  base  and  corrupt  ?'  Is  such 
the  character  of  the  officers  of  the  American  navy,  and  are  they, 
at  this  moment,  to  be  thus  characterized  to  the  American  people, 
and  to  the  world  ?  Not,  said  Mr.  W.,  by  me.  They  deserve  not 
the  character,  in  my  judgment,  and  they  shall  not  receive  it  with 
my  assent.  Does  any  man  believe,  do  the  honorable  committee 
believe,  that,  in  consequence  of  the  moderate  compensation  which 
these  brave  and  high-minded  and  patriotic  citizens  receive  for 
the  devotion  of  their  lives  to  the  public  service,  they  are  prosti 
tuted  to  the  executive  will,  and  ready  to  do  his  bidding,  to  the 
injury  and  destruction  of  the  liberties  of  their  country  ?  Do  they 
believe  that  no  higher  and  purer  motive  than  subserviency  to 
executive  power  has  led  them  on  to  the  noble  achievements  they 
have  accomplished  ?  If  such  be  the  opinions  of  the  committee, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  319 

they  do  the  officers  and  seamen  of  our  gallant  navy  great  injustice. 
It  is  against  the  enemies  of  their  country,  not  against  their 
country,  that  they  war,  and  war  successfully  ;  and  long,  long, 
will  the  liberties  of  our  happy  republic  be  preserved,  if  they  are 
only  to  meet  their  destruction  from  the  hands  of  the  American 
navy.  But,  sir,  this  class  is  not  wholly  composed  of  the  officers, 
and  sailors  and  soldiers  attached  to  the  navy  and  marine  corps. 
Every  person  employed  in  and  about  your  navy  yards  and  ship 
yards  is  included  in  the  enumeration.  The  humble  individual 
who  rolls  the  wheelbarrow  and  handles  the  cart,  or  drives  the 
oxen,  at  these  places,  is  magnified  into  a  man  dangerous  to  our 
liberties,  holding  a  fearful  control  over  public  opinion,  a  '  supple 
instrument  of  power,'  '  ready  for  any  service,  however  base  and 
corrupt.'  Such  dangers,  said  Mr.  W.,  will  never  destroy  this 
republic. 

"Third.  The  whole  roll  of  revolutionary  pensioners,  38,836  in 
number.  This  class,  Mr.  W.  said,  surprised  him  much  more  than 
the  former.  The  departing  shades  of  the  revolutionary  army  were 
presented  to  us  as  about  to  become  the  instruments  in  the 
destruction  of  our  liberties.  Those  venerable  men,  whose  earliest, 
and  greatest,  and  richest  efforts  had  been  devoted  to  the  erection 
of  this  beautiful  and  noble  temple  of  civil  liberty,  were  now,  for 
the  pitiful  compensation  of  eight  dollars  per  month,  to  become 
the  '  supple  instruments  of  power,'  to  use  their  efforts  to  over 
throw  the  fabric  cemented  with  their  youthful  blood,  and  to  draw 
its  mighty  ruins  down  upon  their  own  heads  at  the  last  moment 
of  their  earthly  existence.  Would  it  be  believed  that  this  rem 
nant  of  a  noble  race  had  been  thus  corrupted  by  such  a  bounty  ? 
No,  said  Mr.  W.,  they  deserve  not  such  a  judgment  at  our  hands. 
But,  instruments  of  the  executive  ?  How  ?  What  has  the 
executive  to  do  with  the  payment  of  pensioners  ?  They  derive 
their  claims  from  the  acts  of  Congress,  not  from  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  the  executive  ;  and  if  they  make  the  proof  requisite, 
the  right  is  perfect.  The  President  can  neither  place  them  upon 
the  roll  without  the  proof,  nor  debar  them  from  it  when  the  proof 
is  made.  His  only  interference  with  the  subject  is  his  approbation 
of  the  laws,  as  he  approves  other  laws  passed  by  Congress.  As 
well,  therefore,  might  all  the  private  claimants,  for  whose  benefit 


320  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

laws  have  been  passed,  be  hunted  from  the  statute  books  and 
added  to  the  list  of  '  supple  instruments  of  power,'  as  these 
venerable  pensioners  of  the  revolution. 

"  Fourth.  Mr.  W.  said  he  now  came  to  a  class  of  office-holders 
and  '  supple  instruments  of  power,'  not  less  extraordinary  than 
any  of  the  former.  It  consisted  of  all  the  deputy-postmasters 
throughout  the  country,  all  the  mail  contractors,  mail  carriers, 
stage  drivers,  and  all  others  employed  in  the  transportation  of 
the  mail  of  the  United  States.  The  number  was  given  in  the 
report  at  31,837  individuals.  Here  was  a  class  of  men,  with 
several  of  whom  every  citizen  of  the  country  must  be  personally 
acquainted.  He  appealed,  then,  fearlessly  and  confidently  to 
the  people  of  the  country  for  the  degree  of  danger  to  public 
liberty  to  be  apprehended  from  this  class  of  dependents  upon  the 
public  patronage.  Who  did  not  know  that  the  postmasters  and 
mail  contractors  of  the  country  were  of  all  parties  in  politics, 
and  of  every  description  of  sentiment  and  feeling  as  to  men  and 
measures  ?  Who,  in  these  seats,  did  not  know  that  the  great 
mass  of  them  were  men  of  respectability,  integrity  and  faithful 
ness,  and  worthy  of  the  trusts  confided  to  them?  Who,  here 
tofore,  had  feared  the  influence  of  these  men  upon  the  public 
opinion  of  the  electors  of  the  country?  Who,  until  this  day, 
had  imagined  that  the  driver  of  a  mail  coach  would  injuriously 
influence  the  opinions  of  the  passengers  who  might  chance  to  ride 
in  his  carriage  ?  In  this  great  mass  of  individuals  there  might 
be  men  unworthy  of  trust  ;  it  would  be  strange  if  it  were  not  so  ; 
but  did  any  man  ever  dream  that  they  were  so  numerous  as  to 
endanger  our  government,  or  that  the  merry  holder  of  the  reins 
and  whip  of  the  vehicle  which  transports  the  mail  over  our  pub 
lic  highways  was  a  { supple  instrument  of  power,'  a  subservient 
partisan,  '  ready  for  every  service,  however  base  and  corrupt,' 
because  his  monthly  wages  were  paid  to  him  by  a  mail  con 
tractor?  Did  any  man  ever  permit  himself  to  believe  that  the 
elections  of  the  States  were  controlled  by  such  men?  No,  said 
Mr.  W.,  the  idea  is  mistaken  ;  and  the  honorable  committee  have 
yielded  themselves  to  fears  which  have  no  foundation,  and  to 
prophecies  of  evil  which  will  not  be  realized. 

"  He  had  then  disposed  of  a  very  large   proportion    of  this 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  321 

fearful  army  of  more  than  100,000  persons  dependent  upon  and 
receiving  money  from  the  government  ;  and  by  that  means  sup 
posed  to  be  made  '  supple  instruments  of  power,'  '  subservient 
partisans,  ready  for  every  service  however  base  and  corrupt.' 

"  'The  army,  and  persons  employed  under  the  superintendence  of 

the  War  Department,  were 16 , 722 

"  '  The  whole  navy,  including  the  marine  corps,  were 8,784 

"  'The  whole  pension  roll  were 38,836 

' '  All   the   deputy  postmasters,  mail  contractors,  mail  carriers, 
mail  coach  drivers,  aud  all  other  persons  connected  with  the 

transportation  aud  distribution  of  the  mail,  were 31 ,837 

Making  a  total  of 96, 179  ' 

"So  far,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  thought  the  intelligent  citizens  of 
this  country  would  be  able  to  estimate  the  dangers  to  be  appre 
hended  from  this  alarming  number  of  government  dependents 
with  great  accuracy  ;  to  value  the  benefits  to  themselves  indivi 
dually,  and  to  the  safety  of •  the  country  and  its  institutions  ;  to 
appreciate  the  tribute  of  justice  rendered  to  those  who  had  first 
broken  the  yoke  of  despotism,  and  given  us  the  liberty  we  enjoy, 
and  to  weigh  the  objections  against,  and  the  reasons  for,  a  con 
tinuance  of  the  laws  which  had  created  these  respective  classes 
of  officers,  agents  and  dependents. 

"  The  table  appended  to  the  report  of  the  committee,  and  from 
which  he  had  derived  the  preceding  classifications,  showed  that 
4,508  of  this  fearful  array  of  100,687  office-holders  and  dependents 
upon  executive  patronage  remained  to  be  accounted  for.  And 
here  he  found  it  necessary  to  notice  an  error  in  the  addition  of 
the  table,  by  which  the  total  number  of  persons  intended  to  be 
exhibited,  was  less  by  608  than  the  true  number.  Two  items 
had  been  accidentally  omitted,  to  wit :  119  persons  employed  in 
the  Department  of  War  in  this  city,  and  489  pensioners  upon  the 
navy  pension  fund  ;  so  that  the  aggregate  presented  by  the  com 
mittee  was  100,079,  while  the  number  in  fact,  as  shown  by  their 
own  table,  was  100,687.  Who,  then,  composed  the  remaining 
4,508  of  these  dangerous  men,  and  'supple  instruments  of 
power  ?' 

"  There  appeared  to  be  employed  in  the  State  department  in 
21 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

this  city,  and  connected  with  and  deriving  their  appointments 
from  and  through  that  department,  456  persons.  This  number 
Mr.  W.  said,  he  understood  to  include  the  department  itself,  all 
our  foreign  ministers,  diplomatic  agents,  consuls  and  officers 
abroad  of  every  description,  and  all  the  members  of  the  federal 
judiciary,  district  attorneys,  marshals  and  all  other  officers  con 
nected  with  the  courts.  He  surely  need  not  say  that  the  persons 
employed  in  an  office  here  could  have  little  influence  over  the 
public  opinion  of  the  voters  of  the  States,  the  individuals  them 
selves  not  being  entitled  to  a  vote  upon  any  national  question, 
and  their  locations  separating  them  from  contact  or  associations 
with  the  citizens  of  the  States.  Much  less  could  he  consider  it 
necessary  to  say  that  the  officers  and  agents  of  the  government 
abroad  were  not  to  be  suspected  of  exercising  a  dangerous  influ 
ence  over  the  opinions  and  wills  of  their  fellow-citizens  at  home. 
There  only  remained,  then,  of  this  number,  the  federal  judiciary, 
and  their  district  attorneys  and  marshals,  to  excite  alarm  or 
create  apprehension. 

"  From  the  same  table  furnished  by  the  committee,  it  would 
be  found  that  3,824  persons  were  employed  in  connection  with  the 
Treasury  department.  This  number  is  understood  to  include  all 
persons  engaged  in  the  collection  of  the  customs,  all  persons 
engaged  in  the  survey  and  sale  of  the  public  lands,  and  in  every 
other  branch  of  the  Treasury  department,  including  the  depart 
ment  itself.  Here,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  met  with  a  description  of  officers 
toward  whom  the  public  attention  had  been  particularly  directed 
for  the  last  year,  as  using  their  official  situation  to  influence  the  elec 
tors  of  their  respective  districts.  The  officers  of  the  customs  and 
of  the  land  offices  have  been  broadly  accused  of  these  practices. 
Of  the  latter  he  knew  nothing,  but  many  of  the  former  he  knew 
personally  and  intimately.  Every  Senator  must  know  personally 
a  greater  or  less  number  of  the  officers  of  the  customs,  for  every 
one  must  reside  within  some  collection  district.  He  called  upon 
all,  then,  to  state  their  knowledge  of  the  malpractices  of  these 
officers,  if  such  practices  were  known.  For  himself  he  should 
feel  bound,  as  a  sacred  duty  to  his  country,  to  present  any  such 
officer,  if  he  was  satisfied  his  conduct  was  unworthy  of  his  trust ; 
much  more  if  it  was  calculated  to  corrupt  the  public  morals, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  323 

trammel  the  freedom  of  opinion  of  the  electors,  or  endanger  the 
liberties  of  the  country.  Would  any  Senator  fail  to  pursue  this 
course  ?  Surely  not.  Still  we  had  heard  no  such  presentments 
from  any  quarter  of  the  country  ;  and  ought  not  this  single  fact 
to  be  taken  as  strong  evidence  that  these  sweeping  denunciations 
of  a  party  press,  and  of  partisan  politicians,  were  unmerited  by 
the  officers  against  whom  they  were  directed  ?  Ought  it  not  to 
be  satisfactory  evidence  that  our  liberties  are  not  endangered  by 
these  officers,  so  necessary  and  indispensable  to  the  security  of 
the  revenue  of  the  country?  If  this  whole  class  of  officers  had 
become  the  '  supple  instruments  of  power,' '  subservient  partisans, 
ready  for  every  service,  however  base  and  corrupt,'  would  not 
some  Senator  be  able  to  name  a  single  instance  from  the  whole 
country ;  to  present  a  single  example  to  the  public  eye  ?  Mr.  W. 
said  he  could  not  feel  alarm  for  the  safety  of  the  country  while 
no  single  officer  of  the  whole  corps  could  be  designated  as  guilty 
of  the  suppleness  and  subserviency  which  the  committee  seem  to 
apprehend.  So  much  for  the  persons  employed  in  and  connected 
with  the  Treasury  department. 

"In  the  Department  of  War,  119  persons  are  employed,  as 
shown  by  the  table.  This  number,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  supposed  to 
include  the  topographical  bureau  and  the  engineer  corps;  and  he 
would  inquire  whether  the  principles  and  policy  of  this  adminis 
tration  were  such  as  to  authorize  the  belief  that  an  extension  of 
the  influence  of  this  corps  to  the  local  and  private  interests  of  the 
citizens  was  intended  ?  Had  not  both,  in  the  discouragements  of 
works  of  internal  improvement  of  a  local  character,  a  direct  and 
powerful  tendency  to  circumscribe  the  power  and  influence  of 
these  engineers,  and  to  debar  them  from  an  interference  with  the 
local  interests  of  the  States  ?  Such  would  seem  to  him  to  be  the 
fair  and  just  conclusion.  Of  the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  influence,  upon  public  opinion,  to  be  exerted  by  persons  in 
the  employ  of  the  War  department,  in  this  city,  he  had  nothing 
to  add  to  his  remarks  in  relation  to  persons  similarly  employed 
in  the  departments  of  which  he  had  before  spoken. 

"  The  same  table  showed  twenty-nine  persons  in  the  employ  of 
the  Navy  Department,  and  eighty  persons  in  the  employ  of  the 
General  Post-office,  in  this  district.  They  are  principally  humble 


324  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

clerks,  at  very  moderate  salaries,  and,  he  doubted  not,  respectable 
.and  industrious  men,  faithfully  earning  the  money  paid  to  them; 
and  if  the  liberties  of  this  country  remained  until  destroyed  by 
them,  he  must  be  permitted  to  express  an  entire  confidence  that 
alarm  now  was  ill-timed  and  uncalled  for. 

"  This,  Mr.  W.  said,  closed  the  fearful  catalogue  of  office-holders 
and  dependents,  which  had  given  to  the  report  its  sad  and  boding 
aspect;  and,  thus  analyzed,  he  hoped  the  danger,  impending  or 
in  prospect,  would  appear  less  to  the  good  and  peaceable  citizens 
of  the  country  than  it  had  to  the  honorable  committee.  The 
whole  might  be  summed  up  as  follows: 

"  '  The  four  classes  first  mentioned,  to  wit:  the  army  and  persons 
in  civil  employment  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  War,  the  navy  and  marine  corps,  the  pensioners  and 
the  postmasters,  and  the  persons  employed  in  the  transporta 
tion  of  the  mail 96, 179 

"  '  The  persons  employed  in  and  connected  with  the  State  depart 
ment,  including  foreign  ministers,  consuls  and  commercial 
agents,  the  judges  of  the  Supreme,  district  and  circuit  courts, 
the  district  attorneys,  marshals,  etc 456 

"  *  The  persons  employed  in  and  connected  with  the  Treasury 
department,  including  all  officers  and  persons  employed  in 
the  collection  of  the  customs  and  the  revenue  service,  all 
officers  and  persons  employed  in  the  survey  and  sale  of  the 
public  lands,  etc.,  etc 3,824 

"  *  The  persons  employed  in  and  connected  with  the  War  depart 
ment  119 

'•  4  The  persons  employed  in  and  connected  with  the  Navy  de 
partment  29 

"  l  The  persons  employed  in  and  connected  with  the  General 

Post-office  .,  80 


"  Making  the  aggregate,  before  given,  of 100,687 ' 

"Let  these  100,000  individuals  stand  before  the  intelligent 
people  of  our  country  in  their  true  character,  and  let  them  say 
how  far  they  are  likely  to  undermine  and  destroy  their  liberties. 
For  himself,  Mr.  W.  said  he  could  feel  no  apprehension.  He 
believed  them,  as  a  mass,  an  honor,  and  not  a  danger  to  the 
country;  and  so  he  thought  they  were,  and  would  continue  to 
be,  viewed  by  the  people.  Here  he  would  leave  this  most  alarm- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  325 

ing  assumption  of  the  committee,  and  proceed  to  examine  another, 
not  less  erroneous.  The  committee  assume,  without  attempting 
to  prove,  that  those  100,000  office-holders  and  dependents  can 
influence  and  direct  the  will  of  the  American  people;  can  con 
trol  their  action  at  the  polls,  and  dictate  the  results  of  their  free 
elections.  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  this  is  an  assumption  as 
violent  as  it  is  unfounded,  and  does  great  injustice  to  the  inflexible 
integrity  of  our  intelligent  yeomanry.  They,  sir,  controlled  in 
the  exercise  of  that  right  which  they  consider  above  all  price, 
the  right  of  giving  a  vote  for  the  man  who  is  to  rule  over  them, 
by  office-holders,  by  soldiers,  sailors,  laborers  in  the  employ  of 
the  government,  mail  contractors,  mail  carriers  and  coach  drivers, 
or  by  pensioners!  No,  sir;  never.  The  idea  does  injustice  to 
their  integrity  and  intelligence.  They  are  controlled  by  no 
earthly  power  in  their  exercise  of  that  dearest  right  of  a  freeman; 
and  the  supposition  that  they  are,  is,  to  use  the  mildest  term,  a 
mistake  of  the  committee  of  a  glaring  character.  The  13,000,000 
of  free  people  of  this  country,  controlled  in  their  elections  by  a 
few  thousand  office-holders  and  dependents  upon  the  government ! 
By  a  few  of  their  own  servants!  No,  sir.  The  American  people 
are  not  thus  '  supple '  and  '  subservient,'  whatever  may  be  the 
character  of  those  who  receive  their  favors  and  bounty. 

"  But  is  it  fair  to  presume,  from  any  known  facts,  that  those 
holding  office  and  patronage  are  inclined  to  influence  the  people 
for  evil  to  the  country  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  knew  of  no  evidence  to 
warrant  such  an  assumption.  That,  among  the  great  numbers 
holding  office,  bad  men  might  be  found,  was  more  than  probable; 
but  he  believed  the  exceptions  would  be  so  few,  if  the  whole 
number  were  taken  into  the  account,  as  to  prove  that  good  men 
generally  hold  the  office  of  trust,  rather  than  to  impeach  the 
body  of  office-holders.  This  brought  him  to  notice  a  third 
assumption  of  the  committee,  not  less  unfounded,  in  his  judg 
ment,  and  more  violent  and  unjust  than  either  of  the  former. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  referred  to  the  assumption  found  in  the 
report,  that  offices  are  bestowed  'as  rewards  for  partisan  ser 
vice,  without  respect  to  merit.'  This  broad  charge  appears  upon 
the  face  of  this  paper  wholly  unsupported  by  proof,  or  by  an 
attempt  at  proof,  against  whom  ?  Against  a  chief  magistrate 


326  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

elected  by  the  people  ;  and,  after  an  exercise  of  the  appointing 
power  for  the  term  of  four  years,  again  re-elected  by  a  much 
stronger  expression  of  the  public  approbation  than  that  which 
first  elected  him  to  the  presidency.  How,  then,  does  this  assump 
tion  comport  with  the  respect  we  owe  to  the  popular  will  ?  To 
the  judgment  and  intelligence  of  those  we  represent  here  ?  To 
the  free  and  intelligent  people  of  this  free  country  ?  But  how, 
said  Mr.  W.,  are  these  office-holders  selected  by  the  chief  magis 
trate  ?  Upon  the  petitions  and  recommendations  of  the  people 
themselves  ;  upon  certificates  of  character,  respectability  and 
worth,  made  by  those  who  are  the  neighbors  and  friends  of  the 
candidate,  and  know  him  personally  and  intimately ;  and  most 
usually  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  representatives  here  of 
the  person  appointed.  Are  we  then  to  assume  that  offices  are 
'  bestowed  as  rewards  for  partisan  services,  without  respect  to 
merit  ?'  The  people  ask,  the  representative  recommends,  and 
the  office  is  conferred,  and  who  shall  say  that  it  is  done  '  without 
respect  to  merit  ?'  Surely  this  committee  will  not  be  sustained 
in  making  the  assertion  by  that  people  whose  will  is  followed  in 
the  appointments  made,  when  the  assertion  rests  upon  itself 
alone,  without  an  effort  to  support  it  by  evidence.  It  is,  Mr. 
President,  said  Mr.  W.,  another  of  those  mistakes  into  which 
the  gloomy  imaginations  of  the  committee  seem  too  frequently 
to  have  led  them.  These  assumptions,  as  erroneous  as  they  are 
unfounded,  in  his  judgment  appeared  to  him  to  constitute  the 
reasons  offered  by  the  committee  for  the  presentation  of  the  bill 
now  before  the  Senate.  The  abuses  existing  in  the  minds  of  the 
committee  were  those  which  had  been  examined,  and  the  bill 
purported  to  provide  for  their  correction  for  the  future. 

"What,  then,  was  the  remedy  proposed  ?  A  law  of  1820  had 
limited  the  terms  of  a  large  class  of  officers  therein  named  to 
four  years,  and  had  thus  compelled  those  officers  once  in  that 
term,  to  pass  in  review  before  the  President  and  Senate,  when 
their  characters  and  conduct,  official  and  private,  would  of  course 
be  inquired  into  and  examined,  and  when  the  state  of  their 
accounts  with  the  government  would  be  ascertained.  This  law, 
too,  was  calculated  to  secure  the  cardinal  republican  principle  of 
rotation  in  office,  by  causing  periodical  expirations  of  official 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  327 

terms,  when  those  who  had  enjoyed  a  reasonable  share  of  official 
patronage  might  give  place  to  other  citizens  equally  deserving, 
without  resorting  to  the  unpleasant  alternative  of  a  removal. 

"  The  first  section  of  the  bill  reported  by  the  committee,  and 
now  under  consideration,  proposes  to  repeal  this  law  of  1820, 
and,  by  doing  so,  to  make  these  offices  perpetual  or  dependent 
alone  upon  the  pleasure  of  the  President.  The  latter  would  be 
the  consequence,  were  it  not  that  the  third  section  of  the  bill 
virtually  imposes  restrictions  upon  the  power  of  the  President  to 
remove  from  office ;  and,  taken  in  connection  with  the  second 
section,  would  seem  fairly  to  imply  a  design  that  the  President 
shall  remove  for  one  cause  alone  —  that  of  a  defalcation  in 
paying  over  or  accounting  for  public  moneys.  If  this  be  the 
tendency  of  this  bill  —  and  this,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  his  understand 
ing —  then  its  effect  will  be  to  give  to  the  country  district  attor 
neys,  marshals,  collectors  of  the  customs,  naval  officers,  surveyors 
of  the  customs,  navy  agents,  receivers  of  public  moneys  for  lands, 
registers  of  the  land  offices,  surveyors  of  the  public  lands,  pay 
masters  of  the  army,  and  commissaries-general  of  purchases,  for 
life,  instead  of  the  short  term  of  four  years  ;  and  nothing  can 
remove  the  officer  but  his  becoming  a  public  defaulter  —  a  piece 
of  official  misconduct  of  which  several  classes  of  these  officers, 
such  as  naval  officers,  surveyors  of  the  customs,  registers  of  the 
land  offices,  and  the  like,  cannot  be  guilty,  because  no  public 
money  comes  to  their  hands. 

"And  what,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  the  assigned  cause 
for  this  great  and  dangerous  change  in  the  law  ?  To  destroy 
the  patronage  accruing  to  the  chief  magistrate  by  the  simple 
renominations  of  these  officers  to  the  Senate  once  in  the  term  of 
four  years.  Is  Congress  prepared  to  adopt  such  a  remedy  for 
such  an  evil  ?  Will  the  members  of  this  House  consent  to  create 
an  army  of  officers  for  life  in  this  government,  for  the  single 
purpose  of  getting  rid  of  the  evil,  if  it  be  one,  of  the  patronage 
conferred  upon  the  executive  power  in  their  periodical  reappoint- 
ment  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  could  not  think  so.  He  viewed  the  first 
section  of  the  bill,  standing  by  itself,  as  a  question  of  policy 
only  ;  but  he  must  consider  it  contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
republican  fathers,  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  free  institutions, 


328  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  contrary  to  the  well-ascertained  and  well-established  opinions 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  to  adopt 
any  measure  of  legislation  calculated  or  intended  to  perpetuate 
office  in  the  same  hands.  The  offices  of  this  government  should 
not  be  life  estates,  but  public  trusts  ;  and  to  keep  them  so,  they 
should  return  frequently  to  the  people,  or  to  such  of  their  agents 
and  representatives  as  have  the  power,  by  the  Constitution,  to 
confer  them.  Without  this,  the  salutary  principle  of  rotation  in 
office  is  gone,  and  we  raise  up  an  official  aristocracy  as  dangerous 
to  liberty  as  an  hereditary  one. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  not  an  advocate  for  executive  power  or 
official  patronage.  He  would  go  as  far  as  any  one  to  limit  such 
powers,  where  that  could  be  done  consistently  with  the  Consti 
tution,  and  a  safe  and  salutary  administration  of  the  government; 
but  to  get  rid  of  that  portion  of  the  executive  patronage  which 
consisted  in  the  renomination  to  offices,  the  terms  of  which  were 
now  limited  by  law,  and  from  which,  as  yet,  he  had  seen  no  cause 
to  feel  alarm  or  apprehension,  he  could  not  agree  to  remove  all 
limitation,  and  make  the  offices  permanent.  It  would,  in  his 
judgment,  be  an  attempt  to  avoid  a  possible  danger  by  the 
voluntary  adoption  of  a  great  and  certain  evil.  Such,  Mr.  W. 
said,  were  his  views  upon  the  first  section  of  the  bill,  and,  unless 
changed  by  what  might  be  subsequently  offered  in  its  favor,  he 
could  not  give  it  his  support. 

"  As  to  the  second  section,  he  had  not  a  remark  to  make.  He 
fully  acquiesced  in  the  principle  it  contained,  that  public  default 
ers  should  be  hurled  from  office,  and  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
fact  was  sufficient  ground  for  instantaneous  removal.  If  any 
Senators  supposed  that  legislation  was  necessary  to  secure  the 
practical  application  of  this  principle,  imperatively  and  promptly, 
to  every  officer  of  the  government,  he  was  not  aware  that  he  had 
any  objection  to  make  to  this  section. 

"  His  principal  difficulty  rested  upon  the  third  section  of  the 
bill.  That  section  was  in  the  following  words  : 

1  '  SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  in  all  nominations  made  by  the 
President  to  the  Senate,  to  fill  vacancies  occasioned  by  removal  from  office, 
the  fact  of  the  removal  shall  be  stated  to  the  Senate  at  the  same  time  that 
the  nomination  is  made,  with  a  statement  of  the  reasons  for  such  removal.' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  329 

"  This  provision  in  a  law  of  Congress  he  believed  to  be  in 
derogation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  he  could 
not,  therefore,  give  it  his  vote.  He  had  before  said  he  was  not 
an  advocate  for  executive  power  or  official  patronage,  but  he  was 
an  advocate  for  the  Constitution,  and  for  just  so  much  power  in 
every  branch  of  the  government  as  that  instrument  had  granted, 
and  for  no  more  in  any  branch,  either  executive,  legislative,  or 
judicial.  The  section  did  not,  in  terms,  deny  the  power  in  the 
President  to  remove  from  office,  but  it  proposed  limitations  upon 
the  exercise  of  the  power  equivalent  to  the  denial  of  its  existence 
as  a  constitutional  grant  of  power.  Mr.  W.  said  the  question 
was  one  of  the  first  importance  and  magnitude,  and  he  did  not 
propose  to  argue  it  at  the  present  time,  but  was  bound  to  give 
the  grounds  of  his  opinion  that  the  provision  was  unconstitutional. 

"  The  Constitution  has  said  *  the  executive  power  shall  be  vested 
in  a  President  of  the  United  States  of  America.'  This  he  under 
stood  to  vest  in  the  President  all  the  executive  power  pertaining 
to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  not  otherwise 
granted  by  the  Constitution.  He  understood  the  power  of 
appointment  to  office  and  the  power  of  removal  from  office,  to 
be  executive  powers,  and,  therefore,  to  be  vested  in  the  President 
by  this  general  grant,  unless  some  other  provisions  of  the  Con 
stitution  shall  be  found  to  take  them  from  him,  or  to  divide  them 
between  him  and  some  other  department  of  the  government. 
What  other  provisions  bear  upon  the  question  ?  The  two  fol 
lowing  : 

"  '  1st.  He  (the  President)  shall  nominate,  and,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  Senate  shall  appoint,  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers 
and  consuls,  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the 
United  States,  whose  appointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for, 
and  which  shall  be  established  by  law. 

"  '  3d.  But  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  vest  the  appointment  of  such  infe 
rior  officers  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of 
law  or  in  the  heads  of  departments.' 

"  If,  then,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  was  right  in  supposing  that  the 
power  of  appointment  was  an  executive  power,  its  existence  in 
the  President  was  qualified  by  the  negative  of  the  Senate,  con 
ferred  by  the  clause  first  above  quoted,  and  he  could  nominate, 


330  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

but  could  not  appoint,  but  '  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate.'  Still  nothing  in  this  clause  affected  the  power  to 
remove  from  office,  unless  by  implication,  of  which  he  should 
have  occasion  hereafter  to  speak;  and,  therefore,  that  power,  not 
withstanding  this  clause,  remained  in  the  President  by  virtue  of 
the  general  grant,  perfected  and  unqualified. 

"  But  the  clause  second  above  quoted  might  be  held  to  qualify 
this  power  of  removal,  and  therefore  he  referred  to  it  to  show 
that  it  did  not  affect  the  bill  under  consideration,  or  obviate  its 
unconstitutionality.  That  clause  gives  to  the  Congress  the  power, 
by  law,  '  to  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior  officers  as  they 
think  proper  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law  or  in  the 
heads  of  departments.'  It  has  been  and  may  further  be  con 
tended  that  this  qualification  of  the  executive  power  of  appoint 
ment  may  also  qualify  the  power  of  removal;  and  that  when 
'  the  Congress  may,  by  law,  vest  the  appointment  of  such  inferior 
officers  as  they  think  proper  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts 
of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments,'  they  may  prescribe  the 
causes  for  and  restrictions  upon,  the  removals  of  the  officers  so 
to  be  appointed  in  conformity,  not  to  the  Constitution,  but  to  the 
law.  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  find  it  necessary  to  discuss  this 
point,  as  the  third  section  of  the  bill  before  him  reached  the 
removal  of  all  officers,  superior  and  inferior,  and  alike  required 
from  the  President  the  causes  of  the  removal,  whether  the  office 
was  of  the  one  grade  or  the  other.  The  provision  proposed  by 
the  committee  made  no  distinction  between  an  ambassador  or 
other  public  minister  or  consul,  or  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  officers  enumerated  in  the  Constitution,  a  superior  officer,  a 
member  of  the  cabinet,  and  an  inferior  officer,  a  surveyor  of  the 
customs,  '  established  by  law.' 

"Again,  the  Congress  had  not  yet,  by  law,  vested  the  appoint 
ment  of  any  of  the  officers  named  in  the  first  and  second  sections 
of  the  bill,  '  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of  law,  or  in 
the  heads  of  departments; '  and,  until  they  had  done  this,  the 
second  clause  referred  to  could  have  no  operation  to  restrict  the 
power  of  removal  conferred  upon  the  President  by  the  Constitu 
tion  ;  that  power,  like  the  power  of  nomination,  remaining  in  him 
under  the  constitutional  grant  as  to  all  officers  '  which  shall  be 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  RJLAS  WRIGHT.  331 

established  by  law,'  until  the  Congress  think  proper  to  vest  the 
appointment  of  inferior  officers  in  himself  alone,  in  the  courts  of 
law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments,  and  to  affix  by  law  the 
causes  for  and  the  restrictions  upon  the  removal  of  the  officers 
so  to  be  appointed. 

"  Neither  of  these  qualifications  upon  the  executive  power 
granted  to  the  President,  then,  Mr.  W.  said,  seemed  to  reach 
the  provision  contained  in  the  third  section  of  the  bill  of  the 
committee,  and  he  was  left  to  inquire  whether  any  implication, 
from  the  executive  power  granted  to  the  Senate,  authorized  the 
legislation  proposed  ?  The  grant  to  the  Senate,  made  in  the  Con 
stitution,  was  to  advise  and  consent  to  nominations  made  by  the 
President,  or  to  refuse  that  advice  and  consent;  and  it  had  been 
argued  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Web 
ster]  that  this  power  necessarily  drew  after  it  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate  to  removals  from  office.  That  honorable 
gentleman  had  stated  that  he  had  examined  the  practice  of  the 
government,  and  that  the  only  removal  was  the  appointment  of 
another  to  fill  the  place  of  the  person  removed.  His  argument 
was  understood  to  be  that,  as  the  appointment  of  A.  to  fill  the 
office  of  B.,  removed,  was  the  only  removal  of  B.,  therefore  the 
appointment  of  A.  was  the  removal  of  B.,  and  the  appointment 
of  A.  requiring  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  this  body 
must  also  be  held  as  advising  and  consenting  to  the  removal  of  B. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  had  not  examined  the  practice  of  the  govern 
ment  in  this  respect,  and  therefore  he  could  not  say  whether  or 
not  it  had  been  customary,  in  cases  of  removals  from  office,  to 
issue  a  supersedeas,  the  uniform  practice,  as  he  believed,  in  his 
own  State;  but  he  would  ask  the  honorable  Senator  whether  it 
had  ever  been  supposed,  when  the  President  nominated  A.  to  an 
office  in  the  place  of  B.,  removed,  the  rejection  of  the  nomination 
of  A.  by  the  Senate  restored  B.  to  the  office  from  which  he  had 
thus  been  removed  by  the  President  ?  Did  not  the  Senate  know 
that,  in  case  of  such  rejection,  the  office  had  always,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  government  under  the  Constitution,  been 
held  to  be  vacant,  and  the  President  bound  to  continue  to 
nominate  to  the  Senate  until  he  found  a  person  to  whose  appoint 
ment  they  would  advise  and  consent  ?  Had  he  ever  heard  of  an 


332  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

incumbent,  thus  removed,  returning  to  the  duties  of  his  office  in 
consequence  of  the  rejection  by  the  Senate  of  the  nomination  of 
his  successor  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  confident  in  the  assertion 
that  the  history  of  the  government  furnished  no  instance  of  such 
a  claim  to  office,  or  of  such  an  exercise  of  official  powers.  How, 
then,  could  the  gentleman  contend  that  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  Senate  to  the  appointment  of  a  successor  had  been  held  to  be 
also  an  advice  and  consent  to  the  removal  of  the  incumbent  ?  If 
the  Senate  did  not  advise  and  consent,  the  removal  had  ever  been 
held  to  be  perfect,  and  the  office  vacant;  and  therefore  that 
advice  and  consent,  when  yielded,  could  not  be  held  to  make  the 
removal.  So  much,  Mr.  W.  said,  for  the  argument  in  favor  of 
the  implied  executive  power  existing  in  the  Senate,  to  participate 
with  the  President  in  removals  from  office.  It  had  not  existed 
in  the  practice  of  the  government ;  it  did  not  exist  in  the  Con 
stitution;  and  he  would  leave  it  to  those  who  made  out  the  claim 
to  point  out  its  derivation. 

"  He  would  again  say  that  it  was  not  his  object  to  argue  these 
great  constitutional  questions,  and  he  had  said  thus  much  to 
declare  his  distinct  and  clear  opinions.  He  held  the  power  of 
removal  from  office  to  be  an  executive  power,  in  the  clear  and 
universally  admitted  classification  of  governmental  powers.  As 
an  executive  power,  he  held  it  to  be  vested  in  the  President  by 
the  broad  grant  of  that  power  contained  in  the  Constitution, 
because  no  qualification  found  in  that  instrument,  and  no  action 
of  Congress  under  it,  granting  power  to  regulate  the  appointment 
of  inferior  officers,  had  taken  it  from  him,  as  connected  with  the 
third  section  of  the  bill  before  the  Senate. 

"  Could  Congress,  then,  by  law,  require  from  the  President  his 
reasons  for  an  act  performed  in  pursuance  of  the  power  granted 
to  him  by  the  Constitution  ?  He  could  not  think  it  would  be 
pretended.  As  well  might  Congress  declare,  by  law,  that  the 
President  should  send,  with  every  nomination  he  makes  to  this 
body,  the  reasons  why  he  has  selected  the  individual  named.  As 
well  might  Congress  declare,  by  law,  that  the  Senate  should  make 
a  statement  to  the  President  of  the  reasons  for  their  action  upon 
his  nomination.  Each  acts  in  the  exercise  of  an  independent 
constitutional  power  expressly  conferred,  and  neither  is  responsi- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  :}:}:} 

ble  to  the  other  for  their  action,  but  both  are  responsible  to  the 
people  and  the  States. 

"  So,  in  making  removals  from  office,  the  President,  if  he  has 
the  power  at  all,  possesses  it  as  an  express  grant  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  he  is  responsible  to  Congress  for  its  exercise  in  no  other 
way  than  by  impeachment,  and  then  the  causes  should  be  assigned, 
if  assigned  at  all,  to  the  impeaching  and  not  to  the  trying  branch 
of  Congress.  He,  therefore,  could  not  view  the  section  in  any 
other  light  than  as  a  direct  and  palpable  violation  of  the  consti 
tutional  powers  and  rights  of  the  executive,  and,  as  such,  he 
must  oppose  its  passage.  He  would  not,  however,  consume  more 
of  the  time  of  the  Senate,  at  this  late  stage  of  the  session,  in 
fortifying  his  position.  He  wrould  content  himself  with  the  fact 
that  the  first  Congress  ever  convened  under  the  Constitution  had 
deliberately  decided  these  questions  of  executive  power  as  he  now 
contended  they  existed.  That  Congress  consisted  of  a  large 
number,  among  others,  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  —  men 
more  competent  than  any  other  to  form  correct  opinions  as  to  its 
intended  grants  of  power.  It  had  been  well  said,  by  the  honor 
able  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Ewing],  that  this  decision  was  made 
before  the  formation  of  political  parties  under  the  government, 
and  at  a  time  when  political  partisan  feeling  could  not  have 
influenced  the  judgment  of  those  who  pronounced  the  opinion 
that  the  power  of  removal  from  office  was  an  executive  power, 
and  was  vested  in  the  President.  If  proof  of  this  fact,  stronger 
than  any  other,  could  be  required,  it  would  be  found  in  the 
record  of  that  debate,  which  shows  James  Madison,  the  most 
distinguished  democrat,  and  Fisher  Ames,  the  most  distinguished 
federalist,  in  that  Congress,  combining  their  unsurpassed  talents 
and  powers  of  eloquence  in  favor  of  the  decision.  Gen.  Washing 
ton,  then  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  president  of  the 
convention  which  formed  the  Constitution,  claimed  and  exercised 
this  power  during  the  whole  of  his  administration.  The  elder 
Adams  exercised  it  after  him.  The  immortal  Jeiferson,  the  father 
of  democracy,  also  claimed  and  exercised  it  freely  during  the 
eight  years  of  his  administration.  After  him,  James  Madison 
and  James  Monroe  exercised  it  for  the  period  of  sixteen  years. 
The  younger  Adams  then  exercised  it  during  his  presidential 


334  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT. 

term,  and  the  present  chief  magistrate  followed  the  examples 
thus  set  for  him  until  the  last  year,  without  an  intimation  of  a 
doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  the  power  as  a  constitutional  grant. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  would  not  remark  further  upon  this  point. 
If  gentlemen  would  show  him  that  the  power  of  removal  was  not 
an  executive  power,  it  might  then  be  competent  for  them  to 
charge  him  and  his  friends  with  attempting  to  claim  power  in 
the  President  by  implication  from  the  Constitution,  and  not  from 
express  grant.  He  was  the  advocate  for  no  implied  powers  in 
any  department  of  the  government.  He  held  this  to  be  an  execu 
tive  power,  expressly  granted  in  the  broad  grant  of  that  power 
to  the  President.  So  the  Congress  of  1 789  had  decided  it  to  be, 
and  so  the  practice  of  the  government,  for  almost  fifty  years, 
under  the  Constitution,  had  uniformly  treated  it,  without  debate 
or  question. 

"  He  ha'd  now  completed  what  he  had  proposed  to  say.  His 
principal  object  had  been  to  examine  the  facts  from  which  the 
committee  had  drawn  their  frightful  picture  of  danger  to  the 
country  from  executive  patronage,  and  to  point  out  what  appeared 
to  him  their  almost  unmeasured  exaggerations  of  inference  and 
conclusions  from  their  own  premises.  This  he  had  considered  it 
a  duty  he  owed  to  himself,  to  the  Senate,  and  to  the  country,  to 
do,  and  he  had  made  the  attempt,  whether  successful  or  not,  the 
Senate  would  decide.  He  would  merely  add  what  he  had  before 
repeated,  that  he  saw  no  cause  for  the  great  and  peculiar  alarm 
expressed  in  the  report;  he  felt  not  that  alarm  himself,  nor  could 
he  believe,  if  it  had  foundation,  that  we  were  to  discharge  our 
selves  and  the  country  from  it  by  making  perpetual  terms  of 
office  of  all  the  officers  who  must  receive  their  appointments  upon 
the  nomination  of  the  President,  and  whose  terms  of  office  were 
now  limited  by  law.  Such  a  remedy  would  increase,  but  could 
not  quiet  his  alarm." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  Win  GET.  335 


CHAPTER  LI. 

EXPUNGING  THE  SENATE  RESOLUTIONS  CONDEMNING 
GEN.  JACKSON. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Senate  condemning  the  President 
for  dismissing  Secretary  Duane,  and  removing  the  public 
deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  have  been 
given  in  a  previous  chapter.  On  the  18th  of  February, 
1835,  Col.  Benton  offered  a  resolution  to  expunge  from 
the  Senate  journals  the  resolution  condemning  the  action 
of  the  President  on  those  subjects,  "because  the  said 
resolution  is  illegal  and  unjust,  of  evil  example,  indefinite 
arid  vague,  expressing  a  criminal  charge  without  specifi 
cation,  and  as  irregular  and  unconstitutionally  adopted 
by  the  Senate,  in  subversion  of  the  rights  of  defense 
which  belonged  to  an  accused  and  impeached  officer,  and 
at  a  time  and  under  circumstances  to  involve  peculiar 
injury  to  the  political  rights  and  pecuniary  interests  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States."  On  the  third  of  March 
this  resolution  was  laid  upon  the  table,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Webster,  by  a  vote  of  27  to  20.  Col.  Benton  thereupon 
again  presented  it,  giving  notice  he  should  call  it  up 
during  the  second  week  of  the  next  session.  It  was  at 
that  time  called  up,  but  not  acted  upon,  further  than 
CoL  Benton  adding  a  long  preamble.  The  resolution  was 
finally  discussed  and  acted  upon,  and  passed  January, 
16,  1837,  by  a  vote  of  24  to  19— a  strictly  party  vote. 
Whereupon  the  journal  was  brought  into  the  Senate,  and 
the  Secretary  drew  black  lines  around  the  resolution,  as 
there  recorded,  and  wrote  in  bold  letters  across  the  face, 
"  Expunged,  by  order  of  the  Senate,  this  16th  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1837." 


336  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WKIGHT. 

Mr.  W  RIGHT  made  no  formal  speech  upon  this  ques 
tion,  although  a  thorough  supporter  of  the  measure.  He 
contented  himself  with  presenting  the  resolutions  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  instructing  the 
Senators  in  Congress  "to  use  their  best  efforts  to  pro 
cure  the  passage  of  a  resolution,  during  the  present  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  directing  the  aforesaid  resolution  to  be 
expunged  from  the  journal  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,"  and  voting  with  his  colleague,  Mr.  Tallmadge, 
for  the  preamble  and  resolution.  In  this  manner  the 
senatorial  condemnation  of  President  Jackson  was  swept 
from  the  records  of  the  Senate,  in  conformity  with  the 
undoubted  approbation  of  a  majority  of  the  American 
people.  The  effort  of  political  opponents  to  crush  Gen. 
Jackson  by  a  senatorial  ex  parte  condemnation  signally 
failed  in  its  object,  while  those  actually  engaged  in  it 
keenly  felt  this  novel  mode  of  rebuke. 

"CANTON,  14th  April,  1835. 

"My  DEAR  FRIEND. — Your  letter,  of  the  first  inst.,  came  to  me 
several  days  since,  and  my  engagements  have  not  allowed  me 
time  to  answer  it  until  now.  I  am  most  glad  to  be  able  to  say 
to  you,  with  truth,  that  it  was  as  welcome  as  it  was  unexpected. 
My  brother  told  me,  when  at  home,  that  you  wished  to  see  me, 
and  had  my  stay  allowed  me  time,  I  should  have  called  to  see 
you  ;  but  I  had  been  from  home  so  long,  and  was  so  fearful  of 
being  further  delayed  by  the  state  of  the  ice  in  the  lake,  if  I  did 
not  hasten  on,  that  I  did  not  even  give  myself  time  to  see  my 
eldest  sister,  and  did  not  make  a  call  out  of  my  father's  family. 

"  The  claims  which  constitute  the  subject  of  difficulty  between 
our  government  and  France,  at  the  present  time,  have  grown  out 
of  seizures  and  confiscations  of  American  vessels  and  cargoes, 
made  under  what  were  called  the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  and 
other  decrees  of  the  French  government,  previous  to,  and  at  about 
the  time  of,  the  late  war.  By  a  treaty  made  between  France  and 
the  United  States,  in  1832,  and  duly  ratified  by  both  governments, 
the  amount  of  these  claims  was  settled  at  25,000,000  francs  (a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  337 

little  less  than  $5,000,000),  and  France  agreed  to  pay  the  amount 
in  annual  installments,  with  interest,  I  think,  at  four  per  cent. 
When  the  first  payment  became  due  our  government  made  a 
draft  upon  them  for  it,  which  was  presented  at  the  French 
Treasury  and  was  not  paid,  because  their  Legislature  had  appro 
priated  no  money  to  make  the  payment.  The  subject  was  then 
immediately  laid  before  that  government  by  ours,  and  was,  by 
the  King,  laid  before  their  Legislature.  That  body  refused  to 
make  the  appropriation,  alleging  various  reasons  for  doing  so, 
but  principally  that  their  government  had,  by  the  treaty,  agreed 
to  pay  too  much,  and  that  the  treaty  itself  was  not  binding, 
until  the  Legislature  had  sanctioned  it  by  the  payment  of  the 
money,  or  by  making  the  appropriation  to  pay. 

"  The  King  assumed  to  be  very  anxious  for  the  fulfillment  of 
the  treaty,  and  to  regret  the  action  of  the  Legislature,  and  gave 
every  assurance  that  the  appropriation  would  be  made  at  the 
next  legislative  session.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Presi 
dent  let  the  subject  rest,  and  did  not  make  any  communication 
to  Congress  about  it.  Another  session  of  the  French  Legislature 
took  place.  A  bill  was  laid  before  the  body  at  a  late  day  in  the 
session  and  was  not  acted  upon.  Our  minister  at  Paris  was  then 
directed  to  inform  the  French  government  that  the  appropriation 
must  be  made  before  the  then  next  meeting  of  Congress,  or  that 
the  President  would  feel  himself  bound  to  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  that  body.  He  was  given  to  understand  that  the  French 
Legislature  would  meet  in  July,  and  that  then  the  subject  would 
be  attended  to.  They  did  meet  in  July,  and  the  subject  of  the 
appropriation  was  not  laid  before  them  at  all,  but  they  were 
adjourned  to  meet  a  month  later  in  the  fall  than  usual,  on  the 
twenty-ninth  instead  of  the  first  of  December. 

"  Under  these  circumstances  the  President  sent  his  last  annual 
message  to  Congress,  which  you  have  no  doubt  read. 

"  The  French  now  pretend  to  say  the  message  is  an  attempt  to 
threaten  and  frighten  them  to  make  the  payment,  and,  therefore, 
that  they  cannot  pay  consistently  with  their  honor.  Thus  the 
matter  now  stands,  as  I  understand  the  brief  history  of  the  case. 

"  I  have  not,  as  yet,  doubted  that,  after  a  flourish  about  courage 
and  honor,  they  would  pay  the  money.     I  still  think  they  will, 
22 


338  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

though  the  last  mail  brought  me  the  news  of  another  change  of 
ministry,  and  how  that  may  affect  the  legislative  action  upon  the 
appropriation,  I  am  unable  to  say.  I  think  unfavorably. 

"I  was  much  concerned  to  learn,  from  my  brother,  that  you 
had  not  recovered  your  health,  and,  from  the  length  of  time  you 
have  been  on  a  decline,  I  greatly  fear  your  constitution  is  perma 
nently  impaired.  Nothing  could  have  given  me  more  pleasure 
than  your  reference  to  our  school-boy  days.  I  have  long  known, 
from  my  own  feelings,  that  no  friendships  formed  in  life,  and  not 
connected  with  the  relationships  of  society,  are  so  strong,  so  pure, 
and  so  disinterested  as  those  which  grow  out  of  our  associations 
in  childhood,  before  the  cares  of  the  world  take  possession  of  the 
mind.  I  have  been  for  many  years  far  removed  from  those  who 
were  my  associates  at  that  period.  I  have  formed  many  acquaint 
ances  and  associations  since  those  were  formed,  but  none  are 
remembered  with  the  same  freshness  of  feeling,  and  none  cling 
so  closely  around  the  heart ;  I  had  supposed,  however,  that  my 
absence  from  those  companions  had  continued  the  recollections 
more  strongly  in  my  mind,  while  their  enjoyment  of  each  other's 
society  to  the  present  time,  without  much  change  of  place  or 
associates,  would  have  made  them  almost  forget  those  who  had 
left  them.  Your  letter  affords  me  the  best  evidence  that  it  is  not 
so,  but  that  you,  too,  retain  those  remembrances  and  all  the 
friendship  which  grow  out  of  the  associations. 

"  I  am  not  a  professor  of  religion,  but  you  must  not  think  so 
badly  of  me  as  to  suppose  that  I  am  unwilling  to  have  the  sub 
ject  pressed  upon  my  attention  by  pure  and  disinterested  friends. 
Much  less  must  you  permit  yourself  to  believe  that  the  knowledge 
that  you  remember  me  in  your  prayers  to  the  Giver  of  Life,  and 
upon  your  knees  entreat  mercy  and  forgiveness  and  eternal  hap 
piness  for  me,  either  offends  or  displeases  me.  I  know  and  feel 
that  that  man  who  is  a  practical  Christian  is  a  better  citizen,  a 
better  friend  and  a  happier  man,  and  the  good  wishes  of  such 
men,  if  I  know  myself,  are  most  valuable  to  my  feelings.  I  beg 
you,  therefore,  not  for  one  moment  to  afflict  yourself  with  the 
fear  that  you  can  loose  my  friendship  by  letters  breathing  this 
kindness  and  good  will,  and  pure  and  ardent  friendship  which  is 
found  in  every  line  of  your  letter  before  me. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  339 

"  I  hope  I  may  hear  from  you  often,  when  your  health  and 
your  time  shall  permit  you  to  write,  and  when  I  shall  be  able, 
nothing  will  give  me  greater  pleasure  than  to  answer  your  letters. 

"My  health  is  perfectly  good,  and  when  at  home  I  am  not 
usually  very  much  pressed  with  business.  You  do  not  mention 
the  subject  of  your  health,  but  may  I  not  hope  it  is  on  the  gain  ? 
Such,  at  any  rate,  is  the  ardent  wish  of 

"  Your  sincere  friend, 

"  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  MILO  STOW,  Esq." 


340  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LIL 

ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

The  question  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United 
States  has  been  more  or  less  agitated  from  the  early  days 
of  the  Union.  Few  claimed  that  Congress  was  clothed 
with  power  to  abolish  it  in  the  several  States.  But  it  was 
largely  insisted  that  they  could  do  so  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  where,  under  the  Constitution,  they  are  author 
ized  "to  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  what 
soever."  The  abolitionists,  with  ceaseless  energy,  pur 
sued  their  objects,  one  of  which  was  to  create  agitation 
and  extend  excitement.  This  could  be  done  with  refer 
ence  to  the  District,  where  the  Constitution  presented  no 
barriers.  Numerous  petitions  were  presented  in  both 
houses  of  Congress,  demanding  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District.  These  were  more  or  less  discussed,  and 
produced  heated  opposition  from  those  representing 
slaveholding  States. 

In  the  House,  this  class  of  petitions,  in  1836,  were 
referred  to  a  select  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  chairman;  Hamer,  of  Ohio; 
Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire;  Hardin,  of  Kentucky;  Jarvis, 
of  Maine;  Owens,  of  Georgia;  Muhlenburgh,  of  Pennsyl 
vania;  Dromgoole,  of  Virginia,  and  Turrill,  of  New 
York.  This  committee  made  a  report  on  the  18th  of 
May,  1836,  which  occupied  an  hour  and  a  half  in  the 
reading.  It  closed  with  these  resolutions : 

"  JZesolverf,  That  Congress  possesses  no  constitutional  authority 
to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  any  of 
the  States  of  this  confederacy. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  341 

"  Resolved,  That  Congress  ought  not  to  interfere  in  any  way 
with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia;  and, 

"  Whereas,  it  is  extremely  important  and  desirable  that  the 
agitation  of  this  subject  should  be  finally  arrested  for  the  pur 
pose  of  restoring  tranquillity  to  the  public  mind,  your  committee 
respectfully  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  additional 
resolution,  viz.: 

"  Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  resolutions,  proposi 
tions,  or  papers,  relating  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent  whatso 
ever,  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  or  the  abolition  of  slavery,  shall, 
without  being  either  printed  or  referred,  be  laid  upon  the  table, 
and  that  no  further  action  whatever  shall  be  had  thereon." 

This  report,  although  presented  by  the  chairman,  was 
understood  by  the  committee  to  have  been  drawn  by  the 
member  from  New  York,  while  it  is  known  to  the  author 
to  have  been  prepared  by  Mr.  WRIGHT,  and  spoke  his 
sentiments  and  those  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  friends 
generally. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1836,  the  Senate  proceeded  to 
consider  a  petition  from  sundry  citizens  of  Ohio  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  A  question  ^vas 
raised  by  Mr.  Calhoun  whether  it  "shall  be  received," 
which  he  and  others  had  discussed,  but  no  direct  vote 
upon  it  is  found.  Other  like  petitions  were  presented 
and  considered  with  the  one  from  Ohio.  Mr.  Buchanan 
moved  to  amend  the  other  motions,  and  to  "reject  the 
prayer  of  the  petition,"  which  prevailed,  34  to  6,  every 
Senator,  except  Davis,  Hendrichs,  Knight,  Prentiss, 
Swift  and  Webster,  voting  aye. 

Mr.  WRIGHT  addressed  the  Senate,  at  length,  on  Mr. 
Calhoun' s  motion  not  to  receive  the  petition.  The  final 
action  of  that  body  on  the  question  seems  to  be  in 
harmony  with  the  views  presented  by  him,  which  were 
as  follows : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  considered  it  to  be  his  duty  to  trouble 
the  Senate  with  a  very  few  remarks  before  the  pending  question 


342  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WKIGHT. 

was  put.  He  did  so  with  extreme  reluctance,  arising  from  the 
deepest  conviction  that  this  whole  subject  had  better  not  have 
been  debated  at  all;  that  these  petitions  had  better  have  been 
suffered  to  take  their  usual  course,  the  course  they  had  taken 
every  year  when  he  had  been  a  member  of  either  House  of  Con 
gress;  the  course  of  other  petitions,  of  being  permitted  to  be 
read  at  the  clerk's  table,  and  referred  to  the  appropriate  com 
mittee.  His  reluctance  was  greatly,  and  perhaps  he  might  say 
principally,  increased  by  the  consciousness  that  the  whole  subject 
was  surrounded  with  difficulties;  that  it  was  excitable  in  every 
aspect;  that  the  different  sections  of  the  Union  were  liable  to 
different  affections  from  the  expression  of  the  same  sentiment; 
and  that  some  unmeasured  phrase,  or  some  imprudent  remark 
might  fall  from  him,  which,  unintentionally  on  his  part,  might 
increase  rather  than  allay  excitement,  in  the  one  portion  or  the 
other  of  the  country. 

"  Yet  he  felt  that  he  should  not  discharge  the  duty  incumbent 
upon  him,  or  properly  represent  his  constituents,  if  he  permitted 
this  question  to  be  decided  without  saying  anything.  Had  he 
been  able,  otherwise,  to  content  himself  to  give  a  silent  vote, 
he  could  not  do  so  now,  since  the  extracts  read  by  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh]  from  the  late  publication  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Channing,  a  book  he  had  never  seen,  and  of  the 
contents  of  which  he  was  wholly  ignorant,  any  farther  than  the 
very  limited  quotations  of  that  honorable  Senator  had  made  him 
acquainted  with  them.  He  was  prepared,  however  from  those 
extracts  alone,  to  say,  that  however  distinguished,  however  pure, 
however  pious,  and  however  well  intended  the  author  of  that  work 
might  be,  in  issuing  to  the  public  such  a  book,  he  had  shown  him 
self  as  ignorant  of  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  citizens  of  the  non-slaveholding  States  as  he  had,  in  the 
quotations  made,  of  the  merits  and  virtues  of  the  people  of  th.e 
eoutli.  He,  Mr.  W.,  was  ready  to  pronounce,  in  his  place,  that 
the  publication,  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  seemed  to  be  written,  as 
grossly  abused  the  northern  feeling  as  its  language  did  the 
southern  morals. 

"When  such  representations  of  the  sentiment  of  the  north 
come  from  such  sources,  it  was  incumbent  upon  him  to  convince 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  343 

the  Senator  from  Virginia,  the  Senate  and  the  public,  that  a 
belief  in  them  as  the  sentiments  of  the  non-slaveholding  States, 
would  be  doing  violent  injustice  to  those  States,  and  to  the 
patriotism  and  opinions  of  their  citizens. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  not  to  discuss  the  subject  of  slavery  in 
the  abstract.  He  knew  it,  and  the  people  of  the  north,  as  a  body, 
knew  it  only  as  it  existed  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  was  sanctioned  by  it.  They  thought  of  it  in  that 
light,  and  in  that  light  only,  so  far  as  its  existence  in  these  States 
is  concerned,  and  so  far  as  the  quiet  of  the  country  and  the  pre 
servation  of  the  Union  are  involved  in  any  agitation  of  the  sub 
ject.  In  that  sense,  it  was  not  a  question  for  discussion  in  that 
body. 

"Neither,  said  Mr.  W.,  was  he  to  debate  the  question  of 
slavery  in  the  sovereign  States  of  this  Union.  The  sacred  and 
invaluable  compact  which  constitutes  us  one  people,  had  not 
given  to  Congress  the  jurisdiction  over  that  question.  It  was 
left  solely  and  exclusively  to  those  States,  and,  in  his  humble 
judgment,  it  ought  never  to  be  debated  here  in  any  manner 
whatever. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  go  farther  and  say  that  he  did  not 
purpose  to  trouble  the  Senate  with  a  discussion  upon  the  pro 
priety  of  any  action  on  the  part  of  Congress  in  reference  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  regard  to 
the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  over  that  subject.  He  had 
listened  with  pleasure  and  profit  to  the  able  argument  of  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [  Mr.  Leigh]  upon  the  powers 
of  Congress,  and  had  marked  his  concessions  of  power  equal  to 
that  possessed  by  the  Legislatures  of  the  respective  States  of 
Maryland  and  Virginia  over  the  same  subject  within  those  States. 
He  had  not  studied  the  question  himself,  because  he  was  able  to 
mark  out  his  own  course,  with  perfect  satisfaction  to  his  own 
mind,  without  examining  either  the  constitutional  powers  of 
Congress,  or  the  powers  of  those  State  Legislatures.  He  was 
ready  to  declare  his  opinion  to  be  that  Congress  ought  not  to  act 
in  this  matter  but  upon  the  impulse  of  the  two  States  surround 
ing  the  District,  and  then  in  a  manner  precisely  graduated  by  the 
action  of  those  States  upon  the  same  subject.  Had  the  Con- 


344  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT. 

stitution,  in  terms,  given  to  Congress  all  power  in  the  matter, 
this  would,  with  his  present  views  and  feelings,  be  his  opinion  of 
the  expedient  rule  of  action  ;  and  entertaining  this  opinion,  an 
examination  into  the  power  to  act  had  been  unnecessary  to 
determine  his  vote  upon  the  prayer  of  these  petitions.  He  was 
ready  promptly  to  reject  their  prayer,  and  he  deeply  regretted 
that  he  was  not  permitted  so  to  vote  without  debate. 

"  The  refusal  to  receive  the  petitions,  Mr.  W.  said,  was,  to  his 
mind,  a  very  different  question.  That  was  the  question  now  pre 
sented.  If  the  refusal  should  be  sanctioned  by  the  Senate,  upon 
the  broad  ground  of  the  subject  prayed  for,  and  not  upon  the 
distinct  objection  of  indecorous  language  or  matter  in  the  peti 
tion  itself,  it  would  be  considered  and  felt,  in  many  sections  of  the 
country,  as  a  denial  of  the  constitutional  right  to  petition,  and, 
as  such,  would  be  infinitely  more  calculated  to  produce  and 
increase,  than  to  allay  excitement.  The  prompt  rejection  of  the 
prayer  of  these  petitions  would  express  the  sense  of  the  Senate 
in  the  most  marked  and  decisive  manner  against  the  objects  of 
the  petitioners.  The  refusal  to  receive  the  petitions  would  raise 
a  new  issue,  infinitely  more  favorable,  as  he  deeply  feared,  to  the 
schemes  of  these  mad  incendiaries  than  all  which  had  gone  before 
this  proposed  step. 

"  He  entreated,  he  said,  his  brethren  of  the  south  to  reflect 
before  they  gave  this  immense  advantage  to  the  agitators.  He 
was  aware  that  the  southern  feeling  must  be  sensitive,  perhaps 
beyond  his  ability  to  estimate,  upon  this  subject  of  domestic 
slavery.  The  constitutional  rights,  the  personal  and  private 
interests,  the  domestic  peace  and  domestic  security  of  the  people 
of  the  slaveholding  States,  compelled  them  to  feel  deeply  and 
keenly  upon  every  agitation  of  this  delicate  question.  He  could 
not  be  insensible  to  the  existence  of  these  feelings,  or  to  their  • 
justice.  Yet,  might  he  not  appeal  to  members  of  this  body  from 
those  States,  and  ask  them  to  remember  that  excitement,  growing 
out  of  the  same  subject,  was  also  prevailing  in  the  non-slavehold- 
ing  States  ?  That  the  public  mind  in  those  States  had  become 
aroused  to  the  subject  ?  That  a  limited  number  of  individuals, 
from  what  motives  he  would  not  attempt  to  say,  were  making  it 
their  calling  and  business  to  increase  that  excitement,  and  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  345 

make  it  universal  ?  And  might  he  not  claim  that  the  action  of 
the  Senate  should  be  such  as  would  be  most  likely  to  calm  the 
excitement  in  all  the  States  and  in  every  section  of  the  Union  ? 

"  What,  then,  Mr.  W.  asked,  was  the  action  most  likely  to 
produce  this  result  —  a  result,  he  must  believe,  most  highly 
desired  by  every  member  of  the  Senate  ?  To  answer  this  inquiry 
he  must  detain  the  Senate  with  a  short  examination  of  the  true 
state  of  public  opinion  in  the  non-slaveholding  States,  in  relation 
to  the  movements  of  the  abolitionists,  as  manifested  and  pub 
lished  to  the  world,  since  the  last  adjournment  of  Congress.  He 
should  confine  his  statements  upon  this  point  to  the  State  which 
he  had  the  honor,  in  part,  to  represent  here,  because  his  informa 
tion  in  reference  to  that  portion  of  the  north  was  more  minute 
and  authentic,  and  because  he  was  satisfied  that  the  general  feel 
ing  of  the  citizens  of  his  State  upon  this  point  was  equally  the 
general  feeling  of  all  the  non-slaveholding  States. 

"He  would  then  say  that  he  did  not  know  of  a  single  meeting 
of  citizens  in  his  State,  convened  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
the  civil  and  political  condition  of  the  country,  during  the  whole 
summer  and  autumn  now  last  past,  of  whatever  political  party 
the  meeting  might  be,  one  single  instance,  to  which  he  should 
have  occasion  hereafter  to  refer,  being  alone  excepted,  which  had 
not  made  the  most  distinct  and  firm  expressions  against  the 
efforts  of  these  agitators.  In  addition  to  this  evidence  of  the 
almost  entire  feeling  of  the  citizens  of  the  State,  obtained  from 
these  ordinary  assemblages  of  citizens,  he  need. only  remind  the 
Senate,  to  bring  the  fact  to  the  distinct  recollection  of  every 
member  of  the  body,  that  immense  public  meetings,  composed 
of  men  of  all  grades,  of  talent  and  influence,  of  all  parties  in 
politics,  and  of  all  sects  in  religion,  had  been  held  in  almost  every 
populous  town  in  New  York,  for  the  express  purpose  of  giving 
to  the  country,  and  especially  to  their  brethren  of  the  south,  the 
public  sentiment  and  public  reprobation  of  the  efforts  of  the  few 
fanatics,  whose  exertions  to  agitate  the  question  of  slavery  were 
considered  as  infringing  upon  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
slaveholding  States,  as  calculated  to  disturb  the  peace  of  those 
States,  and,  what  was  considered  of  infinitely  more  importance, 
to  endanger  the  harmony  and  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  The 


346  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

expressions  of  these  meetings,  Mr.  W.  said,  had  neither  been 
weak  nor  equivocal.  They  had  breathed  a  spirit  of  patriotism, 
of  generous  feeling  toward  their  brethren  of  the  south,  and  of 
attachment  to  the  Union,  which  he  was  sure  his  southern  friends 
would  appreciate  and  reciprocate. 

"  It  became  now  his  duty,  and  he  performed  it  with  no  small 
degree  of  mortification,  to  speak  of  the  exception  to  which  he 
had  referred.  All  within  the  hearing  of  his  voice  would  recollect 
that,  during  the  summer  or  fall,  notice  was  given  to  the  public 
of  a  State  convention  of  abolitionists,  to  be  held  at  the  city  of 
Utica,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  in  the  month  of  October  last, 
according  to  his  present  recollection  of  the  time.  The  notice 
appeared  formidable  from  the  array  of  names  appended  to  it, 
they  being  several  hundreds  in  number,  and  exhibiting  among 
them  a  large  proportion  of  the  names  of  preachers  of  the  gospel 
of  peace.  It  gave  him  unfeigned  pleasure  to  say  that  time 
proved  that  many  of  these  names,  and  those  of  individuals  by  no 
means  the  least  respectable  in  character  and  standing  and  influ 
ence,  had  been  appended  to  the  notice  without  the  consent  or 
authority  of  the  persons  whose  names  they  were,  and,  in  many 
instances,  in  open  and  direct  opposition  to  the  wishes  and  feel 
ings  of  the  individuals. 

"  Still,  the  notice  had  the  effect  of  causing  delegates  to  be 
appointed  to  attend  the  proposed  convention,  from  too  many 
places  in  the  State,  and  the  design  of  holding  the  convention  was 
persevered  in.  A  short  time  before  the  day  fixed  for  assembling 
this  body  of  agitators,  application  on  their  behalf  was  made  to 
the  municipal  authorities  of  the  city  of  Utica,  for  leave  to  use  a 
public  building  within  the  city,  erected  at  the  expense  of  the 
citizens  of  the  town,  as  the  place  for  the  meeting  of  the  convention. 
Through  an  excess  of  complaisance,  or  a  mistaken  feeling  of 
indulgence,  the  required  permission  was  given  by  the  common 
council  of  the  city.  No  sooner  was  this  fact  made  known  to  the 
citizens  than  a  public  meeting  was  called,  and  resolutions  of  the 
most  distinct  and  decisive  character  passed,  declaring  that  the 
public  building  in  question,  erected  at  their  expense  and  for  their 
use,  should  not  be  prostituted  to  so  mischievous  a  purpose,  and 
that  the  proposed  convention  should  not  occupy  it.  This  meeting 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  347 

was  a  voluntary  assemblage  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  and 
of  course  unauthoritative ;  but  to  make  themselves  sure  of  their 
object,  and  to  carry  their  resolves  into  certain  effect,  the  meeting 
was  adjourned  to  reassemble  in  the  same  public  building  pro 
posed  to  be  occupied  by  the  abolition  convention,  and  on  the 
same  day  when  that  convention  was  to  meet.  At  an  early  hour  of 
the  day  designated  the  public  building  in  question  was  filled  with 
the  citizens  of  the  town,  and  not  an  abolitionist  was  known  to 
enter  it.  Soon,  however,  the  assemblage  was  informed  that  the 
proposed  convention  was  assembling  at  a  church  in  the  vicinity, 
for  the  purpose,  as  it  was  believed,  of  showing,  upon  paper,  the 
proceedings  of  a  State  convention  of  that  character.  A  commit 
tee,  consisting  of  twenty-five  members,  selected  from  the  most 
respectable  and  influential  inhabitants  of  the  town,  was  instantly 
appointed,  and  instructed  by  the  meeting  of  citizens  to  repair  to 
the  church  and  inform  the  convention  of  the  wishes  and  determi 
nation  of  the  inhabitants  of  Utica,  that  their  city  should  not  be 
made  the  head-quarters  for  their  mischievous  movements.  The 
committee  obeyed  the  order  of  the  meeting;  made  their  way  into 
the  church,  and  announced  their  errand  and  their  instructions  to 
the  assembled  convention,  when,  fortunately  for  the  peace  of  the 
community,  the  convention  dispersed,  without  attempting  to  pro 
ceed  with  their  business. 

k'  Such,  Mr.  W.  said,  substantially,  was  the  history  which  had 
been  given  to  him,  by  eye-witnesses  of  the  most  respectable 
character,  of  the  attempt  to  hold  a  State  convention  of  abolition 
ists  at  Utica,  and  of  its  results  ;  and  for  the  credit  of  his  usually 
orderly  and  peaceable  constituents,  he  wished  he  could  stop  here 
and  give  the  full  evidences  of  the  feeling  manifested  on  that 
occasion.  The  whole  truth,  however,  went  further  ;  and  he 
believed  it  due  to  the  present  occasion  to  give  the  whole  truth. 
During  the  night  of  the  day  on  which  the  convention  had  been 
thus  dispersed,  he  had  been  further  informed  that  some  dis 
orderly  persons  forced  their  way  into  a  printing  office  in  Utica, 
supposed  to  be  owned  by  some  of  the  agitators,  and  certainly 
devoted  to  their  cause,  and  committed  depredations  upon  the 
property  of  the  office;  among  other  acts  of  violence  throwing 
the  types  into  the  street.  These  persons,  for  this  offense,  had 


348  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS 

been  brought  before  the  magistracy,  and  put  under  recognizance 
to  appear  at  the  then  next  court  to  be  held  for  the  county,  and 
answer  for  the  act.  Recent  information  told  him  they  had 
appeared;  that  their  cases  had  been  presented  to  the  grand  jury, 
and  that  that  jury,  acting  upon  their  oaths,  had  reported  no  bills 
against  them. 

"There  was  one  further  fact,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  ought  not  to 
omit,  in  giving  the  evidences  of  the  correct  state  of  public 
opinion,  elicited  by  this  attempt  to  hold  an  abolition  State  con 
vention  at  Utica.  One  member  of  the  committee  of  twenty-five 
appointed  by  the  citizens  to  repair,  and  who  did  repair  to  the 
church  and  aid  in  dispersing  this  convention,  was,  at  the  time, 
before  the  people  as  a  candidate  for  the  State  Senate.  In  about 
two  weeks  from  the  time  of  the  transactions  he  had  detailed,  the 
name  of  this  gentleman  was  presented  at  the  polls  throughout  his 
Senate  district,  a  district  comprising  from  250,000  to  300,000  of 
the  population  of  the  State,  and  not  a  shadow  of  opposition  was 
made  against  his  election  from  any  quarter.  Could  this  have 
happened  if  these  agitators  had  possessed  any  hold  upon  the  feel 
ings  of  that  people,  the  very  people  among  whom  they  had  pro 
posed  to  raise  the  standard  and  commence  their  proceedings  as 
a  State  society  ?  Most  assuredly  it  could  not. 

"Again:  another  individual  of  that  committee  was  a  dis 
tinguished  member  of  the  New  York  delegation  in  the  other 
branch  of  Congress,  and  information  just  received  announced 
his  appointment  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  by  a  strong,  an 
almost  unanimous  vote,  to  the  highly  responsible  and  important 
office  of  Attorney-General  of  the  State.  Such  had  already  been 
the  expressions  of  public  opinion  as  to  two  of  the  members  of  the 
committee  of  the  citizens  of  Utica,  who  were  put  forward,  at  an 
important  moment,  to  suppress  the  agitators.  Could  there  be 
anything  equivocal  in  expressions  like  these  ?  Would  the  honor 
able  Senator  from  Virginia,  would  any  member  of  the  Senate,  or 
any  citizen  of  the  country,  after  such  manifestations,  permit  their 
confidence  in  the  soundness  of  the  public  feeling  at  the  north 
to  be  shaken  by  such  a  publication  as  that  referred  to  from  Dr. 
Channing  ?  He  could  not  think  they  would.  He  most  earnestly 
hoped  they  would  not. 


LIFK  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  349 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  he  had  mentioned  these  facts,  and  he  might 
mention  many  others  of  a  somewhat  similar  character,  to  show 
that  the  determined  feeling  of  resistance  to  these  dangerous  and 
wicked  agitators  in  the  north  had  already  reached  a  point  above 
and  beyond  the  law,  and,  if  left  to  its  own  voluntary  action,  deci 
sive  of  the  fate  of  abolitionism  in  that  quarter.  Why,  he  would 
ask,  were  such  manifestations  of  feeling  found  among  those  who 
were  wholly  uninterested  in  slave  property  ?  The  answer  was 
single  and  palpable.  Their  attachment  to  the  Constitution  and 
the  Union  prompted  it,  and,  if  left  to  govern  themselves,  by  that 
attachment,  there  was  no  cause  to  apprehend  danger.  He 
appealed,  then,  in  the  kindest  manner,  and  with  great  confidence, 
to  the  representatives  of  the  slave-holding  States,  to  say  whether 
it  was  now  desirable,  whether  it  was  now  wise,  to  attempt  to 
force  this  feeling  further? 

"For  himself,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  must  say  he  considered  it 
immensely  important  that  the  action  of  the  Senate  should  be 
calm  and  considerate;  that  nothing  should  be  done  rashly;  that 
no  step  should  be  taken  which  could  by  any,  the  most  sensitive, 
be  considered  violent.  He  must  repeat,  that  any  such  action 
would  put  a  weapon  into  the  hands  of  the  agitators  more  power 
ful,  and  much  more  to  be  feared,  than  all  their  efforts  of  a  volun 
tary  character.  Such,  he  most  deeply  feared,  would  be  a  vote  of 
the  Senate,  that  petitions  upon  this  subject,  without  regard  to 
their  language  and  character,  should  not  be  received  by  the  body. 
He  was  not  disposed,  at  the  present  time,  even  to  discuss  the 
question  of  the  extent  of  the  constitutional  right  to  petition  Con 
gress,  so  strongly  did  he  feel  that  discussion  or  debate  of  any 
sort  upon  this  topic  could  produce  only  unmixed  evil  to  every 
portion  of  the  country.  He  was  willing,  for  his  present  purpose, 
to  place  the  question  of  reception  or  rejection  upon  the  ground 
taken  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh],  and 
to  consider  it  as  a  question  of  mere  expediency;  and  he  hoped 
that,  in  that  sense,  he  had  said  enough  to  satisfy  every  member 
of  the  Senate  that  there  would  be  great  danger  in  the  course 
proposed  by  the  motion  under  consideration.  Without  discuss 
ing  the  question,  he  thought  every  Senator  would  concede  that 
a  general  impression  prevailed  among  our  whole  people,  of  every 


350  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

portion  of  the  Union,  that  the  right  to  petition  Congress,  in 
respectful  terms  and  a  respectful  manner,  was  one  of  the  broad 
est  rights  secured  by  the  Constitution.  Refuse  it  upon  the 
broad  principle,  as  relating  to  this  subject,  and  these  malignant 
agitators  will  seize  upon  the  act  to  draw  to  themselves  and  their 
cause  the  public  sympathy.  They  will  represent  themselves  as 
having  been  denied  their  constitutional  rights,  and  as  being  the 
subjects  of  unjust  and  unreasonable  persecution;  and,  once  able 
to  occupy  that  ground  plausibly,  they  will  become  vastly  more 
dangerous  than  they  can  ever  make  themselves  by  any  efforts  of 
their  own. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  appeared  to  him  that  a  unanimous  expression 
of  the  Senate,  if  that  could  be  secured,  was  of  the  greatest 
importance,  as  being  much  more  calculated  to  allay  excitement 
in  every  portion  of  the  country  than  any  peculiar  form  of  expres 
sion  which  might  be  preferred  by  any  sectional  interest.  Under 
this  impression,  he  had  hoped  that  the  liberal  and  patriotic  pro 
position  of  his  friend  from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Buchanan]  would 
have  been  adopted  by  universal  consent;  that  these  petitions, 
and  all  others  upon  the  same  subject,  if  not  clearly  exceptionable 
in  their  language  and  manner,  would  be  received,  be  permitted 
to  be  read  at  the  clerk's  table,  if  desired,  and  then  that  the 
prayer  of  each  would  be  promptly  rejected,  without  one  word  of 
debate,  and  by  the  vote  of  every  Senator.  He  yet  hoped  the 
Senate  would  consent  to  take  that  course.  Its  effect  would  be, 
in  his  judgment,  most  eminently  calculated  to  allay  excitement 
everywhere,  and  everywhere  that  effect  was  most  desirable.  A 
political  or  geographical  vote  could  not  have  that  effect  any 
where;  and,  therefore,  he  hoped  not  to  see  such  a  vote. 

"  A  single  other  remark,  Mr.  W.  said,  and  he  would  occupy 
the  attention  of  the  Senate  no  longer.  The  gentlemen  from 
the  south  assure  us  they  have  no  apprehension  for  their  safety, 
and  for  the  safety  of  their  respective  States,  let  the  present 
excitement  result  as  it  may.  It  was  pleasant  to  him  to  hear  these 
assurances.  They  were  calculated  to  do  good  everywhere;  but 
he  must  say,  in  sheer  justice  to  the  non-slaveholding  States,  that 
they  should  not  be  made  in  a  manner  to  carry  with  them  the 
implication  that  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  south  are  to  meet 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  351 

enemies  in  the  great  body  of  the  citizens  of  the  north.  Such  is 
not  the  fact  —  they  are  friends  to  the  south;  friends  to  the  consti 
tutional  rights  of  the  south;  friends  to  the  peace  of  the  country; 
friends  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union  of  these  States;  and  they 
will,  upon  all  occasions,  and  in  every  place,  perform  all  their 
constitutional  duties,  as  pointed  out  by  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh].  They  will,  upon  every  call,  most 
cheerfully  lend  their  aid  to  quell  insurrection,  not  promote  it; 
they  will  open  their  arms,  not  present  their  bayonets,  to  all  their 
fellow-citizens,  of  whatever  section  of  the  Union. 

"  Mr.  Calhoun  could  not  concur  with  the  gentleman  from  New 
York  that  so  much  delicacy  was  to  be  shown  to  the  very  small 
part  of  his  own  State  he  referred  to,  that  these  petitions  were  to 
be  rejected,  lest  the  refusal  to  receive  them  might  be  considered 
as  a  violation  of  the  right  of  the  citizen  to  petition  Congress. 
But,  said  Mr.  C.,  does  the  gentleman  look  at  our  side  of  the 
question  ?  If  his  constituents,  continued  Mr.  C.,  are  to  be  treated 
with  so  much  respect  that  their  petitions  are  to  be  received,  what 
is  to  be  considered  as  due  to  our  constituents  ?  The  Senator 
considered  the  petition  before  the  Senate  as  moderate  in  its  lan 
guage —  he  did  not  say  otherwise  —  language,  said  Mr.  C.,  which 
treats  us  as  butchers  and  pirates.  The  Senator  said  they  must 
receive  this  petition  and  reject  it,  lest  it  might  be  considered  as 
violating  the  right  of  petition.  To  receive  it  and  immediately 
reject  it.  This  looked  something  like  juggling.  Was  the  peti 
tion  of  sufficient  consequence  to  be  received,  and  at  the  same 
time  of  so  little  consequence  as  to  be  immediately  rejected? 
Was  it  intended  merely  that  this  petition  was  to  be  put  on  the 
files  of  the  Senate  as  a  record  to  show  the  opinion  entertained  of 
the  people  of  the  south  by  these  abolitionists  ?  The  Senator 
told  them  that  this  abolition  spirit  had  subsided  at  the  north. 
He  told  them  that  this  convention  of  Utica,  which  he  spoke  of 
as  an  exception  to  the  general  feeling  in  his  State,  was  compelled 
to  disperse.  Well,  within  a  few  days  a  newspaper  published  at 
Utica  nad  been  handed  to  him,  called  the  Oneida  Standard  and 
Democrat.  He  supposed  the  gentleman  Was  acquainted  with  its 
character  ;  it  was  headed  b  For  President,  Martin  Van  Buren  of 
New  York;  for  Vice-President,  Richard  M.  Johnson  of  Ken- 


352  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tucky.'      This  paper  contained    a   most   violent    attack   on   the 
southern  States  and  their  institutions. 

"[Mr.  WRIGHT  explained — he  only  wished  to  state  that  it 
was  the  office  where  this  paper  was  published  which  had  been 
forcibly  entered  and  the  types  thrown  into  the  street,  as  he  had 
before  related ;  that  it  was  for  that  offense  against  this  paper, 
when  the  grand  jury  of  the  county  refused  to  find  bills  of 
indictment ;  that  neither  himself  nor  his  friends  could  be  respon 
sible  for  the  names  which  such  a  paper  might  choose  to  place  at 
its  head ;  but  that  of  this  one  fact  he  could  assure  the  Senator 
of  his  own  knowledge,  that  no  other  paper  in  the  whole  State 
was  more  universally  or  distinctly  understood  to  be  hostile  to 
the  political  party  to  which  he  belonged  than  this  paper ;  and  he 
did  not  doubt  that  its  columns  would  establish  his  position.]" 

The  reader  of  the  debates  in  Congress  on  these  petitions 
will  not  fail  to  observe  that  one  class  of  southern  politi 
cians  sought  to  hold  Mr.  Van  Buren  responsible  for  the 
acts  of  northern  abolitionists  who  desired  to  agitate  and 
spread  their  theories  and  wishes,  mainly  regardless  of  the 
consequences  to  the  democratic  or  whig  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  It  will  not  escape  notice  that  Mr.  WEIGHT 
manifested  his  usual  tact  and  skill  in  vindicating  the 
views  and  actions  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  friends  upon 
the  subject  of  abolition,  as  well  as  other  subjects,  while 
he  presented  considerations  upon  the  subject  to  the  Senate 
which  few  then  and  no  one  now,  will  contend  are  not  pru 
dent,  wise  and  conclusive. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  353 


CHAPTER  LI  1 1. 

RELIEF  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  SUFFERERS  BY  FIRE. 

On  the  16fch  of  December,  1835,  New  York  was  visited 
by  a  desolating  fire,  in  which  674  buildings,  including 
some  public  edifices,  were  totally  destroyed,  and  ranges 
of  capacious  and  valuable  stores  and  warehouses,  dis 
lodging  about  1,000  mercantile  firms.  The  fire  extended 
over  fifty-two  acres  of  ground,  and  destroyed  property 
valued  at  $20,000,000.  Many  of  the  merchants  whose 
property  was  destroyed  were  indebted  to  the  United 
States  on  duty  bonds.  Their  attention  was  turned  to 
Congress  for  an  extension  of  the  time  of  payment  of 
these  and  to  other  modes  of  relief. 

The  following  remarks  of  Mr.  WRIGHT  will  show  what 
was  done  in  the  city  on  these  subjects  : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  was  charged  with  the  presentation  of  a 
memorial  on  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
more  especially  in  behalf  of  that  portion  of  those  citizens  who 
were  sufferers  by  the  late  conflagration  in  that  city.  Consequent 
upon  that  unexampled  calamity  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens 
of  the  city  was  called,  and  a  committee  of  125  persons,  distin 
guished  for  their  standing,  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  memorial 
to  Congress  for  such  relief  as  it  might  be  supposed  Congress 
could  afford.  The  memorial  he  held  had  proceeded  from  that 
committee,  and  was  signed  by  its  chairman. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  the  memorial  was  too  long  to  authorize  him  to 
ask  for  its  reading  at  the  secretary's  table,  and  he  would  there 
fore  state,  in  the  condensed  language  of  the  memorial  itself,  the 
relief  prayed  for,  which  was  as  follows : 

"  '  1.  A  remission  or  refunding  of  duties  on  goods  in  original  packages, 
which  have  been  destroyed  by  the  late  conflagration. 

"  *  2.  An  extension  of  credit  on  all  the  existing  bonds  for  duties  payable 
in  this  city,  and  falling  due  after  the  sixteenth  of  this  month. 
23 


354  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  '  3.  A  general  temporary  extension  of  the  time  of  payment  of  cash  and 
other  duties  on  goods  imported  into  the  United  States  subsequent  to  the  six 
teenth  of  this  month. 

"  '  4.  An  investment  of  a  portion  of  the  unappropriated  surplus  revenue 
of  the  United  States,  in  such  periods  and  such  manner  as  will  afford  relief 
to  the  city  of  New  York.' 

"  These,  Mr.  W.  said,  were  the  specific  modes  of  relief  prayed 
for  in  the  memorial.  It  was  not  his  purpose  to  consider  them  at 
this  time,  but  he  felt  it  to  be  a  duty  he  owed  to  his  colleague  and 
himself,  upon  the  presentation  of  this  memorial,  to  trouble  the 
Senate  with  a  single  remark.  This  signal  calamity  upon  a  very 
numerous  and  most  important  portion  of  their  immediate  con 
stituents  had  not  been  unnoticed  by  them,  or  failed  to  excite  their 
most  lively  anxieties,  but  upon  full  deliberation  they  had  believed 
that  they,  as  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  State  in  this 
body,  should  best  discharge  their  duties  here,  and  best  consult 
the  interests  of  those  who  had  suffered,  to  wait  any  action,  so  far 
as  action  of  Congress  might  be  expected,  until  the  specific  wishes 
of  those  immediately  concerned,  and  therefore  most  competent  to 
specify  their  wants,  should  be  made  known.  That  had  now  been 
done  in  the  memorial  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  he  most  cheerfully 
communicated  those  wishes  to  the  Senate.  For  the  single  reason 
assigned,  and  for  no  other,  his  colleague  and  himself  up  to  this 
time  had  remained  silent  upon  this  important  subject,  and  had 
not  made  any  proposition,  or  in  any  shape  brought  the  matter  to 
the  notice  of  the  Senate. 

"  Mr.  W.  then  moved  that  the  memorial,  without  a  reading,  be 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finance,  and  that  the  same  be 
printed." 

Mr.  WRIGHT  exerted  himself  to  secure  such  relief  as 
tlie  losses  sustained  seemed  to  render  proper.  Congress 
limited  its  action  at  that  session,  to  extending  the  time . 
of  the  payment  of  the  duty  bonds  which  were  then  due 
or  fell  due  after  the  fire,  allowing  five  years  for  the  pay 
ment  of  new  bonds  to  be  given  in  place  of  the  old  ones, 
with  interest  limited  to  five  per  cent  instead  of  the  usual 
rate  of  six. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  355 


CHAPTER   LIV. 

NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

The  high  rate  of  duties  imposed  by  the  tariff  law  of 
1828,  and  the  unregulated  spirit  of  speculation  in  pub 
lic  lands,  nourished  and  encouraged  by  the  paper  sys 
tem  and  the  flush  condition  of  the  deposit  banks,  had 
filled  our  national  treasury  to  overflowing,  and  eventu 
ally  occasioned  the  distribution  to  the  States  of  some 
$28,000,000.  A  counter  scheme  for  depleting  the  treas 
ury  was  found  in  an  extended  plan  of  national  forti 
fications.  Surveys,  estimates  and  reports  were  made. 
President  Jackson  was  understood  to  favor  the  forti 
fication  mode  of  disposing  of  any  considerable  surplus 
which  might  find  its  way  into  the  treasury.  Distribu 
tion  and  fortifications  were  competing  subjects  of  public 
policy,  and  divided  the  political  parties  with  few  excep 
tions;  the  whigs  going  for  distribution  and  the  democrats 
for  fortifications.  The  discussions  were  emphatic,  and 
aroused  much  warm  feeling  and  some  animosities. 

Mr.  Benton  introduced  a  resolution  in  favor  of  appro 
priating  the  surplus  revenue  to  objects  of  permanent 
national  defense.  This  resolution  was  before  the  Senate 
on  the  17th  of  February,  1836,  when  Mr.  WEIGHT  made 
the  following  remarks : 

"  Mr.  President  —  I  took  the  floor  on  Friday  last  to  detain  the 
Senate  with  any  remarks  of  mine,  in  the  course  of  this  debate, 
with  extreme  reluctance;  a  reluctance  arising  from  the  manifest 
desire  of  this  body  to  terminate  the  discussion  and  come  to  the 
question.  The  reluctance  thus  felt  was  greatly  increased  by  the 
knowledge  that  many  members,  upon  both  sides  of  the  House, 
understood  that  the  debate  was  to  close  with  the  closing  speech 


356  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WXIGHT. 

of  the  mover  of  the  resolutions  [Mr.  Benton],  and  that  the  ques 
tion  was  to  be  taken  when  he  should  resume  his  seat.  My  own 
desire  that  the  resolutions  should  receive,  if  possible,  the  unani 
mous  vote  of  the  Senate,  still  further  increased  my  unwillingness 
to  protract  the  discussion,  as,  in  the  then  state  of  things,  I  con 
sidered  it  very  desirable  to  have  the  vote  of  the  Senate  upon  the 
resolutions,  and  the  resolutions  themselves,  to  go  to  the  country 
with  the  message  of  the  President  announcing  the  mediation  of 
England  in  our  difficulties  with  France,  that  the  sense  of  this 
body,  as  well  as  the  message,  might  exert  a  beneficial  influence, 
not  only  throughout  our  own  country,  but  upon  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic. 

"  So  strong,  Mr.  President,  was  my  anxiety  upon  this  point 
that,  even  after  the  remarks  made  by  the  Senator  from  Virginia 
[Mr.  I^eigh],  who  followed  the  Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Ben- 
ton],  I  had  consented,  exceptionable  in  principle  and  practice  as 
I  considered  those  remarks  to  be,  not  to  reply  to  them,  but  to  let 
the  question  follow  the  speech  of  the  Senator  from  North  Caro 
lina  [Mr.  Brown],  he  having  succeeded  the  Senator  from  Virginia 
[Mr.  Leigh]  in  the  debate.  When,  however,  the  Senator  from 
Ohio  [Mr.  Ewing]  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  again  to  take  part  in  the 
discussion,  and  not  only  to  continue  the  debate,  but,  as  to  most 
of  the  essential  points,  to  take  the  same  ground  which  had  been 
occupied  by  the  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh],  my  reluctance 
to  obtrude  myself  upon  the  attention  of  the  Senate  yielded  to  a 
sense  of  the  imperious  obligation  resting  upon  me  as  a  member 
of  the  body,  and  as  a  representative,  in  part,  of  one  of  the  States 
of  this  Union,  not  to  permit  positions  so  erroneous,  and  so  dan 
gerous  in  their  tendencies,  to  be  assumed  and  repeated  without 
reply.  My  principal  object  in  asking  the  floor  had  this  extent  — 
to  reply,  somewhat  at  large,  to  the  remarks  of  these  two  Sena 
tors  touching  our  relations  with  France,  the  difficulties  which  had 
grown  out  of  them,  and  the  duties  of  our  government,  as  hereto 
fore  discharged,  or  hereafter  to  be  discharged,  in  reference  to  the 
settlement  of  those  difficulties. 

"  I  had  intended  particularly  to  reply  to  the  position  assumed 
by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh],  that  it  was 
permissible,  for  any  cause,  or  under  any  circumstances,  that  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT.  357 

foreign  government  should  interpose  itself  between  the  President 
and  Congress;  that  any  foreign  government  should  have  the 
right  to  ask,  and  that  it  should  be  the  duty  of  any  department 
of  our  government  to  make  either  explanation  or  apology  (by 
whichever  term  the  gentleman  may  choose  to  characterize  the 
demand)  touching  any  matter  contained  in  any  communication 
from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  or  from  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  [Here  Mr.  Leigh  asked  leave  to 
explain,  and  Mr.  W.  yielded  the  floor  to  him  for  that  purpose. 
He  said  the  question  discussed  by  him  was  not  whether  the 
explanation  or  apology  ought  to  be  made,  because  it  had  been 
conceded  on  all  hands  that  the  requisite  explanation  had  been 
made  in  the  last  annual  message  from  the  President  to  Congress, 
but  in  what  manner  that  explanation  should  reach  the  French 
government;  whether  by  direct  communication,  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  diplomatic  correspondence,  or  indirectly,  by  being  con 
tained  in  a  message  to  Congress;  and  that  he  had  contended  that 
the  former  mode  of  direct  diplomatic  communication  was  prefer 
able.  ]  Mr.  W.  resumed.  The  question  is  understood  alike  by  the 
gentleman  and  myself.  He  will  not  pretend  that  the  annual  mes 
sage  from  the  President  to  Congress,  or  any  other  message  from 
that  officer  to  this  body,  is  a  communication,  in  any  sense,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  a  foreign  government ;  that  such  messages  are  ever 
transmitted  upon  the  demand  or  requisition  of  a  foreign  govern 
ment,  or  that  any  foreign  government  can,  in  any  proper  view  of 
the  subject,  be  considered  directly  or  indirectly  as  a  party  to 
these  communications.  They  cannot,  then,  be  termed  either 
explanations  or  apologies  to  a  foreign  power;  and  the  question 
returns,  are  we  to  permit  any  foreign  government  to  interpose 
between  these  two  branches  of  our  government,  and  demand 
either  explanation  or  apology  in  reference  to  the  communications 
passing  between  them  ?  No,  never,  Mr.  President,  while  we 
remain  an  independent  nation. 

"  I  had  also  intended,  said  Mr.  W.,  to  have  replied  particularly 
to  the  position  assumed  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio 
[Mr.  Ewing],  that  things  had  better  remain  precisely  as  they 
then  were,  or  as  we  supposed  they  then  were,  than  to  have  a  war 


358  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

with  France  ;  in  other  words,  to  give  what  I  understood  to  be 
the  purport  of  the  Senator's  position,  we  had  better  yield  the 
execution  of  the  treaty  on  the  part  of  France,  than  to  insist  upon 
its  fulfillment  at  the  expense  of  a  war. 

"  I  am  prevented,  Mr.  President,  by  the  news  which  has  reached 
the  country  since  this  subject  was  last  under  the  consideration 
of  the  Senate,  from  replying  to  either  of  the  gentlemen,  or  to 
any  other  gentleman  who  has  addressed  the  Senate  in  the  course 
of  this  debate  touching  our  French  relations  ;  and,  consequently, 
I  am  prevented  from  making  a  reply  to  the  two  positions  I  have 
just  stated,  and  which  I  have  considered  more  exceptionable  and 
dangerous  than  any  other  assumed  by  the  gentleman.  The 
information  I  have  received  through  the  public  press,  and  other 
wise,  has  entirely  satisfied  my  mind  that  our  difiiculties  with 
France  are  definitively  and  amicably  settled;  that  the  money  due 
under  the  treaty  has  been,  many  days  since,  actually  paid  ;  that 
the  French  government  have  considered  the  last  annual  message 
of  the  President  entirely  satisfactory  as  to  the  offense  they 
assumed  was  contained  in  the  preceding  one ;  and  that  diplomatic 
relations  between  the  two  countries  will  be  speedily  resumed 
upon  a  friendly  footing.  I  announce  these  convictions  with  the 
highest  feelings  of  gratification  ;  and  entertaining  them,  as  I  do, 
without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  it  would  be  in  the  extreme 
improper,  in  my  estimation,  for  me  here  to  discuss  any  topic 
connected  with,  or  involving  in  any  manner,  our  relations  with 
France,  or  to  reply  to  any  remarks  which  have  fallen  from  Sena 
tors  in  that  portion  of  the  debate  which  has  transpired  touching 
those  relations. 

"  I  have,  Mr.  President,  entered  my  distinct  dissent  from  the 
two  positions  to  which  I  have  referred  —  the  one  assumed  by  the 
Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh],  and  the  other  by  the  Senator 
from  Ohio  [Mr.  Ewing] ;  and  beyond  that,  for  the  reasons  I  have 
given,  I  must  content  myself,  as  to  this  portion  of  the  debate, 
with  simply  saying  to  those  who,  since  the  transmission  of  the 
last  annual  message  of  the  President  to  Congress,  have  pro 
nounced  our  government  in  the  wrong  in  this  controversy  with 
France,  that  France  has  not  thought  so  ;  to  those  who  have  con 
sidered  it  the  right  of  France  to  interpose  between  the  President 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  359 

and  Congress,  and  to  demand  explanations  or  apologies  as  to 
anything  contained  in  his  messages  to  this  body,  that  France  has 
withdrawn  her  claim  to  any  such  right  ;  to  those  who  have  con 
tended  that  it  was  better  for  us  to  yield  the  execution  of  the 
treaty  on  the  part  of  France,  to  give  up  our  protection  of  our 
commerce  upon  the  high  seas,  to  surrender  the  rights  of  their 
citizens  to  indemnity  for  depredations  upon  that  commerce,  after 
those  rights  have  been  acknowledged  and  liquidated  by  the  most 
solemn  of  all  obligations  between  nations,  the  execution  of  a 
treaty  for  the  payment  of  the  claims  —  to  surrender,  in  short, 
our  national  honor,  by  the  concession  that  we  cannot  defend 
that  honor,  and  its  consequence,  the  safety  of  our  commerce  and 
the  interests  of  our  citizens,  I  must  also  content  myself  with 
saying  that  such  have  not  been  the  views  of  the  present  adminis 
tration  of  our  government.  That  administration  has  considered 
it  to  be  its  highest  duty  to  insist  upon  the  execution  of  solemn 
^treaty  stipulations,  to  protect  the  rights  and  interests  of  our 
citizens,  and  the  safety  of  our  commerce,  and,  above  and  beyond 
all,  to  preserve  the  honor  of  the  country  against  every  assault  or 
imputation,  from  whatever  quarter  that  assault  may  be  made, 
and  at  whatever  hazard,  even  the  hazard  of  an  appeal  to  the 
ultima  ratio  of  nations. 

"  Beyond  these  remarks,  Mr.  President,  I  must  confine  myself  to 
the  resolutions  before  the  Senate,  with  such  very  brief  replies  to  a 
few  remarks  made  in  the  course  of  the  debates  as  I  may  find  it  my 
duty  to  make,  excluding  any  reference  to  our  foreign  relations. 

"  And  here,  said  Mr.  W.,  I  must  be  permitted  to  say,  if  I 
understand  the  resolutions  in  their  present  shape  correctly,  that 
the  information  of  the  settlement  of  our  difficulties  with  France 
does  not,  in  the  slightest  degree,  affect  their  object,  or  the  action 
of  the  Senate  upon  them.  They  propose  a  permanent  system  of 
defense,  external  and  internal,  for  the  whole  country  —  a  system 
of  defense  which  does  not  contemplate  war,  but  the  preservation 
of  peace  and  security.  I  cannot  better  illustrate  my  understand 
ing  of  the  object  of  the  resolutions  than  by  detaining  the  Senate 
to  read  them.  They  are  as  follows: 

"  'Resolved,  That  so  much  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  dividends  of  stock,  receivable  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 


360  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

as  may  be  necessary  for  the  purpose,  ought  to  be  set  apart  and  applied  to 
the  general  defense  and  permanent  security  of  the  country. 

"  '  llesolved,  That  the  President  be  requested  to  cause  the  Senate  to  be 
informed  — 

"  '1.  The  probable  amount  that  would  be  necessary  for  fortifying  the 
lake,  maritime  and  gulf  frontier  of  the  United  States,  and  such  points  of 
the  land  frontier  as  may  require  permanent  fortifications. 

'"2.  The  probable  amount  that  would  be  necessary  to  construct  an 
adequate  number  of  armories  and  arsenals  in  the  United  States,  and  to  sup 
ply  the  States  with  field  artillery  (especially  brass  field-pieces)  for  their 
militia,  and  with  side-arms  and  pistols  for  their  cavalry. 

'"3.  The  probable  amount  that  would  be  necessary  to  supply  the  United 
States  with  the  ordnance,  arms  and  munitions  of  war,  which  a  proper  regard 
to  self-defense  would  require  to  be  always  on  hand. 

"'4.  The  probable  amount  that  would  be  necessary  to  place  the  naval 
defenses  of  the  United  States  (including  the  increase  of  the  navy,  navy- 
yards,  dock-yards  and  steam  or  floating  batteries)  upon  the  footing  of 
strength  and  respectability  which  is  due  to  the  security  ami  to  the  welfare 
of  the  Union.' 

"  Thus  it  will  be  seen  at  a  single  glance  that  the  object  is  not 
to  prepare,  temporarily,  for  an  impending  or  contemplated  war, 
but  for  the  permanent  and  durable  defenses  of  the  whole  country 
against  all  clangers  which  may  assail  its  peace  and  disturb  its 
quiet,  whether  foreign  or  domestic,  whether  having  their  rise  from 
without  or  from  within.  The  pledge  is  general  for  the  '  perma 
nent  security '  of  the  country,  and  the  inquiries  are  as  broad  as 
the  whole  Union,  and  cover  all  its  great  interests  in  reference  to 
defense  of  coast,  lake,  gulf  and  land  frontier,  and  every  internal 
means  of  '  general  defense  and  permanent  security  '  of  armories, 
arsenals  and  arms.  They  also  cover  the  naval  defenses  of  the 
country,  and  constitute,  in  contemplation,  a  permanent  and  durable 
system,  in  every  sense  in  which  I  am  able  to  comprehend  that  such 
a  system  could  be  adopted,  with  proper  regard  to  the  respective 
interests  and  perfect  security  of  the  whole  country,  and  of  all  its 
great  interests,  external  and  internal.  They  do  not,  either  in 
language  or  design,  contemplate  immediate  war,  but  they  look  to 
a  state  of  defense  and  security  against  any  and  every  war  which 
may  come  upon  the  country  in  all  future  time. 

"For  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  and  paramount  national 
object,  the  resolutions  rely  upon  the  surplus  moneys  in  the  trea- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  361 

sury,  after  the  ordinary  and  necessary  appropriations  for  the 
support  of  the  government  in  its  various  departments  shall  have 
been  paid,  including  the  ordinary  appropriations  for  the  gradual 
improvement  of  the  navy,  and  for  the  gradual  progress  in  the  con 
struction  and  completion  of  the  fortifications  already  commenced, 
and  not  any  interference  with  those  appropriations.  Their  object 
is  to  hasten  the  completion  of  perfect  and  secure  defenses,  by 
the  application  of  moneys  in  the  treasury  not  required  for  any 
other  national  object,  but  not  to  interrupt  the  course  of  the  gov 
ernment  in  any  of  the  other  great  interests  for  which  the  ordinary 
annual  appropriations  are  made.  They  propose  to  pledge,  not  the 
revenue,  but  so  much  of  the  surplus  revenue  as  may  be  necessary 
to  this  great  object. 

"  The  resolutions,  then,  Mr.  President,  or  rather  the  first  reso 
lution,  is,  I  apprehend,  in  the  precise  shape  in  which  it  should 
remain  to  meet  the  object  the  mover  of  the  resolution  had  in 
view,  and  which  I  have  in  view  in  supporting  them.  This  reso 
lution  is  designed  to  act  upon  the  surplus  revenue  only  —  upon 
that  portion  of  the  public  moneys  which  shall  remain  in  the 
treasury  after  all  the  ordinary  calls  upon  that  treasury  have  been 
fully  answered ;  and  it  proposes  to  pledge  so  much  of  that  sur 
plus,  '  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  purpose,'  to  the  great  object 
of  permanent  national  defense  and  security.  Am  I  right  in  my 
construction  of  this  resolution  in  its  present  shape  ?  If  so,  the 
amendment  of  the  Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Clayton],  to 
strike  out  the  word  *  surplus,'  ought  not  to  prevail.  That  amend 
ment  will,  to  my  understanding,  change  the  whole  character  of 
the  resolution,  and  destroy  entirely  the  pledge  designed  to  be 
made.  The  object  is  to  set  apart  and  apply  to  the  general 
defense  and  permanent  security  of  the  country  so  much  of  the 
surplus  of  the  revenues  of  the  nation  as  may  be  necessary  for 
that  object;  and  if  the  form  of  the  resolution  be  so  changed  as 
to  apply  its  action  to  the  revenues  generally,  and  not  to  the  sur 
plus,  it  may  be  so  construed  as  only  to  contain  an  expression  that 
we  will  appropriate,  for  the  present  year,  so  much  of  the  public 
money  to  the  various  purposes  of  defense  as  we  may  think  pro 
per  and  necessary,  and  nothing  will  be  '  set  apart'  for  defenses 
which  is  not  actually  appropriated  by  the  appropriation  bills  of 


362  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  year.  Any  surplus  which  may  then  remain  in  the  treasury 
will  be  open  to  any  other  disposition  which  Congress  may  choose 
to  make  of  it,  without  any  infringement  upon  the  pledge  given 
by  the  resolution.  This  I  do  not  understand  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  object  of  the  resolution.  That  object  is  to  set  apart  a 
fund,  such  as  may  be  necessary,  to  be  exclusively  applied  to  the 
defenses  of  the  country,  naval  and  military,  and  to  constitute 
that  fund  of  the  surplus  which  shall  remain  in  the  treasury  after 
the  ordinary  appropriations  of  the  present  and  of  each  succeed 
ing  year  shall  have  been  paid.  In  other  words,  I  understand  the 
object  to  be  to  carry  on  the  business  of  putting  the  country  in  a 
complete  state  of  defense,  internal  and  external,  as  rapidly  as 
the  means  in  the  treasury  will  allow,  without  interference  with 
the  usual  and  necessary  annual  appropriations,  in  case  the  moneys 
which  maybe  applied  to  this  object  can  be  economically  and  use 
fully  expended  as  fast  as  they  accumulate ;  but,  if  they  cannot, 
that  a  permanent  fund  be  '  set  apart '  from  these  accumulations, 
sufficient  to  accomplish  the  end  in  view,  at  the  earliest  practicable 
period.  Surely,  then,  the  word  '  surplus '  should  be  retained  in 
the  first  resolution,  that  the  pledge  may  be  made  effectual  and 
operative,  and  that  the  means  to  accomplish  this  vital  object  of 
national  defense  may  be  secured  from  the  surplus  moneys  in  the 
treasury,  before  any  other  disposition  shall  be  made  by  Congress 
of  the  present  or  any  future  accumulation  of  means  beyond  the 
ordinary  annual  wants  of  the  country. 

"I  have  said,  Mr.  President,  that  I  would  vote  for  the  resolu 
tion,  whether  this  amendment  should  or  should  not  prevail.  I 
still  retain  the  same  opinion,  but  I  am  bound  in  candor  to  say 
that,  when  the  amendment  was  first  proposed,  I  did  not  think  it 
at  all  important,  and  rather  derived  the  impression  that,  if  it 
could  be  considered  as  changing  the  character  of  the  resolution 
at  all,  it  must  be  held  to  go  beyond  the  object  of  the  mover,  and 
more  rapidly  than  he  proposed  to  go.  Upon  reflection,  I  am 
satisfied  that  I  did  not  correctly  appreciate  the  force  and  bearing 
of  the  word  '  surplus,'  proposed  to  be  stricken  out,  and  that, 
without  that  word,  we  shall  merely  resolve  that  we  will  appro 
priate  for  this  single  year  so  much  of  the  money  in  the  treasury 
as  a  majority  of  this  body  shall  believe  *  may  be  necessary  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  363 

can  be  usefully  expended  towards  the  general  and  permanent 
defenses  of  the  country,'  while  the  surplus,  if  any,  in  the  trea 
sury  will  not  be  'set  apart'  or  pledged  to  this  great  object,  but 
will  remain  subject  to  any  disposition  which  Congress  may 
choose  to  make  of  it,  without  an  infraction  of  our  resolution. 
Our  purpose  to  defend  the  country  will  be  declared,  but  the 
means  to  do  it  will  not  be  '  set  apart '  by  our  expression.  For 
these  reasons  I  hope  the  proposed  amendment  may  not  prevail, 
and  that  the  first  resolution  may  retain  its  present  form. 

"  There  is,  Mr.  President,  another  amendment  proposed  to  thin 
resolution,  upon  which  I  must  trouble  you  with  a  single  remark. 
I  refer  to  the  proposition  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
[Mr.  Preston],  to  strike  out  the  whole  resolution  after  the  word 
'  Resolved?  and  to  insert  the  following : 

"  '  That  such  appropriations  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  purpose  ought 
to  be  made,  to  carry  on  the  system  of  general  defense  and  permanent  pro 
tection  of  the  country.' 

"  This  amendment,  if  adopted,  will  make  the  resolution  much 
more  vague  and  unmeaning  than  to  adopt  the  amendment  of  the 
Senator  from  Delaware,  to  strike  out  the  word  '  surplus.'  Indeed, 
if  I  rightly  comprehend  this  proposition,  it  merely  declares  that 
we  will,  for  the  present  year,  make  the  same  appropriations  for 
the  defense  of  the  country  which  have  been  regularly  and  uni 
formly  made  from  about  the  close  of  our  late  war  with  Great 
Britain  to  the  present  time,  the  appropriations  of  the  last  year 
being  alone  excepted.  Is  it,  then,  Mr.  President,  necessary  for 
us  to  declare,  by  a  resolution,  that  we  will  not  now  stop  the 
ordinary  appropriations  for  defense  which  have  been  regularly 
made  for  nearly  twenty  years  last  past  ?  Does  any  member  of 
this  body  contemplate,  for  a  moment,  that  those  very  limited 
appropriations  will  be  either  suspended  or  diminished  ?  Surely, 
then,  we  cannot  be  asked  to  adopt  this  amendment.  The  reso 
lutions  under  debate  propose  to  accelerate  our  progress  in  the 
work  of  defense,  by  the  application  of  the  surplus  revenues  of 
the  country  to  that  work.  This  amendment  proposes  to  '  carry 
on  the  system '  as  it  now  exists,  and  has  been  carried  on  for  the 
period  I  have  mentioned.  The  resolutions  propose  to  extend  our 
system  of  defense,  and  make  it  universal  and  applicable  to  all 


864  LlFE  AND  TlMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

dangers,  external  or  internal.  The  amendment  proposes  to  carry 
on  '  the  system '  now  in  progress,  without  extension.  I  need  not 
say  more  to  satisfy  the  Senate  that  the  adoption  of  this  amend 
ment  would  be  an  entire  defeat  of  the  resolutions  offered  by  the 
Senator  from  Missouri. 

"Mr.  President,  if  the  resolutions  retain  their  present  shape, 
they  are,  as  has  been  said  by  the  mover  of  them,  antagonist  to  the 
proposition  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun],  to 
divide  the  surplus  revenue  among  the  States.  Both  propositions 
act  upon  the  same  money,  and  propose  very  different  dispositions 
of  it.  The  former  proposes  to  expend  it,  or  so  much  of  it  as  may 
be  necessary,  for  the  great  object  of  national  defense.  The  latter 
proposes  to  give  it  to  the  States,  to  be  expended  at  their  pleasure, 
not  for  national,  but  for  State  objects.  They  are,  therefore, 
directly  antagonist.  I  think  the  resolution,  also,  equally  antago 
nist  to  the  measure  introduced  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 
[Mr.  Clay],  and  known  here  by  the  designation  of  '  the  land  bill.' 
It  is  not  now  my  purpose  to  inquire  how  far  the  principles  of  this 
measure  and  of  that  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
are  the  same,  and  wherein  they  may  differ.  They  both  propose 
a  distribution  to  the  States  of  a  sum  equal  to  the  whole  surplus 
in  the  treasury.  They  both  act  upon  the  same  money ;  and  the 
resolution  before  us,  proposing  to  set  apart  so  much  of  that  sur 
plus  as  may  be  necessary  to  be  expended  upon  the  national 
defenses  of  the  country,  must  be  equally  antagonist  to  both, 
because  it  proposes  to  apply  in  a  different  manner,  and  for  a  very 
different  purpose,  a  part,  or  the  whole,  of  the  fund  upon  which 
both  the  other  propositions  act. 

"  Much  has  been  said  by  several  gentlemen,  in  the  course  of  the 
debate,  as  to  the  amount  of  this  surplus.  I  have,  Mr.  President, 
used  my  best  efforts  to  inform  myself  truly  upon  this  point,  and 
I  will  now  give  to  the  Senate  the  result  of  my  inquiries.  I  sought 
the  information  at  the  Treasury  department,  because  I  knew  of 
no  other  place  where  correct  and  certain  information  could  be 
obtained  upon  the  point;  and  the  statement  I  am  about  to  make 
is  one  prepared  from  information  communicated  from  the  head 
of  that  department,  and  rests  upon  the  authority  of  the  accounts 
of  receipts  and  expenditures  kept  in  that  office,  with  very  trifling 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  365 

exceptions,  which  will  be  seen  to  be  matters  of  estimate.  I  have 
found  it  necessary  to  give  this  result  in  the  dry  form  of  figures 
and  arithmetical  deductions;  but  I  have  compressed  it  into  as 
small  a  compass  as  was  possible,  and  in  that  form  I  will  give  it 
to  the  Senate : 

"The  money  in  the  treasury,  on  the  1st  January,  1835,  was 
$8,892,858. 

"The  collections  of  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  year  1835, 
as  ascertained  before  the  Secretary's  annual  report  was  made, 
were  $23,480,881. 

"The  collections  of  the  fourth  quarter  of  1835,  as  far  as  those 
collections  have  been  yet  ascertained,  are  $10,919,852. 

"  In  addition  to  these  sums,  the  Secretary  now  estimates  that 
there  will  remain,  to  be  added  to  the  receipts  of  the  year  1835, 
as  part  of  the  collections  of  the  fourth  quarter,  not  yet  ascer 
tained,  $230,000. 

"This  will  show  an  aggregate  of  means,  for  the  year  1835,  of 
$43,523,591. 

"Deduct  from  this  aggregate  the  expenditures  of  the  first  three 
quarters  of  the  year  1835,  as  ascertained  before  the  annual  report 
of  the  Secretary  was  made,  $13,376,141. 

"  Deduct  also  the  actual  expenditures  of  the  fourth  quarter  of 
1835,  as  now  ascertained  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  this  calcula 
tion,  $4,050,000  —  $17,426,141. 

"  And  then  there  will  remain  an  apparent  surplus  of  $26,097,450. 

"  From  this  apparent  surplus,  the  following  deductions  must  be 
made  to  ascertain  the  real  surplus,  viz.  : 

"  1st.  The  unavailable  funds  in  the  treasury,  which  constitute 
a  part  of  the  balance  remaining  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  day 
of  every  year,  as  shown  by  the  accounts,  $1,100,000. 

"  2d.  The  amount  of  outstanding  appropriations,  being  sums 
appropriated  by  law,  but  which  have  not  been  called  for  at  the 
treasury  at  the  close  of  the  year.  This  amount  is  an  estimate, 
but  it  is  arrived  at  by  making  a  deduction  from  the  whole  amount 
of  outstanding  appropriations  of  all  such  portions  as  are  sup 
posed  likely  not  to  be  called  for,  and,  consequently,  to  pass  to 
the  sinking  fund.  It  is,  therefore,  in  all  probability,  sufficiently 
small  —  $7j595,574. 


366  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  3d.  The  estimate  of  expenditures  for  the  fourth  quarter  of 
1835  was  $4,800,000.  The  actual  expenditures  of  the  quarter,  as 
ascertained  and  above  given,  have  only  been  $4,050,000,  leaving 
a  balance  of  the  estimate  over  the  expenditures  of  $750,000.  As 
the  estimate  is  made  from  claims  known  to  exist  against  the 
treasury,  the  reason  for  this  difference  between  the  estimated  and 
the  actual  expenditures  for  this  quarter  has  grown  out  of  the  fact 
that  an  amount  of  these  claims,  equal  to  the  difference  of  $750,000, 
has  not  been  presented  for  payment  within  the  quarter,  which,  it 
was  anticipated,  would  be  presented  and  paid.  The  claims,  how 
ever,  remain,  and  must  be  paid  in  1836,  and  therefore  this  amount 
of  outstanding  appropriations,  not  having  been  included  in  the 
general  estimate  of  outstanding  appropriations  last  above  given, 
because  it  was  not  expected  they  would  be  outstanding  at  the  close 
of  the  year,  should  also  be  deducted,  $750,000;  making  $9,445,574. 

"These  sums  deducted,  leave  the  true  surplus  of  money  in  the 
treasury  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1836,  that  being  $16,651,876. 

"  It  is  due  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  I  should,  in 
this  place,  give  to  the  Senate  his  explanation  of  the  very  great 
difference  between  the  revenue  anticipated  and  the  actual  revenue 
received,  for  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  last  year. 

"The  actual  receipts  into  the  treasury,  as  already  ascertained 
during  that  quarter,  are  $10,919,852. 

"The  Secretary  estimates  that  there  has  probably  been  col 
lected,  and  not  yet  ascertained  at  the  department,  a  further 
amount,  during  the  same  quarter,  of  $230,000. 

"Showing  the  whole  probable  receipts  of  the  quarter  to  be 
$11,149,852. 

"  In  his  annual  report  on  the  state  of  the  finances,  the  Secretary 
estimated  the  revenue  of  this  quarter  at  $4,950,000. 

"Which  sum,  taken  from  the  now  ascertained  and  estimated 
receipts  of  the  quarter,  will  leave  an  excess  beyond  his  anticipa 
tion  of  $6,199,852. 

;'  The  receipts  from  the  sales  of  public  lands  during  the  fourth 
quarter  of  1835.  beyond  any  reasonable  anticipation  formed  upon 
past  experience,  account  for  a  very  large  share  of  this  excess. 
There  was  paid  into  the  various  land  offices,  during  the  last  two 
months  of  that  quarter,  the  following  amounts: 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  3(]7 

"In  the  month  of  November,  1835,  $1,776,000;  in  the  month 
of  December,  1835,  $2,340,000;  making  a  total  of  receipts  from 
the  sales  of  land  alone,  during  those  two  months,  of  $4,116,000. 

"These  immense  sales,  too,  were  made  when  no  important 
public  sales  were  advertised  to  take  place,  or  did  take  place.  The 
payments  which  constitute  this  great  total  were  almost  exclu 
sively  made  upon  lands  purchased  at  the  government  minimum 
price;  in  other  words,  taken,  as  I  believe  the  phrase  is,  at  private 
entry.  The  proceeds  from  lands  for  these  two  months,  thus 
obtained,  have  more  than  equaled  many  former  years,  and  have 
by  far  exceeded  the  receipts  of  any  two  former  months,  and  any 
thing  which  could  have  been  anticipated  in  the  absence  of 
important  public  sales. 

"Another  cause  of  the  excess  of  receipts  over  the  estimate  for 
the  fourth  quarter  of  1835,  given  by  the  Secretary,  is,  that  the 
apprehension  of  a  war  with  France,  and  of  consequent  commercial 
interruptions  and  disturbances  generally,  produced  an  increase 
of  importations  within  that  quarter  far  beyond  any  anticipation 
entertained  by  him,  and  far  beyond  any  former  example.  The 
actual  collections  of  duties  at  the  port  of  New  York  alone,  not 
including  the  bonds  taken  and  not  falling  due  within  the  quarter, 
I  think  the  Secretary  assured  me,  amounted  to  full  $5,000,000,  a 
sum  almost  equal  to  an  ordinary  half  year's  collection  of  revenue 
at  that  port.  These  two  sources  of  revenue,  so  immensely  and 
so  unexpectedly  swelled  beyond  any  former  precedent,  have  prin 
cipally  produced  the  excess  of  $6,000,000  in  the  revenues  of  the 
last  quarter  of  the  last  year. 

"  To  return  now,  Mr.  President,  to  the  resolutions.  Having 
seen  what  are  the  means  in  our  hands  to  give  them  force  and 
application,  what,  let  me  ask,  are  the  considerations  Avhich  call 
upon  the  Senate  for  their  adoption  ?  The  first  and  most  promi 
nent,  and  one  which  appears  to  my  mind  entirely  controlling,  is 
the  defenseless  state  of  the  country.  That  the  country  is  defense 
less  seems  now  to  be  conceded  by  every  Senator  who  has 
addressed  the  Senate  upon  this  subject.  We  have  the  fact  before 
this  body,  from  sources  entitled  to  our  peculiar  confidence.  The 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  [Mr.  Southard] 
gave  us,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  a  detailed  account  of  the 


368  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

condition  of  the  navy,  and  of  our  force  afloat  and  in  service. 
Sir,  it  does  not  amount  to  a  navy  at  all,  compared  to  the  extent 
of  the  coast  we  have  to  defend,  and  the  immense  and  wide-spread 
commerce  we  have  to  protect :  a  single  ship  of  the  line,  I  believe, 
two  or  three  frigates,  and  a  few  schooners  and  sloops  of  war.  I 
will  not  pretend  to  be  accurate  in  the  enumeration  the  honorable 
chairman  gave  us,  but  I  must  say  it  was  almost  equivalent  to  no 
force  at  all  upon  the  ocean,  in  comparison  with  what  will  always 
be  required  for  defense  and  commercial  protection.  We  have 
received  also,  from  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Military  Affairs  [Mr.  BentonJ,  repeated  accounts  of  the  condi 
tion  of  our  fortifications  and  land  defenses :  but  one  commercial 
town  in  the  whole  country,  at  the  most,  in  any  condition  to  be 
defended  against  an  attack  by  sea :  with  one  or  two  exceptions, 
not  a  gun  in  any  of  your  forts,  and  no  preparations  for  mounting 
them  if  they  were  there ;  nearly  all  the  public  works  which  have 
been  commenced  for  the  purpose  of  defense  remain  in  an  unfin 
ished  state,  and  cannot  be  made  useful  and  secure  without  further 
large  expenditures;  the  militia  of  the  country  badly  armed,  or 
entirely  without  arms,  and  all  those  portions  of  the  Union  most 
exposed  to  savage  incursions  or  domestic  insurrection,  without 
armories  and  arsensals,  from  which  arms  may  be  obtained  in 
cases  of  emergency  and  danger.  Such,  sir,  is  my  recollection, 
very  briefly  sketched,  of  the  picture  we  have  often  had  presented 
from  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of  this  body  more  especially 
charged  with  the  subject  of  our  land  defenses.  Surely,  then,  if 
an  entirely  defenseless  condition,  both  by  sea  and  land,  can  urge 
us  onward  in  the  great  work  to  which  the  resolutions  invite  us, 
we  have  a  consideration  here  for  their  passage  stronger  than  any 
friend  to  them  could  wish. 

"  Mr.  President,  so  clear  and  so  palpable  to  the  mind  of  every 
statesman,  and  to  the  feelings  of  every  patriot,  was  the  truism 
conveyed  by  the  words  of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  'in  peace 
prepare  for  war,'  that  those  words  have  grown  into  a  maxim 
which  has  remained  undisputed  for  half  a  century.  If  the  prin 
ciple  conveyed  in  this  maxim  be  sound,  and  was  ever  practically 
applicable  to  any  government  upon  the  earth  of  which  history 
gives  us  any  account,  with  how  much  more  force  does  it  apply 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  369 

to  the  government  of  the  United  States  at  this  moment !  Sir, 
what  is  our  pecuniary  condition  ?  Without  a  dollar  of  debt  ;  in 
the  midst  of  prosperity  in  every  department  of  business,  so 
abundant  as  almost  to  endanger  plethora  ;  at  peace  with  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  only  momentarily  disturbed  by  an 
Indian  insurrection  of  limited  extent,  the  danger  from  which  has 
undoubtedly  subsided  before  this  hour  ;  with  sixteen  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars  in  the  national  treasury,  upon  which  the  ordi 
nary  wants  of  the  government  make  no  call.  This  is  our  con 
dition  ;  and  shall  we  resist  this  call  for  the  nation's  defense,  made 
under  circumstances  such  as  I  have  described?  We  cannot  — 
we  shall  not. 

"  Applicable  to  some  portion  of  this  body,  Mr.  President,  is 
another  consideration,  which  I  feel  bound  to  notice,  and  which 
appeals  strongly  to  those  to  whom  it  is  applicable  for  the  passage 
of  the  resolutions,  and  the  carrying  out,  to  their  full  extent,  the 
principles  expressed  by  them.  The  present  administration  has 
been  extensively  complained  of,  in  the  course  of  the  debate,  for 
not  having,  during  the  six  or  seven  years  of  its  existence,  put 
the  country  in  a  state  of  defense.  The  honorable  Senator  from 
Delaware  [Mr.  Clayton]  met  the  question  fairly,  and  placed  his 
complaint  upon  the  ground  that  the  administration  had  adopted 
the  principle  that  the  national  debt  must  be  paid  in  preference  to 
the  conversion  of  the  surplus  moneys  of  the  treasury  to  an 
increase  of  the  navy  and  other  works  of  defense.  This  is  so,  sir. 
T  am  aware  there  is  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  between  the 
political  parties  of  this  country  in  relation  to  the  policy  of  pay 
ing  off  and  finally  extinguishing  the  national  debt.  The  admin 
istration  has  adopted  the  democratic  policy,  that  plain  policy 
which  governs  every  prudent  citizen  in  the  management  of  his 
private  affairs ;  and  has  considered  itself  bound  in  honesty  and 
honor,  so  far  as  the  laws  of  Congress  left  the  money  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  its  disposition,  to  apply  every  dollar  of  that  money, 
not  required  for  the  necessities  of  the  country,  to  the  payment 
of  the  public  creditors.  To  discharge  the  country  from  debt  has 
been  its  first  and  highest  pecuniary  object;  to  put  it  in  a  state 
of  defense  and  security  against  external  and  internal  danger 
stands  next  in  the  course  of  its  policy.  It  is  not  my  object,  Mr. 
24 


370  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

President,  at  this  time,  to  discuss  the  question  whether  the  pay 
ment  of  a  national  debt  be  or  be  not  a  wise  and  sound  policy. 
It  is  the  policy  which  meets  my  most  earnest  and  lively  appro 
bation.  It  is  the  policy  of  the  Constitution ;  for  the  language  of 
that  instrument  is,  'The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  lay  and 
collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises.'  For  what,  Mr.  Presi 
dent?  First,  'to  pay  the  debts;'  second,  'to  provide  for  the 
common  defense.'  These  are  the  constitutional  uses  to  which  the 
money  of  the  people,  in  the  national  treasury,  may  be  applied ; 
and  this  is  the  order  in  which  those  purposes  are  mentioned  in 
that  sacred  instrument. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Leigh]  inquired, 
why  did  not  the  friends  of  the  administration,  when  they  had 
the  power  of  the  Senate,  and  the  power  of  the  formation  of  the 
committees  of  the  Senate,  make  these  provisions  for  the  defense 
of  the  country,  if  they  were  considered  so  necessary  ?  My 
answer  to  the  Senator  has  just  been  given.  The  administration 
and  its  friends  considered  their  first  duty  to  be  to  pay  the 
national  debt.  In  that  duty  they  proceeded  as  rapidly  as  the 
funds  of  the  government  and  the  legislation  of  Congress  would 
permit  them  to  go ;  but,  before  it  was  accomplished,  and  the 
debt  paid,  the  power  of  this  body  passed  from  their  hands,  and 
with  it  the  power  of  forming  its  committees. 

"  Mr.  President,  among  the  objections  to  the  passage  of  these 
resolutions,  which  the  debate  has  drawn  forth,  none  has  been 
heard  by  me  with  so  much  surprise  as  that  made  by  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun],  that  '  to  arm  is  to  declare 
war.'  I  believe,  sir,  this  principle  was  laid  down  by  that  honor 
able  Senator  in  reference  to  a  rupture  with  France,  which,  at  the 
time  he  spoke,  we  all  had  some  cause  to  apprehend ;  but  is  it 
sound,  as  applicable  to  the  condition  of  our  country  then  as  now  ? 
Is  it  a  principle  which  should  govern  the  statesman,  as  applicable 
to  any  country  at  any  time,  and  under  any  circumstances  ?  I 
contend  it  is  not,  but  precisely  the  reverse  is  the  truth  ;  that  to 
arm  and  fortify,  and  be  prepared  for  defense,  is  to  preserve  peace. 
What  country  is  most  liable  to  attack  in  the  conflicts  and  colli 
sions  which  will  arise  between  rival  nations  ?  That  one  whose 
defenses  are  strong  and  adequate,  or  that  one  which  is  exposed 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  371 

and  defenseless  ?  It  surely  requires  no  great  skill,  as  a  states 
man  or  diplomatist,  to  answer  so  plain  a  question  ;  and  the  answer 
must  establish  my  position,  and  overturn  that  of  the  Senator. 

"  I  will  next  proceed,  Mr.  President,  to  reply  to  some  remarks 
which  have  fallen  from  the  honorable  Senators,  touching  the 
extent  to  which  appropriations  for  defense  ought  to  be  carried. 

"The  Senator  from  Kentucky  |Mr.  Crittenden],  whom  I  do 
not  now  see  in  his  place,  treated  these  appropriations  as  local, 
and  calculated  merely  to  benefit  the  portions  of  the  country 
where  the  moneys  are  to  be  expended.  Pursuing  this  train  of 
argument,  he  said  he  was  not  willing  to  devote  the  whole  surplus 
to  defenses,  to  the  construction  of  fortifications,  to  the  building 
of  ships,  to  the  supply  of  ordnance,  to  purchase  of  swords  and 
pistols;  that  he  could  not  consent  to  yield  all  to  the  coast  and 
frontier,  while  the  interior,  and  the  State  he  had  the  honor  in 
part  to  represent  here,  was  to  receive  nothing;  that  he  could  not 
grant  all  for  war;  but  a  portion  must  be  reserved  for  the  pur 
poses  of  peace.  Was  the  gentleman  correct  in  considering  appro 
priations  of  money  for  the  defense  of  the  nation  as  local  appro 
priations?  as  appropriations  partial  in  their  character,  and  calcu 
lated  only  to  benefit  the  small  districts  of  country  wherein  the 
moneys  are  to  be  expended  ?  Will  he,  upon  reflection,  persist  in 
governing  his  action  by  this  rule  ?  Is  not  our  whole  country  one 
country  ?  Are  we  not  one  people  ?  Is  not  the  blow  of  an  enemy, 
strike  where  it  may,  a  blow  at  us  all  ?  And  is  not  the  defense  of 
any  point  equally,  to  that  extent,  a  defense  for  the  whole  country  ? 
Are  appropriations  for  building  ships  local  appropriations,  because 
those  ships  are  to  traverse  the  ocean,  and  not  the  interior  of  the 
country ;  because  they  are  to  meet  and  beat  off  an  enemy  before 
he  reaches  our  soil,  and  not  to  meet  him  in  the  heart  of  the 
country  ?  Has  the  gentleman  considered  the  two  acts  we  have 
passed  during  our  present  session,  making  appropriations  toward 
the  expenses  of  the  Indian  war  at  this  moment  waging  in  Florida, 
as  local  appropriations  for  the  benefit  of  Florida  ?  The  assault 
of  the  enemy  has  been  local,  as  the  assault  of  any  enemy  ever 
must  be;  but  is  not  the  offense  national,  and  the  work  of  defense 
national  and  general?  I  am  sure,  Mr.  President,  the  Senator 
will  see  the  impropriety  of  this  objection,  and  abandon  it. 


372  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"The  Senator  further  spoke  of  a  demand  for  the  plow-shares 
of  his  constituents  to  be  converted  into  swords,  and  said  they 
could  not  surrender  them  for  that  purpose.  He  mistakes  the 
calls  of  the  resolutions.  Their  object  is  not  to  convert  the  plow 
shares  of  Kentucky  into  swords,  but  so  to  defend  the  country 
that  the  worthy  husbandman  of  that  and  all  the  other  States  may 
hold  their  plows  and  till  their  grounds  in  peace  and  security, 
without  danger  from  a  foreign  or  domestic  enemy.  That  is  their 
object,  and  the  money  is  now  in  the  treasury  of  the  nation  to 
accomplish  this  great  national  and  constitutional  object;  and  the 
true  question  is,  shall  it  be  appropriated  for  that  purpose,  or  shall 
it  be  expended  for  the  gentleman's  purposes  of  peace  ?  He  did 
not  specify  what  purposes  of  peace  he  had  in  view,  but  I  inferred 
from  his  remarks  that  roads,  canals  and  other  works  of  internal 
improvements  were  what  he  intended.  Is  it  wiser  to  neglect  our 
national  defenses  for  these  objects,  or  first  to  use  the  money  of 
the  nation  to  put  the  whole  country  in  a  state  which  will  enable 
it  to  defend  these  works  against  an  invader  when  they  shall  be 
made  ?  I  consider  the  most  effectual  appropriations  for  purposes 
of  peace  appropriations  for  defense;  and  I  again  repeat,  what  I 
have  already  attempted  to  show,  that  the  surest  way  to  preserve 
peace,  to  an  extensive,  rich  and  prosperous  country  like  ours,  is 
to  be  prepared  to  defend  ourselves  promptly  and  effectually 
against  war,  come  from  what  quarter  it  may. 

"Again:  the  Senator  says  the  country  has  not  been  hitherto 
defended  by  fortifications  and  a  navy ;  and  he  asks,  with  much 
emphasis,  were  not  the  people  of  former  days  as  patriotic  as  we 
are  ?  Let  me  ask  the  Senator,  does  he  suppose  that  our  fathers 
of  the  Revolution,  that  the  old  Congress,  if  they  had  sixteen  and 
a  half  millions  of  dollars  at  their  command,  would  have  proposed 
to  divide  it  out  among  the  colonies,  'for  purposes  of  peace,' 
instead  of  applying  it  to  the  national  defenses  ? 

"  Does  he  suppose  that  the  brave  men  of  the  late  war,  who 
interposed  their  persons  and  lives  against  the  march  of  an  enemy 
upon  our  soil,  would  have  neglected  the  business  of  permanent 
defense,  if  the  country  had  been  in  the  possession  of  means  to 
prosecute  that  work  ?  Does  he  believe  that  his  brave  and  gallant 
constituents  (and  I  most  cheerfully  concede  to  them  bravery  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  373 

gallantry  and  patriotism,  not  surpassed  by  the  citizens  of  any 
State  in  the  Union)  will  call  upon  him  to  divide  to  them  the  small 
portion  of  this  surplus  revenue  which  may  fall  to  their  share, 
and  will  agree,  in  return  for  that  bounty,  to  make  breastworks  of 
their  persons  when  the  hour  of  need  shall  come  ?  They  have 
done  this  upon  a  former  occasion,  when  the  country  had  not  the 
means  to  prepare  defenses.  Now  the  debt  of  the  Revolution, 
the  debt  of  the  late  war,  are  paid  and  discharged,  and  the 
national  treasury  full  to  overflowing;  and  who  will  advise  to 
postpone  provision  for  the  general  defense,  to  the  hazard  of 
the  lives  of  our  citizen  soldiery,  if  not  of  our  national  inde 
pendence,  that  we  may  distribute  the  money  to  our  respective 
constituents  ? 

"  Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Ewing] 
told  us  he  would  vote  liberal  appropriations  for  the  defense  of 
the  country ;  but  most  unfortunately  for  our  condition,  he 
assumed  to  prove  to  us  that  the  appropriations  for  that  object, 
which  had  been  made  in  years  past,  were  greater  than  we  have 
the  ability  to  expend.  To  establish  his  position,  he  read  to  us 
from  a  report  of  the  head  of  the  Engineer  department,  made  to 
Congress  at  some  former  session,  stating  that  there  were  not,  in 
the  service  of  the  government,  a  sufficient  number  of  engineers 
of  skill  and  experience  to  superintend  the  public  works  already 
in  progress,  in  a  manner  to  secure  the  economical  expenditure  of 
the  moneys  appropriated,  or  to  insure  the  proper  construction  of 
the  works.  I  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to  look  at  the  report  to 
which  the  Senator  referred,  nor  is  it  my  object  to  impeach  in  any 
way  the  statements  of  the  officer  who  made  it.  The  report  was 
necessarily  confined  to  the  engineers  belonging  to  the  corps  of 
the  government;  and  does  the  Senator  suppose  that  all  the 
science,  all  the  skill,  and  all  the  experience  in  engineering  which 
exists  in  the  country  is  confined  to  that  corps?  Has  he  made 
himself  believe  that,  if  money  be  appropriated  for  the  construc 
tion  of  forts,  the  arming  of  our  fortifications,  the  building  and 
equipment  of  vessels  of  war,  the  manufacture  of  arms,  and  the 
erection  of  armories  and  arsenals,  the  government  cannot  expend 
it,  for  the  want  of  engineers  of  proper  skill  and  experience? 
Give  the  money,  sir,  and  call  for  their  services,  and  you  will  have 


374  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

competent  engineers,  who  will  constitute  an  army  of  themselves. 
If  you  do  not,  you  will  be  much  less  fortunate  than  any  State 
has  been  which  is  expending  large  sums  upon  public  work  requir 
ing  the  most  skillful  and  experienced  engineers;  and  still  no 
State  has  an  organized  engineer  corps  constantly  in  its  service. 
Mr.  President,  the  apprehension  of  the  Senator  is  unfounded ; 
for  if  money  appropriated  cannot  be  expended,  in  case  the  law 
making  the  appropriation  be  not  too  much  restricted  to  reach  the 
object  designed,  that  fact  will,  I  venture  to  say,  be  new  in  the 
history  of  government. 

"  But,  as  the  gentleman  relies  upon  the  authority  of  the  head 
of  the  engineer  corps  for  this  objection  to  an  increase  of  appro 
priations  for  defense,  and  goes  to  a  report  made  to  a  former 
Congress  (upon  what  subject  I  know  not),  if  he  had  been 
fortunate  enough  to  have  examined,  with  equal  attention,  the 
communications  from  that  same  officer  made  during  our  present 
session,  and  to  be  found  upon  our  files,  confined  to  the  subject 
of  defenses,  he  would  have  discovered  what  his  opinions  really 
are  as  to  the  appropriations  for  fortifications  alone,  which  the 
state  of  the  country  requires  and  demands  from  Congress;  he 
would  have  found  that  officer  telling  us  that,  in  addition  to  all 
the  appropriations  recommended  in  the  general  annual  estimates, 
which  are  much  larger  than  the  estimates  of  former  years,  there 
is  required  for  the  year  1836,  for  the  single  object  of  commencing 
new  fortifications  for  the  defense  of  the  sea-coast  alone,  the  sum 
of  $2,503,800.  And  are  we  to  believe  that  an  officer  of  the 
standing  of  this  one  would  recommend  to  us  this  large  increase 
of  our  annual  appropriations  for  a  single  object,  when  he  knew 
the  moneys  ordinarily  appropriated  for  fortifications  could  not 
be  profitably  expended  ?  Surely,  sir,  we  cannot  be  asked  so  to 
consider  the  recommendations  from  that  quarter. 

"  The  Senator  supposes  he  has  also  discovered  that  the  ordinary 
annual  appropriations  for  the  navy  cannot  be  expended,  and  have 
been  unnecessarily  large  in  past  years.  In  proof  of  his  position, 
he  refers  to  a  single  item  in  a  report  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  fourth  instant, 
stating  that  the  balance  on  hand  of  the  moneys  heretofore  appro 
priated  for  the  'gradual  improvement  of  the  navy,'  on  the  thirty- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  375 

first  day  of  December  last  amounted  to  $1,415,000,  and  adds,  as 
it  were  in  triumph,  '  here  is  almost  a  million  and  a  half  of  dol 
lars  of  the  appropriations  of  the  last  year  yet  unexpended.'  Now, 
Mr.  President,  neither  the  Congress  of  the  last  year  nor  the  last 
Congress,  by  any  act  of  theirs,  appropriated  one  dollar  of  this 
money,  or  of  any  money,  for  '  the  gradual  improvement  of  the 
navy.'  All  these  appropriations  are  made  by  a  law  approved 
March  3,  182V,  appropriating  annually,  for  a  term  of  years, 
$500,000  for  this  object,  which  law  was  continued  and  extended 
by  another  law,  approved  2d  March,  1833.  The  expenditure  of 
this  money  is  confined,  by  the  acts  appropriating  it,  to  the  pur 
chase  of  materials  for  ships,  to  the  preservation  of  live-oak  tim 
ber  and  to  the  improvement  of  the  navy-yards,  and  can  be 
expended  for  no  other  purposes  whatever.  Neither  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  nor  the  Navy  Commissioners  can  put  two  sticks  of 
timber  together,  or  do  any  other  act  toward  the  building,  arm 
ing  or  preparing  a  ship  for  service  out  of  this  money.  I  know  I 
shall  be  asked  here,  admit  this  appropriation  to  be  thus  limited, 
and  are  all  the  materials  purchased  which  are  now  or  may  here 
after  be  required,  that  this  large  balance  is  suffered  to  remain 
unexpended  ?  I  will  show  presently  that  it  is  not  unexpended, 
though  it  yet  remains  unpaid  ;  but,  to  cause  the  subject  to  be 
fully  understood,  it  is  necessary  to  precede  any  explanation  upon 
this  point  with  the  statement  of  the  fact  that  the  Navy  Com 
missioners,  who  are  the  officers  having  charge  of  the  expenditure 
of  the  money  appropriated  for  '  the  gradual  improvement  of  the 
navy,'  are  prohibited,  by  the  positive  provision  of  a  law  of  Con 
gress,  from  anticipating  in  any  way  these  appropriations.  They 
cannot  make  a  contract  or  a  purchase  in  anticipation  of  the 
coming  appropriation  under  this  permanent  law,  much  less  may 
they  contract  any  debts,  or  incur  any  liabilities,  in  anticipation 
of  any  future  action  of  Congress.  They  must,  therefore,  wait  until 
the  appropriation  is  in  fact  made,  and  the  money  placed  to  their 
credit  at  the  treasury,  before  they  can  even  issue  proposals  for 
contracts.  That  is  done,  as  I  assume,  from  looking  at  the  two 
acts,  on  the  third  of  March  in  each  year.  After  that  date,  then, 
they  must  call  for  proposals,  by  public  notices,  published  in  the 
newspapers  for  the  period  required  by  law.  When  that  period 


376  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

has  expired,  they  must  examine  their  propositions,  give  notice  to 
the  bidders  scattered  over  the  whole  country  that  their  bids  are 
accepted,  and  obtain,  as  soon  as  they  may,  the  execution  of  the 
proper  contracts.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  the  work  of  fulfill 
ment,  on  the  part  of  the  contractors,  can  commence.  And  who 
does  not  see  that  a  large  portion  of  the  current  year  must  have 
passed,  in  every  instance,  before  this  point  can  possibly  be  reached  ? 
Is  it  strange,  therefore,  that  large  amounts  of  contracts  should 
remain  unclosed  at  so  late  a  period  as  the  few  first  days  in 
the  second  month  of  the  year  succeeding  that  in  which  they  are 
made? 

"  With  these  explanations  of  the  laws  of  Congress,  and  the 
powers  of  the  Commissioners  under  them,  I  proceed  to  show, 
from  the  report  of  the  Commissioners  themselves,  the  actual 
condition  of  this  unexpended  balance  of  $1.415,000.  I  refer  to 
ducument  L,  appended  to  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  to  the  President,  and  by  him  communicated  to  Congress 
with  his  annual  message  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
session  ;  and  I  cannot  but  observe  that,  had  the  Senator  been 
fortunate  enough  to  have  had  his  attention  turned  to  this  docu 
ment  before  he  made  his  remarks,  he  would  have  saved  me  this 
tedious  exposition  of  his  error.  The  Commissioners,  in  the  docu 
ment  referred  to,  give  a  summary  of  all  their  doings,  under  the 
act  referred  to  making  this  permanent  appropriation  for  '  the 
gradual  improvement  of  the  navy,'  from  the  time  of  the  pass 
age  of  the  act  of  the  3d  March,  1827,  up  to  the  close  of  the 
third  quarter  of  the  last  year.  They  conclude  this  statement  by 
giving  the  whole  amount  of  the  appropriations  under  these  acts, 
up  to  1st  October,  1835,  at  $4,500,000,  and  the  payments  actually 
made  out  of  this  sum  at  $3,002,755.80;  leaving  a  balance  of 
$1,497,245.20.  And  then  proceed  to  say: 

"  '  Of  which  there  remained  in  the  treasury,  on  the  1st  of  October,  1835, 
the  sum  of  $1,454,316.46.  The  balance,  supposed  to  be  in  the  hands  of  navy 
agents,  is  $42,929.34;  making  a  total,  as  above,  of  $1,497,245.20. 

"  '  Of  this  sum  there  will  be  required,  to  meet  existing  engagements  under 

the  contract,  about  $616,000;  leaving  for  other  purposes  about  $881,245.20. 

'  *  Advertisements  have  been  issued,  inviting  offers  for  furnishing  the 

live-oak  frames  for  five  ships  of  the  line,  six  frigates,  five  sloops  of  war, 


LIFE  AND  TJMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  377 

five  schooners  and  three  steamers;  which,  if  contracted  for,  will  probably 
require  about  $(500,000  of  the  balance  remaining,  after  meeting  existing 
engagements.' 

"  Such,  Mr.  President,  was  the  condition  on  the  first  of  Octo 
ber  last,  of  this  unexpended  balance  of  money  appropriated  for 
the  improvement  of  the  navy ;  between  $000,000  and  $700,000 
of  it  due  upon  outstanding  contracts,  in  reality  expended,  but 
not  in  fact  paid.  Of  the  balance,  8600,000  more  was  then  set 
apart  to  make  payments  upon  contracts,  propositions  for  which 
had  been  called  for,  and  were  coming  in,  which  propositions 
might  come  in  so  much  higher  than  the  anticipations  of  the  Com 
missioners  as  to  consume  the  whole  sum.  It  is  perfectly  evident 
that,  while  the  Commissioners  are  forbidden  by  law  to  anticipate 
future  appropriations,  they  must,  in  all  cases,  when  inviting  pro 
posals,  keep  themselves  somewhat  below  the  full  amount  of 
moneys  in  hand,  so  that,  if  their  estimates  of  prices  shall  prove 
to  be  under  those  at  which  they  can  obtain  offers,  they  may  still 
be  able  to  contract  without  a  violation  of  the  law,  or  without 
the  inconvenience  and  delay  consequent  upon  a  rejection  of  all 
propositions,  and  an  offer  for  new  proposals  based  upon  a  new 
estimate.  This  is  surely  but  a  reasonable  precaution,  which 
would  suggest  itself  to  all  faithful  disbursing  officers,  scrupulous 
in  their  observance  of  the  law,  and  anxious  to  promote  the  pub 
lic  service.  So  much  for  the  facts;  and  now,  Mr.  President,  for 
the  argument  drawn  from  them. 

"  By  the  laws  of  Congress  as  they  are,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
restrictions  imposed  by  those  laws  upon  the  navy  board,  moneys 
appropriated,  at  the  usual  period  of  each  year,  for  the  gradual 
improvement  of  the  navy,  cannot  be  expended  and  the  accounts 
closed  within  the  same  year,  so  as  to  prevent  the  appearance,  in 
the  accounts  with  the  treasury,  of  an  apparent  unexpended  bal 
ance  on  the  first  day  of  the  following  year.  Therefore,  the  Sena 
tor  infers,  the  appropriations  for  this  object  have  been  excessive, 
and  greater  than  could  be  economically  expended.  Does  this 
conclusion  follow  the  premises  ?  The  delay  in  the  expenditure 
has  no  connection  with  the  amount  to  be  expended,  but  arises 
solely  from  the  advanced  period  of  the  year  when  the  appropri 
ations  are  made;  the  restrictions  imposed,  and,  in  my  judgment, 


378  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

most  properly  imposed,  upon  the  disbursing  agents,  against  antici 
pating  funds  not  actually  appropriated  ;  the  forms  required  to  be 
observed  in  making  contracts,  and  the  nature  of  the  expenditure 
and  the  extent  of  the  country  in  which  it  is  to  be  made.  Is  it 
not,  then,  most  palpable  that  the  same  time  must  be  required, 
whether  the  expenditure  be  large  or  small  ?  Does  anybody  doubt 
that  the  amount  of  contracts  for  timber,  and  any  other  materials 
for  ships,  might  be  extended  to  almost  any  limit  in  this  country, 
if  the  means  of  payment  were  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the 
Commissioners  ?  Might  they  not  as  safely  invite  proposals,  under 
this  head  of  expenditure,  for  $5,000,000  as  for  $500,000  annually  ? 
And  will  any  one  believe  they  would  fail  to  receive  propositions 
covering  all  the  money  they  should  propose  to  expend  ?  Most 
certainly  not.  The  question,  then,  is  not  one  of  amount,  but  sim 
ply  of  time;  and,  thus  resolved,  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  not  be 
contradicted  when  I  say  that  offers  may  be  invited,  propositions 
received,  examined,  accepted  or  rejected,  and  contracts  executed 
for  an  amount  of  $500,000  or  of  $5,000,000,  without  any  mate 
rial  variation  in  the  time  required  to  go  through  either  process. 
Thus  far  as  to  expenditures  for  '  the  gradual  improvement  of  the 
navy,'  confined,  as  those  expenditures  are,  simply  to  the  purchase 
of  materials  for  ships,  to  the  preservation  of  our  live-oak  timber, 
and  to  the  condition  of  our  navy-yards. 

"  But  this  is,  by  no  means,  the  extent  of  the  question  presented. 
Ships  are  to  be  built,  armed,  manned  and  fitted  for  service ;  a 
branch  of  expenditure  not  included  in  the  appropriation  I  have 
been  discussing;  a  branch  of  expenditure  now  altogether  unpro 
vided  for  by  any  appropriation.  May  not  such  appropriations  be 
expended  simultaneously  with  the  appropriations  for  the  purchase 
of  materials,  without  causing  additional  delay  in  time  ?  Most 
certainly  they  may. 

"Am  I  not,  then,  authorized  to  conclude,  Mr.  President,  that 
we  are  not  in  the  condition  supposed  by  the  Senator  from 
Ohio  [Mr.  Ewing],  and  that  the  country  is  not,  from  necessity, 
to  remain  exposed  and  defenseless  for  half  a  century  to  come, 
not  because  we  have  not  the  means  to  put  it  in  a  state  of 
defense,  but  because  we  cannot  expend  the  money  if  Congress 
appropriate  it?  May  I  not  hope  that  the  resolutions  will  no 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  379 

longer  be  opposed,  or  appropriations  withheld,  on  account  of  such 
an  apprehension? 

"  I  here  take  my  leave  of  the  resolutions,  and  a  very  few  addi 
tional  remarks  shall  conclude  what  I  propose  to  say  further. 

"The  subject  of  the  loss  of  the  fortification  bill  of  the  last 
session,  and  that  of  the  $3,000,000  appropriation  for  immediate 
defense,  added  by  way  of  amendment  in  the  House,  and  rejected 
in  this  body,  have  constituted  prominent  topics  in  this  debate. 
Notwithstanding  my  particular  relation  to  those  subjects,  as 
a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  and  of  the  Committee 
on  Conference,  I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  enter  into  that 
portion  of  the  debate  at  the  present  time  at  all.  The  action 
of  both  the  Senate  and  House  upon  that  bill  and  the  proposed 
amendment  has  long  been  matter  of  history  before  the  country. 
The  vote  of  every  member  of  both  Houses  is  shown  by  their 
respective  journals,  and  the  divisions  had  been  given  to  the  public 
through  the  whole  press.  The  public  judgment,  as  I  think,  was  per 
fectly  formed  upon  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  the  votes  given, 
and  the  course  pursued  by  each  individual,  before  we  commenced 
a  debate  here  upon  the  subject.  Remaining  perfectly  satisfied,  as 
I  do,  with  my  course  and  my  votes,  I  have  no  disposition  to 
attempt  now  to  defend  them.  Were  it  otherwise,  I  should  have 
no  hope,  at  this  day,  to  change,  by  anything  I  could  say  here, 
the  deliberate  and  settled  opinion  of  the  public  mind  in  the  mat 
ter.  I  must,  whether  willing  or  not  (and  I  hope  and  believe  I 
am  willing  to  do  so),  abide  that  judgment,  and,  so  far  as  my 
action  upon  that  subject  is  concerned,  stand  or  fall  by  it.  I 
voted  for  the  three  million  amendment  in  all  the  shapes  in  which 
it  was  presented  to  me  for  my  support  here,  and  I  most  deeply 
regretted  that  it  did  not  meet  the  approbation  of  this  body.  Of 
any  action,  out  of  this  chamber,  upon  either  the  bill  or  amend 
ment,  it  is  not  now  my  purpose  to  speak. 

"It  now  becomes  my  duty  to  reply  to  one  or  two  remarks 
which  fell  from  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina  [Mr.  Mangum], 
in  the  course  of  his  impassioned  address  to  the  Senate  upon  these 
resolutions.  That  honorable  Senator,  from  what  authority  I 
know  not,  constituted  me  the  representative  of  the  Albany 
regency  here.  I  know  well,  Mr.  President,  the  individuals  who  are 


380  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

understood  to  be  included  in  that  designation,  and  I  know  them  to 
be  citizens  of  the  highest  standing,  honest,  talented  and  patriotic  ; 
men  who  serve  the  public  faithfully  and  capably.  The  trust 
thus  conferred  upon  me  is  an  important  and  responsible  one;  and 
I  will  only  tell  the  Senator  that,  while  I  continue  to  discharge  it 
worthily,  I  shall  stand  firmly  by  the  country,  and  the  whole 
country,  and  by  its  interests  and  honor  ;  and  that  I  shall  vote 
the  appropriations  necessary  for  its  entire  defenses,  before  I  vote 
to  give  away  its  funds  to  be  expended  upon  doubtful  schemes  of 
internal  improvement. 

"The  gentleman  seems  further  to  be  occasionally  deeply 
troubled  in  his  mind  by  some  imaginary  body  or  association  of 
men  which  he  terms  the  "  spoils  party."  He  is  not  alone  in  this. 
Other  honorable  Senators  have  manifested  equal  apprehension 
from  the  dreaded  influence  of  this  party,  and  none  of  them  have 
left  me  in  doubt  as  to  the  political  party  in  this  country  upon 
which  this  term  of  opprobrium  is  attempted  to  be  fastened.  It 
is  applied  to  the  great  democratic  party  of  the  Union.  I  will 
use  my  best  efforts,  Mr.  President,  to  calm  their  apprehensions, 
by  telling  them  that  this  party  has  been  hitherto,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  enabled  to  keep  the  public  opinion  of  the  country 
upon  its  side  ;  that  it  has  done  so  by  following,  and  not  attempt 
ing  to  govern,  the  popular  will  ;  and  that  I  have  the  fullest  con 
fidence  it  will  be  honest  enough  and  wise  enough  to  pursue  the 
same  course,  and  fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  the  same  success 
in  future.  In  any  event,  I  think  I  may  safely  assure  these  gen 
tlemen  that,  however  greedy  this  party  may  be  for  the  honors 
and  emoluments  of  office,  as  it  never  has  so  it  never  will  find  it 
necessary  to  make  a  change  in  the  organic  law  of  the  States 
where  it  has  control,  to  enable  it  to  retain  office  or  power. 

"  I  am  now  impelled,  Mr.  President,  most  reluctantly,  to  notice 
a  topic  introduced  into  this  debate  by  the  Senator  from  Ohio 
[Mr.  Ewing],  with  how  much  relevancy  I  leave  him  to  determine. 
That  gentleman  felt  it  to  be  his  duty,  in  the  course  of  his  second 
address  to  the  Senate  upon  these  resolutions,  to  refer  to  the 
instructions  given  to  Mr.  McLane,  when  our  minister  at  the 
court  of  St.  James,  and  to  animadvert  upon  these  instructions 
with  great  severity.  Notwithstanding  this,  had  he  chosen  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  381 

confine  himself  to  the  mere  expression  of  his  own  opinions  in 
relation  to  the  instructions,  he  would  have  called  forth  no  reply 
from  me;  but  when  he  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  call  to  his  aid 
the  majority  of  the  American  people,  and  to  declare  that  they 
had  sanctioned  the  views  he  expressed,  that  the  instructions  con 
tained  matter  degrading  to  the  character  of  our  country,  I  was 
no  longer  at  liberty  to  remain  silent.  [Here  Mr.  Ewing  asked 
leave  to  explain.  Mr.  WRIGHT  yielded  the  floor,  and  Mr.  E.  said 
the  gentleman  had  misunderstood  him;  that  he  had  not  used  the 
expression  imputed  to  him,  that  a  majority  of  the  American  people 
had  agreed  with  him  in  opinion  in  relation  to  the  instructions.  He 
had  said  nothing  about  the  majority  of  the  people,  but  had  confi 
ned  himself  to  the  expression  of  his  own  individual  opinions.] 
Mr.  W.  said,  I  have  then  done  with  the  subject.  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  I  understood  the  gentleman  to  make  the  remark  or  to 
advance  the  opinion  that  I  have  imputed  to  him.  If  he  did  not, 
I  have  no  desire  to  reply  at  all  to  this  part  of  his  argument.  It 
was  by  no  means  my  purpose  to  open  a  debate  upon  the  propriety 
of  these  instructions,  as  I  consider  that  a  question  settled  beyond 
the  propriety  of  debate  here;  nor  did  I  intend  to  make  a  single 
remark  which  could  irritate  the  feelings  of  any  member  of  this 
body,  but  merely  to  set  the  Senator  right  in  reference  to  the 
decision  of  the  people  upon  the  question.  As,  however,  I 
misunderstood  him,  and  he  did  not  lay  down  the  position  I  sup 
posed,  I  have  not  a  remark  further  to  make  upon  this  part  of  the 
subject. 

"  In  the  course  of  this  very  protracted  debate,  Mr.  President, 
one  other  position  has  been  assumed  by  several  Senators,  upon 
which  I  must  ask  your  indulgence  to  a  very  brief  reply.  The 
position  is,  that  the  great  and  extended  popularity  of  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  is  a  matter  of  danger  to  our  institu 
tions,  and  to  the  permanency  of  our  republic.  But  for  the 
gravity  which  has  characterized  all  the  remarks  upon  this  point, 
I  should  have  been  compelled  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  the 
gentlemen  who  have  urged  them  upon  us.  The  popularity  of  the 
President  a  matter  of  danger  to  the  republic,  sir!  The  popu 
larity  of  the  present  chief  magistrate  dangerous  !  How  has  that 
popularity  been  acquired  and  maintained?  Has  it  been  by  some 


382  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WXIGHT. 

instantaneous  and  violent  impulse  given  to  the  public  mind, 
which  may,  and  sometimes  does,  sweep  away  the  'judgment,  and 
make  it  subject  to  the  government  of  passion  ?  We  are  now  far 
advanced  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  administration  of  this  same 
chief  magistrate.  Has  any  man  ever  administered  the  affairs  of 
this  government  against  the  efforts  of  a  more  talented,  vigilant 
and  untiring  opposition  ?  Has  any  administration,  since  the  com 
mencement  of  our  national  existence,  presented  to  the  people  so 
great  a  number  of  immensely  important  and  vitally  interesting 
questions,  connected  with  the  principles  and  policy  of  our  govern 
ment  ?  Have  questions  of  this  character,  at  any  former  period 
of  our  history,  been  so  distinctly,  emphatically  and  ably  argued 
before  the  electors  of  the  Union  ?  Has  any  opposition  to  any 
former  administration  commanded  more  popular  men,  more  high 
talent  and  character  in  the  estimation  of  the  country,  more  favor 
able  opportunities  to  act  upon  the  public  mind  and  the  public 
passions  and  prejudices,  or  more  powerful  aid  of  every  character 
and  description,  than  have  favored  the  opposition  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  from  the  first  year  of  his  administration  to 
the  present  hour?  I  think,  Mr.  President,  our  opponents  can 
give  but  one  answer  to  these  interrogatories.  I  then  ask,  further, 
has  ever  an  administration,  since  the  days  of  Washington,  been 
more  uniformly,  more  strongly,  more  generally,  more  triumph 
antly  sustained  by  the  people  ?  Has  not  its  popularity,  and  the 
popularity  of  the  President,  regularly  increased  with  every  new 
assault  and  upon  every  new  trial  ?  The  answer  to  these  ques 
tions  must  be  affirmative.  Is,  then,  a  popularity  thus  acquired 
and  thus  sustained  to  be  considered  dangerous  to  the  country, 
and  an  omen  of  the  speedy  dissolution  of  our  happy  and  prosper 
ous  confederacy?  Is  the  approbation  of  an  overwhelming 
majority  of  the  American  people,  obtained  after  more  full  and 
able  and  long-continued  discussions  before  them  than  have 
hitherto  been  known  to  the  politics  of  the  country,  to  be  set 
down  as  a  popularity  dangerous  to  liberty,  and  threatening  its 
speedy  overthrow  ?  Sir,  1  cannot  subscribe  to  opinions  so  injuri 
ous  to  the  integrity  and  intelligence  of  the  free  people  of  these 
States. 

"How,  Mr.  President,  was  it  in  the  days  of  Gen.  Washing- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  383 

ton  ?  He  was  twice  elected  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
passed  through  both  of  his  official  terms  without  even  the  form 
of  an  opposition.  Has  any  man,  from  his  day  to  this,  ventured 
to  pronounce  his  popularity  dangerous  to  our  existence  as  a 
nation?  Was  danger  apprehended  at  the  timo  by  the  patriots 
of  the  Revolution  who  surrounded  him  ?  They  did  apprehend 
danger  from  desperate  and  disappointed  ambition,  and  from 
the  madness  of  party  excitements,  but  none  from  too  much 
harmony  in  the  public  mind.  I  have  heard  of  no  fears  growing 
out  of  the  too  great  popularity  of  the  President  then;  I  feel 


384  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LV. 

SPECIE  PAYMENTS. 

In  the  palmy  days  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  it 
was  claimed  by  its  admirers  that  its  bills  were  as  valuable 
as  specie,  and  some  insisted  they  were  better.  In  those 
days  many  valued  State  bank  notes  higher  than  specie. 
But  there  has  ever  been  a  large  number  of  our  people  who 
have  given  gold  and  silver  a  preference  over  all  bank  bills. 
Among  these  Col.  Benton  —  often  called  "  Old  Bullion" 
stood  prominent.  He  was  a  leading  advocate  of  ' '  mint 
drops,"  as  he  called  gold  coin,  and  allowed  few  opportu 
nities  to  escape  unimproved  of  calling  attention  to  his 
preferences. 

A  bill  was  before  the  Senate  for  the  payment  of  pen 
sions,  and  he  offered  an  amendment  in  the  following 
words : 

"SEC.  — .  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  no  bank  note  of  less 
denomination  than  twenty  dollars  shall  hereafter  be  offered  in 
payment,  in  any  case  whatsoever,  in  which  money  is  to  be  paid 
by  the  United  States  or  the  Postoffice  department ;  nor  shall 
any  bank  note,  of  any  other  denomination,  be  so  offered,  unless 
the  same  shall  be  payable  and  paid  on  demand,  in  gold  or  silver 
coin,  at  the  place  where  issued,  and  which  shall  not  be  equiva 
lent  to  specie  at  the  place  where  offered,  and  convertible  into 
gold  or  silver  upon  the  spot,  at  the  will  of  the  holder,  and  with 
out  delay  or  loss  to  him." 

Mr.  WRIGHT,  in  the  course  of  the  discussion,  on  the 
28th  of  March,  1836,  presented  his  views  on  the  subject 
as  follows : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  the  object  of  the  mover  of  the  amendment  to 
restrain  the  excesses  of  the  present  paper  system  of  the  country, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  385 

and  infuse  into  our  circulation  a  greater  proportion  of  gold  and 
silver,  met  his  cordial  and  sincere  approbation.  He  had  labored, 
and  was  willing  to  labor  in  that  cause,  with  that  powerful  and 
worthy  leader ;  but  he  must  say  he  was  sorry  that  he  had  felt  it 
to  be  his  duty  to  make  the  bill  now  before  the  Senate  the  one 
upon  which  the  principle  of  his  amendment  was  to  be  tried.  He 
was  sorry,  also,  that  the  Senate  was  called  upon  to  act  upon  this 
proposition  until  another  bill  which  was  now  before  the  House, 
and  which  he  soon  hoped  to  see  here,  should  have  been  acted 
upon  by  this  body.  He  referred  to  the  bill  to  repeal  that  pro 
vision  in  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  which 
compelled  all  the  receivers  of  money  due  to  the  government,  for 
any  consideration  whatsoever,  to  receive  the  bills  of  that  bank. 
The  charter  of  the  institution  expired,  by  its  own  limitation,  on 
the  fourth  day  of  the  present  month;  but  two  years  are  allowed 
by  the  charter,  after  that  day,  to  enable  it  to  close  its  business ; 
and  a  question  has  arisen  whether  the  clause  of  the  charter  mak 
ing  its  bills  receivable  for  debts  due  to  the  government  expired 
with  the  expiration  of  the  charter,  or  extended  itself  through 
the  two  years  given  to  close  the  concerns  of  the  bank.  The 
head  of  the  Treasury  department  has  applied  to  Congress  to  solve 
the  doubts  by  a  repeal  of  that  section  of  the  charter,  and  a  bill 
had  been  under  the  consideration  of  the  House  containing  the 
desired  provision.  But,  Mr.  W.  asked,  would  it  be  just  to  the 
deposit  banks,  or  proper  in  itself,  to  impose  upon  them  this 
restriction  in  paying  our  appropriations,  while  we  compel  them, 
by  an  express  provision  of  law,  to  receive  all  the  notes,  of  all 
denominations,  of  a  particular  institution,  and  that,  too,  after  the 
charter  of  that  institution  has  expired,  and  while  measures  are  being 
taken,  by  those  who  have  the  management  of  its  affairs,  which  are 
directly  calculated  to  make  the  notes  in  circulation  of  a  less  value 
than  par  at  every  point  but  one  in  the  whole  country  ?  He  pre 
sumed  his  honorable  friend  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Benton]  was  not 
aware  of  the  course  of  policy  adopted  and  adopting  by  the  late 
Bank  of  the  United  States  to  continue  the.  notes  of  that  institu 
tion  in  circulation  throughout  the  country,  and  to  press  them  into 
the  hands  of  the  agents  of  the  government,  and  consequently 
into  the  deposit  banks,  by  the  force  of  this  legal  privilege 
25 


386  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

extended  to  those  notes,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  notes  of 
any  bank  in  the  country.  It  was  his  present  object  to  inform 
the  Senate  and  the  country  as  to  the  policy  pursuing  in  this  mat 
ter  ;  and  to  do  so  he  would  read  parts  of  a  correspondence  with 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which  had  been  put  into  his  hands 
as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  of  the  Senate,  to  show 
the  necessity  of  the  speedy  passage  of  the  bill  to  which  he  had 
referred. 

"  The  officer  in  charge  of  the  deposit  bank  at  Boston  wrote  to 
the  Secretary  to  know  whether  he  was  considered  legally  bound 
to  receive  these  bills  in  payment  of  dues  to  the  government,  after 
the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the  bank.  The  Secretary,  in  his 
answer,  inquired  of  the  officer  of  the  deposit  bank  how  and  in 
what  case  the  question  could  arise  and  become  important  to  the 
institution  under  his  charge,  telling  him  he  presumed  the  pay 
ments  for  duties  there  had  been  and  would  continue  to  be  made, 
chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  by  checks  on  his  own  and  the  other  banks 
of  the  city.  To  that  suggestion  the  officer  replied  as  follows : 

"  'Heretofore,  the  branch  bank  in  this  city  has  redeemed  the  bills  of  the 
United  States  Bank,  drawn  here  by  regular  course  of  business;  consequently 
making  them  equal  to  the  city  bank  bills,  being,  therefore,  no  difference  in 
value;  the  payments  to  government  have  been  made  generally  in  checks 
and  bills  of  the  city  banks.  But  this  branch  of  the  United  States  Bank 
now  refuses  to  redeem  any  bills  but  of  their  own  issue,  and,  consequently, 
every  other  city  bank  refuses  to  receive  them.  This  depreciates  in  value- 
all  the  United  States  Bank  bills  issued  elsewhere,  and  they  must  be  nego 
tiated  by  brokers,  and  purchased  for  the  purpose  of  paying  debts  due  the 
government;  the  rate  of  exchange  will  probably  cause  them  to  be  remitted 
from  one  city  to  another,  when  money  is  scarce,  and  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  bond-payers,  to  whom  they  will  be  equal  to  specie ;  although, 
payable  at  a  distant  part  of  the  country,  and  for  all  other  purposes,  of  less 
value.  It  was  to  guard,  if  possible,  against  this  probable  contingency  that 

I  addressed  the  department. 

'"Respectfully, 

'"CHARLES  HOOD,  Cashier? 

"  The  letter  from  which  this  extract  is  taken  bears  date  '.Com 
mercial  Bank,  Boston,  March  38,  1836.'  Here,  Mr.  President, 
we  see  that  notes  of  this  bank,  not  issued  by  the  Boston  branch, 
but  by  distant  branches,  are  finding  their  way  into  the  hands  of 
the  debtors  of  the  government,  in  that  town,  and  through  them 


LifE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  387 

into  the  deposit  bank  there,  while  the  other  banks  of  that  city 
will  not  receive  them  at  par  at  their  counters,  and  the  branch  of 
the  bank  there  will  not  redeem  them.  Hence  they  constitute  a 
depreciated  currency,  and  still  our  agent  is  bound  by  law  to  take 
them  at  par.  Ought  we,  then,  while  our  law  imposes  this  burden 
and  loss  upon  the  deposit  banks,  to  add,  by  our  own  voluntary 
act,  the  further  restriction  proposed  in  the  amendment  under 
discussion?  Mr.  W.  said,  he  thought  not.  It  seemed  to  him 
enough  that  we  were  compelling  the  deposit  banks  to  receive  a 
depreciated  currency,  and  to  account  to  us  for  it  at  par,  without 
prohibiting  them  from  making  payments  on  our  account  in  their 
own  notes,  which  are  at  par,  of  denominations  similar  to  the 
depreciated  notes  they  are,  by  our  law,  obliged  to  receive. 

"But,  Mr,  W.  said,  this  is  not  all.  The  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  having  obtained  this  information  as  to  the  course  pur 
suing  in  Boston  to  force  these  notes  upon  the  government,  made 
a  call  upon  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
appointed  by  the  government,  for  further  information  as  to  the 
course  taking  by  the  late  bank,  and  by  its  successor,  in  reference 
to  its  notes  in  circulation.  The  correspondence  was  very  short, 
and  he  would  read  it  to  the  Senate.  The  following  is  the  letter 
of  the  Secretary : 

"  *  TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  March  23,  1836. 

"  '  SIR. — I  will  thank  you  to  inform  me  what  disposition  is  made  of  the 
bills  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  as  they  are  redeemed  —  are  they  kept 
on  file,  or  destroyed  —  or  handed  over  to  the  new  bank,  and  by  it  reissued. 
And,  also,  to  state  who  are  the  agents  for  the  branches  of  the  old  bank; 
and  whether  these  agents  have  been  directed  to  redeem  all  the  old  bills  or 
checks  presented  in  the  usual  course  of  business,  or  only  those  issued  by 
the  branch  for  which  they  act. 

"  '  I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  '  LEVI  WOODBURY, 

"  '  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
"  «  HENRY  TOLAND,  Esq.,  Philadelphia.' 

"  Mr.  Toland's  reply  is  in  these  words : 

"  '  PHILADELPHIA,  March  25,  1836. 

"  '  SIR.  —  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  twenty-third  instant,  I  beg  leave 
to  inform  you  that  the  circulation  of  the  old  Bank  of  the  United  States  is 


388  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

reissued  by  the  new  bank,  and  that  no  new  circulation  under  the  present 
charter  has  been  prepared;  that  no  one  of  its  branches  is  considered  as 
having  any  legal  existence  after  the  fourth  instant;  and  that  all  the  notes 
of  the  bank  and  its  branches  are  considered  as  payable  at  the  Bank  in 

Philadelphia. 

'  '  I  am,  very  respectfully, 

" 'HENRY  TOLAND. 
"  '  LEVI  WOODBUBY,  Esq., 

"  '  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.' 

"  Here,  Mr.  W.  said,  is  the  present  condition  of  things.  We 
compel  the  deposit  banks  by  law  to  receive  at  par,  in  payment  of 
debts  due  to  us,  the  notes  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
notwithstanding  its  charter  has  actually  expired,  and  the  institu 
tion  no  longer  possesses  banking  powers.  By  a  regulation  of  the 
directors,  all  those  notes,  no  matter  where  issued,  or  by  what 
branch,  are  to  be  redeemed  at  Philadelphia,  and  at  no  other  place 
in  the  United  States.  This  must  depreciate  the  value  of  the 
notes,  for  all  other  purposes  but  that  of  payments  to  the  govern 
ment,  at  all  points  distant  from  Philadelphia.  The  deposit  banks 
receiving  them  must  send  them  to  Philadelphia  to  be  redeemed, 
or  to  convert  them  into  current  funds.  They  do  receive  them, 
and  do  so  send  them  to  the  dead  institution.  Are  they  then  dis 
charged  from  further  expense,  and  trouble,  and  loss,  on  their 
account?  No,  sir;  the  correspondence  shows  that  another  insti 
tution,  to  which  this  government  is  a  stranger,  immediately 
reissues,  and  returns  to  the  place  from  whence  they  came,  these 
same  notes,  to  be  again  paid  into  the  deposit  bank  as  a  depre 
ciated  currency,  and  again  returned  to  Philadelphia  at  their  cost, 
that  they  may  exchange  them  for  money.  Who  does  not  see- 
that,  by  this  process,  these  notes  may  for  ever  circulate  as  the 
legal  currency  of  the  treasury,  and  that  they  may  be  issued  and 
diffused  over  every  foot  of  our  territory,  to  be  purchased  up,  by 
those  who  owe  the  government,  to  the  full  extent  of  all  the  pay 
ments  to  be  made  to  it  ?  These  notes,  therefore,  must  constitute 
the  deposits  of  the  government  in  the  deposit  banks,  and,  by  the 
amendment  proposed,  we  prohibit  their  payment  from  those 
banks  to  the  creditors  of  the  government,  and  thus  make  them 
unavailable  funds  in  their  hands  until  they  can  be  sent  to  Phila 
delphia,  and  their  equivalent  returned. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  389 

"  Of  this,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  did  not  complain,  as  he  did  not  wish 
that  any  creditor  of  the  government  should  be  compelled  to 
receive,  in  payment  of  his  demand,  depreciated  paper.  Indeed, 
as  he  understood  the  law  now  to  be,  no  creditor  of  the  govern 
ment  was  under  obligation  to  receive  anything  but  gold  and 
silver,  and  that  the  acceptance  of  bank  notes  from  the  govern 
ment,  in  any  case  where  they  were  accepted,  was  the  voluntary 
act  of  the  person  receiving  them.  He  must  say,  however,  that, 
until  we  ceased  to  compel  the  State  banks  to  receive  this  depre 
ciated  paper,  he  could  not  believe  that  we  ought  to  interdict 
them  from  the  circulation,  in  their  capacity  as  agents  of  the 
government,  of  their  own  notes,  which  are  at  par  value,  unless 
those  notes  were  of  the  denomination  of  twenty  dollars.  If  these 
notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  were  to  be,  in  this  disad 
vantageous  manner,  but  once  redeemed  by  the  deposit  banks, 
they  might  be  able  to  sustain  themselves  under  the  unreasonable 
burden;  but  when  it  was  seen,  by  the  correspondence  he  had 
read,  that  they  were  to  be  continued  in  circulation,  that  a  single 
redemption  was  merely  furnishing  to  another  institution  addi 
tional  means  for  a  reissue,  he  must  express  his  apprehensions  that 
if,  in  addition  to  these  burdens  imposed,  other  and  important 
privileges  were  denied  to  them,  or  greatly  restricted,  they  might 
be  driven  to  refuse  their  services  to  the  government,  and  thus  lay 
the  foundation  for  a  new  argument  for  a  recognition  and  employ 
ment,  if  not  a  direct  charter,  of  this  new  and  dangerous  State 
bank  by  Congress. 

"His  apprehensions  upon  this  subject  were  by  no  means 
diminished  by  finding  some  of  the  most  zealous  friends  of  the 
late  Bank  of  the  United  States  advocating  this  amendment. 
These  gentlemen,  so  satisfied  with  the  safety  and  superior  value 
of  a  paper  currency,  when  that  bank  had  existence,  and  its  notes 
constituted  that  currency,  had  now  become  too  sudden  converts 
to  the  dangers  of  bank  paper,  and  too  hastily  attached  to  a 
metallic  circulation,  to  gain  his  confidence.  What  were  their 
reasons  for  this  great  change  ?  Did  they  desire,  in  this  way,  to 
prove  that  their  former  opinions  as  to  one  great  bank  were  sound, 
and  that  such  an  institution  alone  could  transact  the  public  busi 
ness  and  preserve  the  currency  ?  Did  they  wish  to  embarrass  the 


390  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

deposit  banks,  at  the  moment  when  alarms  as  to  their  solvency 
were  sounded  from  this  chamber  ?  Did  they  hope  that  such  a 
course  would  compel  the  State  banks  to  surrender  their  agencies, 
and  thus  produce  a  necessity  for  another  national  bank  ?  Or  had 
they  become  converts  to  the  true,  sound,  democratic  doctrine, 
that  a  metallic  currency,  for  circulation  among  the  people,  was 
the  course  of  wisdom  and  safety  ? 

"  He  impugned  no  man's  motives,  and  he  would  hope  the  latter 
was  the  true  solution  of  his  inquiries.  He  knew  that  was  the 
patriotic  object  of  the  mover  of  the  amendment,  and  he  would 
go  with  him,  in  heart  and  by  his  vote,  as  far  as  he  could  believe 
that  safety  or  prudence  would  permit;  but  he  did  believe  this 
amendment  proposed  too  rapid  a  change.  We  had  gone  to  the 
extreme  in  the  paper  circulation.  We  must  retrace  our  steps 
gradually,  and  with  care  and  caution,  if  we  would  avoid  a  con 
vulsion  dreadful  in  its  effects,  and  much  more  dreadful  in  its  con 
sequences.  The  effects  time  might  repair  or  efface,  but  the  mea 
sures  which  might  grow  out  of  the  agitations  and  disasters  might 
ingraft  themselves  too  strongly  upon  our  institutions  ever  to  be 
shaken  off.  Experience  spoke  to  us  upon  this  point  in  a  voice  of 
warning  which  no  one  should  disregard.  Great  abuses,  such  as 
he  believed  a  Bank  of  the  United  States  to  be,  always  took  their 
rise  from  public  distresses,  and  he  feared  too  hasty  changes  in 
our  present  currency  would  produce  these  distresses  and  their 
consequences. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  wished  the  bill  to  which  he  had  referred 
might  be  acted  upon  here,  before  the  principle  involved  in  the 
amendment  should  be  adopted.  He  repeated,  he  would  go  as  far 
as  he  could  think  safety  would  permit;  but  he  hoped  our  progress 
would  be  gradual,  that  it  might  be  sure.  If  we  could  relieve  the 
deposit  banks  from  the  legal  obligation  of  receiving  the  notes  of 
the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States,  he  thought  we  then  might 
safely  make  some  advance  toward  limiting  them  in  their  pay 
ments  of  their  own  paper  to  the  creditors  of  the  government;  but. 
until  that  was  done,  he  was  sorry  to  be  compelled  to  act  upon 
the  proposition.  [Mr.  Davis  here  made  an  inquiry  as  to  the 
amount  of  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  circulation.] 
Mr.  W.  said  it  was  impossible  for  any  person  not  possessed  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  391 

the  books  and  papers  of  the  new  United  States  Bank,  chartered 
by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  to  answer  that  question.  He  spoke 
from  memory,  and  without  confidence  in  his  correctness,  when  he 
said  he  believed  the  last  return  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
to  the  Treasury  department  showed  some  twenty  or  more  mil 
lions  of  their  paper  in  circulation;  but  that  was  no  standard  for 
the  present  time.  The  Senator  did  not  seem  to  have  understood 
the  purport  of  the  correspondence  he  had  read.  [Mr.  W.  here 
again  read  the  letter  from  Mr.  Toland,  above  given.]  From  this 
letter  the  gentleman  will  see  that  these  notes,  as  they  came  in, 
are  immediately  reissued  by  another  institution.  How,  then,  can 
the  question  be  answered  as  to  the  amount  in  circulation  ?  And 
the  answer  to-day  would  be  no  answer  for  to-morrow.  He  wished 
further  to  state,  what  he  believed  to  be  the  fact,  that  since  the 
expiration  of  the  charter,  on  the  fourth  instant,  no  returns  of  any 
description  had  been  made  to  the  treasury  from  the  late  bank; 
and  it  was  to  be  presumed  the  directors  considered  themselves 
no  longer  bound  to  make  the  returns  required  by  the  charter. 
This,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  gentle 
men  must  see  that  hundreds  of  millions  of  these  notes  might  be 
thrown  over  the  country,  but  he  feared  that  they  could  not  so 
well  tell  what  institution  was  to  redeem  them. " 


392  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LVI. 

DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  PROCEEDS  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

The  plethoric  condition  of  the  treasury  invited  plans  for 
disposing  of  the  surplus  beyond  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  government.  A  large  portion  of  this  excess  was 
being  derived  from  the  public  lands.  On  the  29th  of 
December,  1835,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  the  subject  of  dis 
tributing  the  net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among 
the  States  and  Territories.  This  proposition  was  referred 
to  a  committee,  who  reported  a  bill  to  carry  it  into  effect, 
which  underwent  a  long  and  spirited  discussion.  How 
far  this  movement  was  intended  to  influence  the  pending 
presidential  election  each  will  judge  for  himself.  The 
debate  was  continued,  and,  on  the  20th  of  April,  1836, 
Mr.  WEIGHT  addressed  the  Senate,  at  great  length,  upon 
the  subject.  His  remarks  were  so  pertinent,  clear  and 
conclusive,  and  full  of  historical  information,  that  they 
are  copied  entire.  The  labor  of  preparation  for  this 
argument  was  herculean,  which  few  would  have  under 
taken. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  had  proposed  to  offer  some  views  to  the 
Senate  upon  the  bill  under  consideration,  before  the  question 
should  be  taken  upon  its  engrossment  ;  that  the  observations  he 
intended  to  make  had  no  relation  to  the  amendments  which  were 
the  immediate  question  under  debate  ;  but  that,  as  the  course  of 
debate  had  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  general  merits  of  the  bill 
might  be  properly  discussed  in  the  present  stage  of  the  proceed 
ings  upon  it,  he  would  go  on  at  present,  unless  the  very  late  hour 
should  make  it  the  pleasure  of  the  Senate  to  postpone  the  subject 
until  a  future  day. 

"  Before  he  could  enter  upon  the  argument  he  had  proposed  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  393 

make,  Mr.  W.  said  he  found  himself  bound  to  notice  some  few 
of  the  remarks  which  had  fallen  from  the  Senator  [Mr.  Southard] 
who  had  just  resumed  his  seat.  That  Senator  had  informed  the 
Senate,  at  various  stages  of  his  argument,  that  he  intended  to 
discard  all  partisan  feeling  and  partisan  remarks,  and  to  discuss 
this  important,  and,  in  his  judgment,  most  desirable  measure,  as 
a  national,  not  a  party  proposition,  —  as  a  measure  of  general  and 
universal  interest,  not  as  one  promoting  the  temporary  advance 
ment  of  a  particular  class  of  politicians,  or  of  a  favorite  candi 
date,  but  of  the  whole  country. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  most  cordially  responded  to  the  feelings  of 
the  Senator,  as  thus  uttered  and  repeated,  so  far  as  any  connec 
tion  of  partisan  politics  with  the  discussion  was  involved;  and, 
although  differing  widely  from  him  upon  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  to  the  public  from  the  passage  of  the  bill,  he  fully  and 
entirely  agreed  with  him  in  the  position  that  the  measure  was 
not  partisan  in  its  character,  and  ought  not  to  be  made  so  in  the 
debate. 

"  It  was  his  desire,  at  all  times,  to  confine  himself,  in  every 
discussion  in  this  body,  to  the  subject  before  it,  and  upon  the 
present  occasion  he  had  supposed  that  subject  was  '  the  land  bill,' 
so  called.  Still  he  could  not  fail  to  notice  that  the  Senator  [Mr. 
Southard]  had  commenced  his  speech  by  a  discussion  of  the  rail 
road  bill,  and  closed  it  by  a  dissertation  upon  the  insecurity  of 
the  deposit  banks.  He  would  not  assign  motives  to  the  remarks 
of  this  character,  which  have  recently  been  heard  in  the  Senate 
from  various  quarters,  and  as  strongly  from  the  Senator  from 
New  Jersey  [Mr.  Southard],  at  the  close  of  his  speech  upon  the 
land  bill,  as  from  any  other  quarter.  He  did,  however,  upon 
this  occasion,  consider  it  his  duty  briefly  to  notice  those  remarks, 
and  the  effects  which  they  were  calculated  to  produce.  The 
present,  he  said,  was  a  time  of  severe  pecuniary  pressure  upon 
the  large  mercantile  towns.  The  merchants  were  struggling  to 
preserve  their  credit,  and  to  raise  the  means  necessary  to  carry 
on  their  business  and  meet  their  engagements.  The  struggle 
was  severe  and  dangerous,  but,  if  left  to  themselves,  he  had 
strong  hope  it  would  be  successful  and  triumphant.  The  suspi 
cion  and  distrust  calculated  to  arise  from  such  a  state  of  things, 


394  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

among  capitalists  and  commercial  men,  are  the  strongest  grounds 
for  fear  and  apprehension. 

"  Could  it,  then,  be  wise  or  just  to  attempt  here  to  shake  confi 
dence  and  destroy  credit  ?  Could  it  be  beneficial  to  any  national 
interest,  or  to  any  individual  interest,  to  proclaim  from  this  hall 
that  those  institutions  of  the  country,  from  which  alone  the  mer 
chants  can  expect  immediate  and  efficient  relief  in  the  present 
emergency,  are  unsound,  irresponsible  and  rotten  ?  Could  it 
answer  any  end  of  patriotism  or  philanthropy,  by  declarations 
and  denunciations  of  this  sort,  to  produce  runs  upon  these  insti 
tutions,  and  thus  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  aiford  the  merchants 
that  aid  which  the  crisis  demands  ?  Could  it,  in  short,  serve  any 
valuable  purpose  to  add  a  panic  to  the  present  pressure,  and  by 
destroying  confidence  in  all  quarters  to  render  certain  the  bank 
ruptcy  and  ruin  which  was  now  merely  threatened  ?  If  the 
honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Southard]  could  see  any  benefits  likely 
to  result  from  such  a  course,  he  could  not.  If  that  gentleman 
felt  bound  to  act  such  a  part,  at  such  a  time,  he  did  not.  He 
held  his  seat  upon  this  floor  for  the  performance  of  no  such 
office,  and  he  must  express  his  deep  regret  that  any  others  should 
thus  construe  their  high  duties  here. 

"  He  had  seen  no  unusual  cause  for  distrusting  the  banking 
institutions  of  the  country,  and  certainly  none  for  distrusting 
those  which  were  strengthened  by  the  possession  of  the  public 
deposits.  The  statements  made  upon  the  subject  were  fallacious 
and  deceptive.  They  were  mere  comparisons  of  the  instant 
means  of  the  institutions  with  the  whole  amount  of  their  liabili 
ties,  a  comparison  which  rejects  entirely  the  item  of  '  bills 
receivable,'  always  the  most  important  item  in  calculating  the 
property  and  security  of  a  sound  and  well-conducted  bank.  Let 
gentlemen  add  that  single  item  to  their  statements,  and  they  will 
show  every  deposit  bank  in  the  Union  sound  and  secure. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  sorry  the  Senator  had  not  been  able  to 
close  his  remarks  as  he  had  commenced  them,  in  a  spirit  of 
candor  and  mildness,  and  unaccompanied  by  those  expressions  of 
partisan  prejudice  and  partisan  passion  which  too  frequently 
characterized  his  addresses  before  the  Senate.  He  had  appeared 
at  the  commencement  to  be  fully  conscious  of  the  propriety  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  395 

policy  of  such  a  course  in  the  present  debate,  and  had  avowed  an 
intention  to  pursue  it,  and  he,  W.,  had  witnessed  his  adherence 
to  the  intention,  until  near  the  close  of  his  speech,  with  unfeigned 
pleasure;  but  the  force  of  partisan  feeling  had  got  the  better  of 
the  judgment  of  the  Senator,  and  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
a  conclusion  without  visiting,  upon  the  venerable  man,  now  at  the 
head  of  this  government,  his  accustomed  paragraph  of  denuncia 
tion  and  abuse.  He,  Mr.  W.,  would  say  to  the  Senator,  that  he 
thought  this  portion  of  his  remarks  had  better  have  been  o*mit- 
ted;  that  his  going  thus  out  of  the  way  to  pour  abuse  upon  the 
President,  would  not,  even  with  his  immediate  constituents,  add 
anything  to  the  moral  force  of  his  argument,  upon  a  subj-ect 
which  did  not  call  for  political  recrimination. 

"  It  was  not  his  purpose  to  reply  to  the  Senator,  and  these  few 
remarks  were  all  he  proposed  to  offer,  in  reference  to  his  observa 
tions,  except,  perhaps,  to  notice  in  passing,  one  or  two  of  his 
positions  which  connected  themselves  with  the  train  of  reasoning 
he  had  proposed  to  pursue. 

"  He  would,  therefore,  proceed  with  the  observations  he  had 
intended  to  offer  to  the  Senate,  and,  in  doing  so,  he  would  attempt 
to  show, 

"  First.  That  the  bill  is,  in  effect,  a  bill  to  distribute,  not  the 
*  net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,'  as  its  language  imports,  but 
the  revenues  of  the  treasury  generally. 

"  To  establish  this  proposition,  it  will  be  necessary  to  show 
what  have  been  the  gross  proceeds  to  the  treasury  of  the  public 
lands,  from  the  commencement  of  the  sales  to  the  present  time, 
what  have  been  the  expenses  from  the  treasury,  justly  chargeable 
to  the  lands,  and,  in  that  way,  to  ascertain  the  '  net  proceeds '  now 
resting  in  the  treasury.  As  the  latest  date  to  which  the  documents 
before  the  Senate  would  enable  him  to  state  these  facts,  Mr.  W. 
said  he  had  taken  the  30th  of  September,  1835,  because  the 
accounts  on  both  sides  had  been  brought  up  to  that  date,  and  not, 
with  any  precision,  to  a  later  day. 


396  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  *  The  gross  amount  of  money  paid  into  the  treasury  for 
the  purchase  of  the  public  lands,  from  1796  to  the 
30th  of  September,  1835,  inclusive,  has  been $58,619,523  00 

"  'To  this  sum  the  following  items  are  added  in  the  state 
ment  appended  to  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Public  Lands  of  the  Senate,  which  they  claim  to  be 
also  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  viz. : 

"  '  Certificates  of  public  debt  and  army  land 

warrants $984 , 189  91 

"  '  Mississippi  stock 2,448,789  44 

"  '  United  States  stock 257,660  73 

' '  '  Forfeited  land  stock  and  military  scrip ,     1 , 719 , 333  53 

5,409,973  61 


*'  '  Thus  showing  a  total  of  gross  proceeds  thus  ascer 
tained  of $64,029,496  61' 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  seemed  to  him  that  there  were  items  in  this 
account  which  ought  not  to  be  there,  but  they  were,  in  all  cases, 
so  blended  with  items  which  he  supposed  proper,  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  distinguish  the  amounts,  which,  in  his  judg 
ment,  ought  to  be  deducted  from  the  above  gross  sum. 

"  To  illustrate  his  meaning :  The  first  item  was  money  paid 
into  the  public  treasury;  and,  in  the  statement  of  an  account 
between  that  treasury  and  the  public  lands,  there  could  be  no 
doubt  that  it  should  be  debited  to  the  former  and  credited  to  the 
latter.  The  second  item  was  designated  as  '  certificates  of  public 
debt  and  army  land  warrants.'  From  what  he  had  been  able  to 
learn,  the  '  certificates  of  public  debt,'  so  far  as  they  had  been 
paid  in  lands,  were  properly  chargeable  against  the  treasury  in 
an  account  with  the  lands,  because  their  payment,  in  that  manner, 
must  have  relieved  the  treasury  from  the  payment  of  so  much 
money.  The  amount,  however,  could  not  be  ascertained  from 
the  statement,  in  consequence  of  the  blending  of  these  certifi 
cates  with  the  '  army  land  warrants.'  These  latter  he  supposed 
to  be  'warrants'  for  revolutionary  bounty  lands,  and  he  could 
not  see  the  propriety  of  valuing  these  lands  and  charging  them 
against  the  treasury  in  the  statement  of  this  account.  If  he  was 
mistaken  in  his  supposition  in  relation  to  these  warrants  he  hoped 
some  Senator  would  correct  him,  but  if  he  was  not,  the  debts 
against  the  government  were  debts  contracted  for  the  conquest 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.          ,    397 

of  the  lands,  and  properly  chargeable  against  them;  they  were 
payable  in  land,  and  not  in  money  from  the  treasury,  and  having 
been  so  paid,  the  lands  had,  to  that  extent,  discharged  the  debt, 
but  not  secured  a  claim  against  the  treasury.  The  amount  of 
these  warrants,  therefore,  as  he  understood  the  subject,  ought  to 
be  deducted  from  the  $984,189.91,  which  constitutes  the  second 
item  charged  as  proceeds  of  the  public  lands.  What  proportion 
of  that  item  was  made  up  of  '  army  land  warrants,'  and  what  of 
'certificates  of  public  debt,'  he  had  no  means  of  determining, 
and,  therefore,  he  could  not  make  such  a  statement  of  the  amount 
as  he  should  consider  just.  The  third  item  was  designated  as 
'Mississippi  stock.'  This  stock,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  understood  to 
have  grown  out  of  the  celebrated  Yazoo  claim,  and  that  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  had  become  a  party  to  the 
transaction,  in  consequence  of  having  stipulated  with  the  State 
of  Georgia,,  as  one  of  the  considerations  upon  which  that  State 
consented  to  make  her  cession  of  the  public  lands  to  the  United 
States,  to  indemnify  her  against  the  Yazoo  claimants.  The  stock 
was  payable  in  land,  and  was  considered  in  the  nature  of  land 
scrip;  it  was  the  consideration  of  the  lands  out  of  which  it  was 
to  be  paid,  and  the  amount  here  set  down,  is  the  amount  of  the 
lands  conveyed  to  cancel  the  same  amount  of  the  stock.  It  was, 
therefore,  a  debt  against  the  lands,  and,  to  this  amount,  was  paid 
by  the  lands  and  canceled  the  debt  to  that  extent.  It  did  not, 
however,  raise  a  claim  in  favor  of  the  lands  against  the  treasury, 
because  the  lands  merely  paid  for  themselves.  This  amount, 
therefore,  $2,448,789.44,  ought,  most  clearly,  to  be  deducted  from 
the  statement  above  given  of  the  gross  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands. 

"The  fourth  item  is  'United  States  stock.'  This  is  supposed 
to  have  been  stock  issued  for  loans  of  money  for  the  support  of 
government,  and  to  carry  on  the  war  of  the  Revolution  ;  its  pay 
ment  was  chargeable  upon  the  public  treasury,  and  so  far  as  the 
holders  of  it  consented  to  take  lands  in  payment,  and  did  do  so, 
the  value  of  the  lands  is,  most  manifestly,  a  proper  charge  against 
the  treasury  in  favor  of  the  lands.  This  item,  therefore,  is 
belfeved  to  be  properly  included  in  this  account.. 

"  The  fifth  item,  designated  '  forfeited  land  stock  and  military 


398    ,  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

scrip,'  is  again  supposed  to  consist  partly  of  a  proper  and  partly 
of  an  improper  charge  against  the  treasury.  The  '  forfeited  land 
stock,'  so  called,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  was  informed  had  accrued  in 
this  way  :  Formerly  the  government  sold  the  public  lands  upon 
a  credit  of  five  years,  the  purchase-money  being  payable  in  yearly 
installments,  with  the  condition  in  the  certificates,  or  contracts 
of  purchase,  that,  in  case  the  purchaser  did  not  perform  the 
contract  by  making  the  payments  at  the  times  stipulated,  he 
forfeited  all  payments  made  prior  to  his  default.  During  the 
practice  under  this  system  a  large  amount  of  forfeitures  accrued, 
and  the  government  resumed  the  possession  of  the  land,  the 
payments  made  by  the  respective  purchasers,  prior  to  their  for 
feitures,  still  remaining  in  the  public  treasury.  The  amounts 
thus  paid  and  forfeited  \vere  so  large  as  to  cause  the  subject  to 
be  brought  before  Congress,  and  laws  were  passed  directing  a 
stock  or  scrip  to  be  issued  to  the  various  individuals  who  had 
made  the  payments  thus  forfeited,  or  to  those  claiming  under 
them,  authorizing  the  holder  of  the  stock  or  scrip  to  locate,  at 
the  minimum  price  of  the  government,  a  quantity  of  the  public 
lands  equal  to  4he  value  of  the  stock  so  held.  This,  therefore, 
was  in  effect  a  mere  sale  of  so  much  land  for  money  paid  into 
the  treasury  in  advance,  and,  to  the  extent  of  the  'forfeited 
land  stock,'  is  a  proper  charge  against  the  treasury  in  a  just 
statement  of  the  account  between  it  and  the  public  lands. 

"  The  other  part  of  this  item,  designated  '  military  scrip,'  Mr. 
W.  said  he  supposed  to  be  scrip  issued  for  military  bounty  lands 
to  the  Virginia  line  of  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  be 
subject  to  the  same  objections  as  a  charge  in  this  account,  which 
he  had  previously  urged  against  the  '  army  land  warrants.'  It 
was  most  clearly  a  debt  against  the  government  payable  and 
paid  in  lands,  and  as  the  lands  were  conveyed  to  this  government 
by  all  the  States  '  as  a  common  fund '  l  for  the  use  and  benefit  .of 
the  several  States,  according  to  their  usual  respective  proportions 
in  the  general  charge  and  expenditures,'  it  was  impossible  to 
conceive  how  a  debt  of  this  character,  assumed  by  this  govern 
ment  as  one  of  the  considerations  of  the  cession  of  the  lands  by 
Virginia  and  paid  in  the  same  lands,  can  now  be  considered  a 
proper  charge  against  the  common  treasury,  upon  a  settlement 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  399 

of  accounts  between  it  and  those  lands,  with  a  view  to  ascertain 
their  net  proceeds  now  in  that  treasury. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  this  was  a  heavy  item,  amounting  to  $1,719,333.53, 
and  he  deeply  regretted  that  he  was  not  able  to  determine  and 
to  inform  the  Senate  what  portion  of  this  sum  consisted  of  '  for 
feited  land  stock,'  and  what  portion  of  '  military  scrip,'  because 
it  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  make  a  precise  statement  of  this 
part  of  the  account  in  a  manner  which  he  could  assent  to  as 
accurate  and  just. 

"  These  remarks,  however,  went  as  far  as  it  was  in  his  power 
to  go,  to  purge  the  statement  made  by  the  Committee  on  Public 
Lands,  as  to  the  gross  proceeds  from  the  public  lands  properly 
chargeable  to  the  national  treasury.  He  would  not  attempt  to 
bring  down  a  sum,  because  the  two  compound  items  in  the 
account,  the  second  and  the  fifth,  in  the  order  he  had  observed 
in  their  examination,  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  do  so 
with  accuracy,  and  it  had  been  and  should  be  his  object  to  adhere 
to  facts,  as  far  as  he  could  possess  himself  of  them,  and  when 
conjecture  must  be  resorted  to,  to  yield  all  to  the  friends  of  this 
bill. 

"In  consequence,  therefore,  of  his  inability  to  separate  the 
improper  from  the  proper  portions  of  these  two  items,  Mr.  W. 
said  he  would  allow  the  whole  of  both  to  the  lands,  and  present 
a  result  stated  upon  that  basis.  It  will  be  as  follows  : 

''  '  The  gross  amount  before  given,  as  stated  by  the  Com 
mittee  on  Public  Lands,  was $64,029,496  61 

"'Deduct  from  that  amount  the  single  item  designated 

"  Mississippi  stock" 2,448,789  44 


And  will  leave  a  balance  of. $61 ,580,707  17 ' 


"  This  balance  is  larger  than  the  true  gross  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands,  calculated  from  this  statement,  by  the  whole  amount 
included  in  the  second  item,  under  the  designation  of  c  army  land 
warrants,'  and  in  the  fifth  item,  under  the  designation  of  '  mili 
tary  scrip ;'  but  as  neither  of  these  amounts  can  be  ascertained 
from  the  documents  before  the  Senate,  although  they  are  known 
to  constitute  a  large  majority  of  both  the  items  with  which  they 


400  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

are  connected,  amounting  together  to  $2,703,523.44,  they  will  be 
overlooked,  and  the  balance  last  given,  including  the  '  array  land 
warrants '  and  the  '  military  scrip,'  will,  for  the  purposes  of  this 
argument,  be  considered  the  correct  amount  of  the  gross  pro 
ceeds  of  the  public  lands. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  followed,  of  course,  that  his  next  duty  was  to 
show  the  amount  of  expenses  properly  chargeable  against  the 
lands,  and  consequently  to  be  deducted  from  the  gross  proceeds, 
as  above  ascertained,  in  order  that  he  might  arrive  at  the  '  net 
proceeds  '  in  the  treasury  on  the  thirtieth  of  September  last. 

"  To  do  this  from  authority,  and  in  a  manner  calculated  to 
carry  conviction  to  the  mind,  he  must  refer  to  two  reports  from 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  made  to  the  Senate  in  obedience 
to  calls  for  the  purpose,  or  rather  to  a  call,  as  the  one  report  was 
supplemental  to,  and  amendatory  of,  the  other.  He  referred  to 
Senate  documents  upon  the  executive  file,  Nos.  65  and  80.  The 
first,  in  the  order  of  numbers,  though  the  last  in  fact  made, 
showed  that  the  money  paid  from  the  treasury  on  account  of  the 
Cumberland  road  was  $5,956,024.  The  second,  as  numbered, 
although  the  first  and  principal  report,  to  which  the  former  was 
a  supplement,  showed  the  following  expenditures  on  account  of 
the  public  lands,  viz. : 

"  1.  For  expenditures  under  the  head  of  the  Indian  depart 
ment,  which  Mr.  W.  said  he  understood  to  be  the  expenses  of 
Indian  treaties,  for  the  purchase  of  Indian  titles  to  the  public 
lands,  the  purchase-  money  paid  to  the  Indians  for  those  titles, 
the  annuities  in  lieu  of  purchase-money,  the  expense  of  the 
removal  and  subsistence  of  Indians,  and  perhaps  some  other 
small  items,  incidental  to  the  administration  of  our  Indian  affairs, 
amounting  in  all  to  $17,541,560.19. 

"  2.  For  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  by  the  convention  with 
France  of  the  3d  of  April,  1803,  $1 5, 000,000,  and  the  interest 
paid  upon  the  stock  issued  for  the  payment  of  the  purchase- 
money,  from  the  time  of  the  issue  until  its  final  redemption, 
$8;529,353.43,  amounting  together  to  the  sum  of  $23,529,353.43. 

"  3.  For  the  purchase  of  Florida,  by  the  convention  with  Spain 
of  22d  February,  1819,  $5,000,000,  and  the  interest  paid  upon 
the  stock  issued  for  the  payment  of  the  purchase-money,  from 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  401 

the  time  of  the  issue  until  its  final  redemption,  $1,489,768.66, 
amounting  together  to  $6,489,768.66. 

"  4.  Payments  to  the  State  of  Georgia  as  a  part  consideration 
for  the  lands  ceded  by  that  State  to  the  United  States,  including, 
in  the  sums  charged,  the  value  of  the  arms  furnished  to  the  State 
under  the  compact  of  cession,  $1,250,000. 

"  5.  The  amount  paid  from  the  treasury  to  redeem  that  por 
tion  of  the  Mississippi  stock  (Yazoo  claims)  which  was  not  can 
celed  by  the  grants  of  land  in  extinguishment  of  the  stock,  as 
before  referred  to ;  and  here,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  the  strongest 
argument  he  could  desire  to  show  the  propriety  of  the  deduction 
he  had  made  of  the  amount  of  the  Mississippi  stock,  paid  in 
lands,  from  the  gross  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  as  given  by 
the  committee  which  reported  the  bill.  Here  was  a  charge  by 
the  treasury  against  the  lands  of  $1,832,375.70,  for  so  much 
money  paid  to  redeem  that  portion  of  the  stock  which  had  not 
been  canceled  by  the  grant  of  lands,  and  one  or  the  other  propo 
sitions  must  unavoidably  be  true,  to  wit :  Either  this  charge  by 
the  treasury  against  the  lands,  on  account  of  the  redemption  of 
this  stock,  is  wrong  and  ought  not  to  be  made,  or  the  charge 
made  in  the  statement  of  the  committee  of  $2,448,789.44  against 
the  treasury  and  in  favor  of  the  lands,  in  consequence  of  the 
redemption  of  so  much  of  the  stock  by  grants  of  land,  must  be 
erroneous.  Which  proposition,  then,  can  be  sustained?  To 
determine  this  question,  it  is  only  necessary  to  inquire  how  this 
indebtedness  against  the  government  attached,  and  upon  what 
consideration  it  was  incurred?  The  answers  to  these  inquiries 
have  already  been  given. 

"  The  consideration  to  this  government  was  the  cession  of  the 
public  lands  by  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  the  debt  attached 
when  this  government  stipulated,  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  the 
compact  of  cession,  to  indemnify  the  State  of  Georgia  to  the 
extent  of  these  payments,  against  the  Yazoo  claimants.  The 
treasury  of  the  nation  received  nothing,  and  should  pay  nothing; 
but  the  claims  grew  out  of  the  lands  ceded;  were  a  part  of  the 
consideration  of  the  cession;  were,  by  this  government,  made 
payable  out  of  the  lands  ceded;  and  if  money  .was  called  from 
the  treasury  to  cancel  those  claims,  it  was  so  called  for  and  paid 
26 


402  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

on  account  of  the  lands,  and  formed  a  proper  charge  against 
them.  Hence  the  propriety  of  the  item  now  under  considera 
tion,  charged  by  the  treasury  against  the  lands,  for  the  redemp 
tion  of  '  Mississippi  stock,'  while  the  establishment  of  this  charge 
in  favor  of  the  treasury,  by  the  most  natural  and  necessary  con 
sequences,  rejects  the  charge  against  the  treasury  and  in  favor  of 
the  lands,  for  that  portion  of  the  stock  paid  in  land,  and  not  in 
money,  from  the  treasury. 

"  6.  The  salaries  and  expenses  of  the  General  Land  Office, 
amounting  to  $797,748.64,  which  are  paid  from  the  treasury. 

"  7.  The  salaries  of  the  several  registers  and  receivers  at  the 
local  land  offices,  which  are  separate  from  their  commissions 
upon  sales,  and  amount  to  $91,153.39.  These  salaries  are  paid 
from  the  treasury. 

"  8.  The  salaries  of  Surveyors-General  and  their  clerks,  and 
the  expenses  of  commissioners  for  settling  private  land  claims 
and  of  surveying  the  lands  claimed.  The  treasury  has  paid  for 
these  services  and  expenses  the  sum  of  $860,567.78. 

"  9.  Payments  on  account  of  the  surveys  of  the  public  lands 
from  the  public  treasury,  $2,780,630.97. 

"This,  Mr.  W.  said,  brought  him  to  the  statement  of  the 
account  between  the  public  treasury  and  the  public  lands,  as 
follows : 

"  'Charge  against  the  treasury,  the  gross  proceeeds  of  the 

public  lands,  as  before  settled $61 ,580,707  17 

"  '  Then  credit  the  treasury  with  payments  on  account  of 
the  lands,  according  to  the  items  as  above  settled. 
viz.  : 

"  '  Payments  for  the  Cumberland  road $5,956,024  00 

"'Expenses    under   the    head    of    Indian 

Department 17,541,560  19 

"  '  Sum  paid  for  Louisiana,  and  interest 23,529,353  43 

"  '  Sum  paid  for  Florida,  and  interest 6 , 489 , 768  66 

"  '  Sum  paid  to  the  State  of  Georgia 1 ,250,000  00 

'"Yazoo    claims,    paid    in  money  at  the 

treasury 1,832,37570 

"  '  Expenses  of  the  General  Land  Office. . .        797,748  64 

"  *  Salaries  of  registers  and  receivers  of  pub 
lic  lands 91 ,153  39 


Carried  forward $57,487,98401    $61,580,7071? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  403 

Brought  forward $57,487,98401    $61,580,70717 

"'Salaries  of  Surveyors-General  and  sur 
veys,  and  settlement  of  private  land 
claims 860,567  78 

"'Payments    for    surveys    of  the    public 

lands 2,780,63097 

61,129,182  76 

"  'This  will  leave,  as  the  whole  "  net  pro 
ceeds"  of  the  public  lands  in  the 
treasury,  on  the  30th  day  of  Septem 
ber  last,  the  sum  of $351,525  41 ' 

"  It  will  be  seen  that  this  statement  of  the  account  excludes 
from  the  charges  against  the  treasury  the  single  item  of  '  Mis 
sissippi  stock,'  amounting  to  $2,448,789.44,  and  also  excludes,  upon 
the  other  side,  from  the  charges  against  the  lands,  the  sum  of 
$2,479,049.13,  being  money  received  for  land  by  the  receivers, 
and  not  paid  into  the  treasury,  but  retained  for  commissions 
and  other  expenses  pertaining  to  the  register's  and  receiver's 
offices.  Both  these  items  balance  themselves ;  the  first  being  a 
debt  contracted  for  the  lands  and  paid  in  lands,  and  the  second 
money  received  for  the  lands,  and  paid  out  for  expenses  on  their 
account.  Neither  has  brought  anything  into  the  public  treasury 
or  taken  anything  from  it;  and  as  this  statement  is  between  the 
public  treasury  and  the  public  lands,  both  items  are  excluded. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  found  another  statement  appended  to  the 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands,  giving  as  the  entire 
amount  paid  by  purchasers  for  public  lands,  $67,578,949.73.  This 
exceeds  the  amount  given  by  the  committee  in  the  statements 
before  referred  to,  and  made  the  basis  of  the  preceding  calcula 
tion  by  $3,549,453.12.  It  of  course  embraces  the  $2,479,049.13, 
retained  by  the  registers  and  receivers,  and  excluded  from  the 
foregoing  statement  of  the  account,  as  not  having  come  into  the 
treasury.  This  will  account  for  so  much  of  the  excess  in  this 
last  statement,  because  this  is  made  up,  not  of  the  money  paid 
into  the  treasury  as  proceeds  of  the  lands,  but  of  all  the  money 
paid  by  purchasers  for  public  lands.  There  will  still  remain  an 
excess  of  $1,070,403.99,  for  which  Mr.  W.  said  he  had  not  been 
able  to  account,  as  none  of  the  documents  he  had  discovered 


404  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

gave  any  information  how  this  amount  was  paid,  or  to  what  uses 
the  payments  had  been  applied.  One  thing,  however,  was  cer 
tain.  It  had  not  come  into  the  public  treasury,  because  all  the 
statements,  both  from  the  committee  and  from  the  Treasury 
department,  agreed  that  $58,619,523  was  the  whole  amount  of 
money  which  had  ever  been  received  into  the  national  treasury 
from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  up  to  the  30th  of  September 
last.  That  sum  he  had  taken  in  his  statement  of  the  proper 
charges  against  the  treasury  in  favor  of  the  lands.  It  was  pro 
bable,  therefore,  that  this  excess  had  been  expended  for  the  lands 
before  it  reached  the  treasury,  or  that  its  payment  had  been 
made,  not  in  money,  but  in  satisfaction  of  some  description  of 
claims  against  the  lands  themselves. 

"  If,  then,  he  was  right  in  these  calculations,  the  whole  '  net 
proceeds '  of  the  public  lands  in  the  treasury,  on  the  30th  day  of 
September,  1835,  only  amounted  to  $351,524.41 ;  and,  were  the  bill 
general  and  applicable  to  the  whole  of  the  net  proceeds  of  those 
lands,  from  the  commencement  of  the  government  to  that  day,  it 
would  act  upon  and  distribute  among  the  States  but  this  amount. 

"  It  was,  however,  his  intention,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  place  this 
view  of  the  subject  upon  grounds  which  could  not  be  contra 
dicted,  and,  therefore,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  he  would 
suppose  he  was  mistaken  in  every  instance  in  which  he  had 
attempted  to  correct  the  account  upon  the  one  side  or  the  other, 
and  see  how  it  would  stand,  assuming  the  highest  sum  given  as 
the  gross  proceeds  of  the  lands,  and  deducting  from  that  sum 
the  gross  payments,  shown  by  the  documents  from  the  Treasury 
department  to  have  been  made  on  account  of  the  lands. 

"  '  The  whole  sum  paid  by  purchasers  of  public  lands, 
including  the  military  land  warrants,  certificates  of 
public  debt,  Mississippi  stock,  United  States  stock, 
forfeited  land  stock,  military  scrip,  and  all  other  pay 
ments  of  every  description  whatsoever,  is  given  by 
the  committee  at $67,578,949  73 

"  '  The  whole  payments  for  account  of  the  lands  are  stated, 

in  the  two  documents  ref erred  to,  at 63 , 608 , 231  89 

"  '  This  mode  of  stating  the  account  will  show  a  balance, 
as  the  "net  proceeds"  of  the  public  lands  in  the  trea 
sury  on  the  30th  day  of  September  last,  of $3 , 970, 717  84 ' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  405 

"  This  result,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  considered  entirely  erroneous,  as 
embracing  an  amount  of  more  than  three  millions  of  dollars  on 
account  of  military  land  warrants,  Mississippi  stock,  and  military 
scrip,  not  properly  chargeable  against  the  treasury.  Yet  it 
would  appear  in  the  sequel  that  the  position  he  had  taken,  that 
the  bill,  in  effect,  would  not  distribute  the  '  net  proceeds '  of  the 
public  lands  only,  but  also  the  revenues  of  the  treasury  derived 
from  other  sources,  would  not  be  affected,  whether  the  one  state 
ment  or  the  other  of  the  account  should  be  adopted  as  the  true 
statement. 

"  Hitherto,  Mr.  W.  said,  his  remarks  had  been  predicated  upon 
the  supposition  that  the  bill  was  general  and  applicable  to  the 
net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  in  all  past  years,  and  upon  that 
basis  he  trusted  he  had  shown  that  the  sum  which  remained  in 
the  treasury  on  the  thirtieth  of  September  last,  subject  to  distri 
bution  among  the  States  according  to  its  provisions,  was  less 
than  $400,000,  and  certainly  less  than  $4,000,000. 

"  He  would  now  proceed  to  examine  the  bill  as  it  is,  and  its 
practical  effect  upon  the  moneys  in  the  treasury  on  the  day  refer 
red  to.  The  bill  is  not  general,  but  confined  in  its  operation  to  a 
specific  number  of  years,  to  wit :  Its  action  commences  with  the 
commencement  of  the  year  1833,  and  terminates  with  the  termi 
nation  of  the  year  1841,  extending  over  a  period  of  nine  years. 
By  its  language  it  purports  to  distribute  the  '  net  proceeds '  of 
the  money  received  into  the  treasury  from  the  sales  of  the  pub 
lic  lands  for  those  years.  He  would  not  attempt  to  give  a  con 
struction  to  the  bill,  but  would  take,  in  this  particular,  the 
practical  construction  given  by  its  friends.  Most,  if  not  all  of 
them,  have  exhibited  to  us  in  figures,  and  sums  of  money  to  be 
divided,  the  whole  amounts  received  into  the  treasury  from  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands.  They  have  made  no  deductions  for 
expenses  beyond  those  made  before  the  money  reaches  the  public 
treasury.  In  holding  up  this  golden  prize  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  States,  they  have  told  us  nothing  of  the  cost  to  the  public 
treasury  of  their  acquirement,  or  of  reclaiming  them  from  the 
possession  of  those  natives,  whose  inheritance  they  were,  until 
purchased  by  the  moneys  of  the  nation.  The  bill  is  retrospective 
and  prospective.  The  arguments  in  its  favor  have  depended 


406  LIFE  AXD  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

mainly,  for  their  moving  force,  upon  the  sums  received  into  the 
treasury  for  the  years  1833,  1834  and  1835,  from  the  lands,  while 
the  prospective  arguments  for  the  years  1836,  1837,  1838,  1839, 
1840  and  1841,  have  received  all  the  embellishments  of  an 
imagination  excited,  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  by  the  contemplation 
of  millions,  with  a  familiarity  with  which  the  mind  of  the  indus 
trious  citizen  contemplates  dollars,  until  the  expansion  of  imagi 
nary  wealth  has  reached  almost  beyond  the  bounds  of  arithmetical 
enumeration.  The  picture  thus  drawn  has  not  been  shaded  by 
the  expenses  paid  from  the  common  treasury  on  account  of  the 
public  lands,  while  its  foreground  has  been  fully  and  perspicu 
ously  occupied  by  the  receipts  into  that  treasury  from  the  exhaust- 
less  resource  of  the  public  domain. 

"  Taking  this  picture  as  the  true  practical  construction  and 
operation  of  the  bill,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  endeavor  to  impress 
upon  the  Senate  its  effect  upon  the  general  revenues  of  the  coun 
try.  From  the  table  appended  to  the  report  of  the  Committee 
upon  Public  Lands,  marked  No.  1,  it  would  be  seen  that  the 
receipts  into  the  treasury  from  the  sales  of  public  lands,  from 
the  commencement  of  the  year  1833  to  the  30th  September,  1835, 
had  been  as  follows  : 

'"In  the  year  1833 $3,967,681  55 

"  '  In  the  year  1834 , 4,857,600  69 

"  '  In  the  year  1835,  to  the  30th  September 9,166,590  89 

"  '  Making  a  total  of  receipts  during  the  period  refer 
red  to  of $17,991,873  13' 

"  If  the  construction  given  to  the  bill  by  its  friends  be  correct, 
this  sum.  is  to  be  distributed  immediately  upon  its  passage. 
Compare  this  amount  with  the  whole  '  net  proceeds '  of  the  pub 
lic  lands  in  the  treasury  on  the  day  when  this  account  of  receipts 
closes. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  407 

"  *  The  receipts  upon  which  the  bill  is  intended  to  act,  are 

as  above  stated $17,991 ,873  13 

"  '  The  whole  "net  proceeds  "  of  the  public  lands  in  the 
treasury,  by  a  comparison  of  receipts  and  payments 
for  account  of  the  lands,  from  the  commencement  of 
the  government  to  the  30th  September  last,  believed 
to  be  more  favorable  to  the  lands  than  the  truth  will 
warrant,  are  only 351 ,524  41 

"  '  Thus  showing  that  the  practical  operation  of  the  bill  will 
be  to  distribute  to  the  States,  of  the  money  in  the  trea 
sury  on  the  30th  September  last,  over  and  above  the 
whole  net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  then  in  the 
treasury,  a  sum  equal  to $17,640,348  72  ' 

"  But  it  may  be  objected  that  this  statement  of  the  '  net  pro 
ceeds  '  of  the  public  lands  is  erroneous,  and  that  the  sum  above 
specified  is  not  the  true  'net  proceeds '  in  the  treasury  on  the  day 
referred  to.  Mr.  "W.  said  it  was  his  anxious  desire  to  avoid  all 
questions  as  to  facts,  that  the  results  and  consequences  he  desired 
to  present  might  have  their  full  force.  He  would,  therefore,  pre 
sent  the  same  result,  taking  the  amount  of  net  proceeds  of  the 
public  lands,  upon  the  day  given,  from  the  most  favored  calcula 
tion  toward  the  lands  which  could  be  made  from  any  of  the  data 
furnished  by  the  Committee  on  Public  Lands. 

"  '  The  receipts  for  the  period  covered  by  the  bill,  up  to 

the  30th  September,  1835,  as  above  given,  were $17,991,873  13 

' '  '  The  net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  in  the  treasury  on 
the  same  day,  by  the  calculation  most  favorable  to 
the  lands,  were 3,970,717  84 

"  '  This  will  leave  a  balance  of  revenue  to  be  distributed, 
by  the  practical  operation  of  the  bill,  not  a  part  of 
the  "  net  proceeds  "  of  the  public  lands,  but  derived 
from  other  sources,  equal  to $14,021 ,155  29  ' 

"  From  this  examination  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill  and  of 
its  practical  operation,  Mr.  W.  said  he  could  not  doubt  that  he 
had  established  the  proposition  with  which  he  had  set  out,  viz., 
that  the  bill,  should  it  become  a  law,  would  have  the  effect,  not 
to  distribute  the  '  net  proceeds '  of  the  public  lands  in  the  treasury 
alone,  but  also  large  amounts  of  the  public  revenues  derived 


408  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

from  other  sources.  The  only  question  seemed  to  be  whether  the 
bill  would  take  from  the  treasury,  of  the  revenues  deposited  there 
prior  to  the  30th  of  September,  1835,  $17,000,000  or  $14,000,000 
not  derived  from  the  sale  of  public  lands,  but  from  the  other 
revenues  of  the  country;  and  he  could  not  see  that  the  principle 
involved  would  be  varied,  whether  the  one  amount  or  the  other 
should  prove  to  be  the  true  sum  thus  subtracted. 

"  So  much  for  the  retrospective  action  of  the  bill.  The  pro 
spective  action  would  now  demand  consideration.  The  calcula 
tions  which  have  preceded,  have  only  brought  the  account  up 
to  the  30th  of  September,  1835.  The  bill,  upon  its  face,  carries 
its  action  six  and  a  quarter  years  beyond  that  time,  to  the 
close  of  the  year  1841.*  If  the  construction  given  by  the  friends 
of  the  bill  to  its  retrospective  action,  is  to  be  the  construction 
which  is  to  govern  its  prospective  action  also,  then  the  expenses 
justly  chargeable  upon  the  lands,  with  very  unimportant  excep 
tions,  are,  for  the  six  years  to  come,  to  be  charged  upon  the  other 
revenues  of  the  government,  while  the  proceeds  of  the  lands  are 
to  be  distributed  to  the  States,  as  they  come  in  to  the  public 
treasury.  In  other  words,  the  '  net  proceeds  '  of  the  public  lands 
for  each  year,  after  paying  the  expenses  justly  and  properly 
chargeable  f;o  them  from  the  gross  proceeds,  are  to  be  distributed, 
and  a  further  sum,  equal  to  those  expenses,  f  derived  from  cus 
toms,  or  other  sources  separate  from  the  land,  is  also  to  be  dis 
tributed  in  the  same  manner,  and  by  the  same  ratio. 

"  Is  not  this,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  ask,  the  fair  operation  of 
this  bill,  which  purports  to  divide  among  the  States  the  net  pro 
ceeds  of  the  public  lands  ?  What  difference  can  there  be  whether 
the  whole  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  which  reach  the  treasury, 

*  "  The  bill  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Clay  to  extend  from  the  1st  January, 
1833,  to  the  31st  December,  1837.  The  Committee  on  Public  Lands  reported 
an  amendment  to  extend  it  to  the  31st  of  December,  1841.  This  amend 
ment  of  the  committee  was  adopted  by  the  Senate  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  and  was  a  part  of  the  bill  when  Mr.  WRIGHT  made  his  speech. 
Subsequently  the  amendment  was  negatived  by  the  Senate,  and  the  bill 
restored,  in  this  respect,  to  its  original  form." 

f  "  The  bill  originally  used  the  general  terms,  '  net  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands,'  but  since  Mr.  WRIGHT'S  remarks  were  made,  has  been  so  amended, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  409 

are  distributed  as  the  bill  proposes,  and  the  expenses  of  the  lands, 
of  their  purchase,  of  obtaining  possession  of  them,  and  placing 
them  in  a  condition  to  be  sold,  be  made  a  permanent  charge  upon 
the  treasury,  that  the  whole  avails  of  the  sales  may  be  dis 
tributed  ;  or  whether  those  expenses,  necessary  and  indispensable 
to  acquire  the  ownership  of  the  lands,  and  to  put  them  in  a 
marketable  condition,  be  paid  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  lands, 
and  a  proportion  of  the  other  revenues,  equal  to  those  expenses, 
be  taken  for  the  distribution  ?  It  would  be  difficult  for  human 
ingenuity  to  point  out  a  difference  to  the  treasury,  to  the  public 
interests  of  this  government,  to  the  States  who  are  to  receive  the 
dividends;  and,  in  his  judgment,  equally  difficult  to  point  out 
any  difference  in  principle  between  this  bill  having  this  practical 
operation,  and  a  bill  upon  its  face  proposing  to  make  the  same 
distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  generally. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  was  not  his  purpose,  upon  this  occasion,  to 
discuss  the  constitutionality  of  this  bill,  or  of  any  distribution 
of  the  revenues  of  this  government  to  the  respective  States,  but 
he  had  felt  bound  to  make  this  suggestion  for  the  consideration 
and  reflection  of  all  who  expected  to  support  this  bill,  and  might 
have  any  scruples  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  to  make  a  dis 
tribution  of  the  revenues  generally,  or  of  any  other  portions  of 
our  revenue  than  those  derived  from  the  public  lands.  He  must 
believe  he  had  shown  that  this  bill,  if  it  should  become  a  law, 
and  should  receive  the  construction  given  to  it  by  its  friends 
here,  would  operate  to  distribute  millions  from  the  treasury 
which  could  not,  by  any  exhibition  of  facts,  or  any  form  of 
reasoning,  be  made  the  'net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,' but 

as,  in  substance,  to  adopt  the  construction  he  here  contemplates.  It  now 
provides  that  the  net  proceeds  shall  be  ascertained  by  deducting  from  the 
gross  proceeds  the  expenses  of  the  General  Land  Office,  of  the  registers'  and 
and  receivers'  offices,  of  surveys  and  of  the  live  per  cent  payable  to  the  new 
States;  but  propositions  to  deduct  also  the  purchase-money  paid  to  the 
Indians  for  the  lands,  annuities  in  lieu  of  purchase-money,  the  expense  of 
treaties  with  the  Indians  for  the  purchase  of  the  lands,  and  the  expenses  of 
the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  the  lands,  were  expressly  rejected  by 
deliberate  votes  of  the  Senate." 


410  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

must  be  admitted  to  be  the  proceeds  of  revenues  derived  from 
other  sources. 

"He  had  not  been  able,  from  any  documents  before  him,  nor 
had  time  permitted  him  to  obtain  from  the  proper  department 
the  information  necessary  to  determine  what  had  been  the  net 
proceeds  of  the  public  lands  for  the  years  1833,  1834  and  1835; 
but  it  was  enough  for  the  purpose  of  his  argument  to  know,  and 
to  have  shown,  that  until  the  year  1835,  and  until  far  into  that 
year,  the  lands  were,  and  in  all  former  time  had  been,  heavily  in 
debt  to  the  treasury,  even  without  any  claim  for  interest  upon 
the  advances  made,  beyond  the  sums  of  interest  actually  paid 
upon  the  stocks  issued  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  and  Florida. 
There  was  not,  therefore,  in  the  treasury,  prior  to  the  latter  part 
of  1835,  any  such  thing  as  'net  proceeds'  arising  from  the  sales 
of  the  public  land;  but  a  deficit  of  gross  proceeds  to  meet  the 
expenses  which  the  treasury  had  incurred  on  account  of  the  lands. 
To  attempt,  therefore,  to  take  money  from  the  treasury,  which 
came  into  it  from  the  lands  before  that  period  for  the  purpose  of 
distribution,  will  be  to  attempt  to  take  money  which  is  riot  there, 
which  had  been  expended  before  it  came  there;  and  if  money  be 
so  taken,  it  will  be  money  derived  from  other  sources  of  revenue, 
and  not  '  net  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands.'  It  will 
be  a  distribution,  not  of  the  proceeds  of  the  lands,  but  of  the 
revenues  of  the  treasury  generally. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  proposed,  in  the  second  place,  to  attempt 
to  show  that  if  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  for 
the  years  named  were  taken  from  the  national  treasury,  and  dis 
tributed  to  the  States,  that  treasury,  at  the  present  rates  of  the 
revenues  from  the  customs,  could  not  meet  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  government,  and  carry  on  any  system  of  national  defense 
more  vigorous  or  expensive  than  that  which  had  been  pursued 
for  the  last  twenty  years. 

"  To  come  to  a  determination  upon  this  point,  he  had  examined 
with  care,  the  expenses  of  the  government  for  the  last  nineteen 
years,  from  1817  to  1835,  both  inclusive;  and  for  the  sake  of 
brevity,  he  had  averaged  the  expenses  of  each  four  years  for  the 
first  sixteen  years  of  the  series,  giving  the  averages,  including 
the  payments  towards  the  national  debt,  and  also  exclusive  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  411 

those  payments.  For  the  years  1833,  1834  and  1835,  the  expenses 
of  each  year  are  stated  separately.  The  results,  discarding  minor 
fractions,  are  as  follows  : 

Average  including      Average  exclusive 
payments  on  debt,    of  paym'ts  on  debt 

For  the  years  1817  to  1820,  inclusive 30  4-5  millions.  15$  millions. 

For  the  years  1821  to  1824,  inclusive 21  do.  11±  do. 

For  the  years  1825  to  1828,  inclusive 23  9-10  do.  12f  do. 

For  the  years  1829  to  1832,  inclusive 28£  do.  14  do. 

Expenses  for  1833 24f  do.  22£  do. 

Expenses  for  1834 24£  do.  18f  do. 

Expenses  for  1835 no  debt.  17£      do 

"  From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  the  average  expenditures 
from  1817  to  1832,  both  inclusive,  separate  from  any  payments 
towards  the  national  debt,  were  about  $13,500,000  per  annum; 
that  in  1833  they  appear  to  have  been  increased  more  than 
$8,000,000  beyond  those  of  the  preceding  year,  and  $9,000,000 
beyond  the  average  of  the  sixteen  previous  years. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  held  in  his  hand  a  comparative  statement 
between  the  expenses  of  the  years  1833  and  1834,  prepared  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  whence  arose  the  great  difference  of 
$4,000,000  between  the  expenditures,  exclusive  of  payments  upon 
the  debt,  in  those  two  years.  The  analysis  was  long  and  tedious, 
and  he  had  already  wearied  the  patience  of  the  Senate  with  too 
many  figures  and  arithmetical  calculations,  to  trouble  them  with 
this  statement.  He  would  merely  remark  that  a  very  large  pro 
portion  of  the  expenses  of  the  Indian  war,  known  as  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  were  paid  in  1833 ;  that  the  amount  paid  for  pensions 
in  1833  exceeded  the  same  payments  in  the  following  year  by 
more  than  $1,200,000,  arising,  as  he  presumed,  from  the  fact  that 
the  pension  law  of  1832  would  be  likely  to  call  heavily  for  pay 
ments  in  1833,  not  only  for  the  accruing  pensions  of  the  year, 
but  for  arrears  back  to  the  date  prescribed  in  the  act ;  that  the 
expenses  of  Indian  treaties  were  $1,000,000  in  1833  more  than  in 
1834;  and  that  the  indemnities  from  Denmark,  amounting  to 
$600,000,  passed  through  the  treasury  in  1833  and  were  paid  to 
the  claimants,  and,  therefore,  appear  to  swell  the  expenses  of  the 
year  to  that  extent,  although  the  government  had,  at  no  time, 
any  interest  whatsoever  in  the  money  received  and  disbursed. 


412  LIFE  AND-  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

There  are  various  other  items  of  expenditure  which  varied,  some 
the  one  way  and  some  the  other,  in  the  comparison  between  the 
two  years ;  but  the  four  above  named,  and  the  large  amount  of 
duties  refunded  in  1833,  $600,000  beyond  the  amount  in  1834,  in 
consequence  of  the  conflict  of  the  various  tariff  acts,  constitute 
the  most  prominent  and  important  causes  of  the  very  great 
increase  in  the  apparent  expenses  of  the  former  year. 

"  The  expenses  for  the  years  1834  and  1835  had  averaged  about 
$18,000,000,  exclusive  of  any  payments  towards  the  national 
debt.  This  would  be  seen  to  be  a  diminution,  from  the  expenses 
of  1 833,  of  about  $4,000,000  and  an  increase  of  from  $3,000,000 
to  $4,000,000  beyond  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  years  men 
tioned  prior  to  1833.  He  would  not  attempt  to  account  for  this 
increase,  any  further  than  to  remark  that  appropriations  by  Con 
gress  had  been,  most  palpably,  becoming  more  liberal,  if  not 
extravagant,  since  the  national  debt  was  apparently  rapidly 
approaching  its  final  extinction,  and  the  treasury  remained  full 
to  a  fault.  It  was  not  the  private  claims  and  private  applica 
tions  alone  which  met  with  an  easy  success  unknown  in  former 
legislation,  but  public  and  permanent  appropriations  were  in 
creased  and  increasing.  He  would  instance  the  munificent  appro 
priations  for  this  District,  the  late  pension  laws,  the  increase  of 
the  pay  of  the  navy,  and  many  similar  laws  of  the  last  few  years. 
These  instances  were,  by  no  means,  particularized  as  wrong  in 
themselves,  or  censurable  in  our  national  legislation.  No  opinion 
upon  the  measures  is  called  for,  or  intended  to  be  expressed ; 
but  the  laws  are  referred  to  as  prominent  instances  of  the  char 
acter  of  our  late  acts,  carrying  with  them,  from  necessity,  a 
material  increase  of  the  ordinary  annual  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment.  From  causes  of  this  character,  our  ordinary  expenses  for 
the  last  two  years  have  averaged  about  $18,000,000,  and  that, 
nothwithstanding  the  fact  that  not  one  cent  was  appropriated  to 
the  fortifications  for  the  last  year.  What,  then,  can  be  fairly 
assumed  as  the  amount  of  our  ordinary  expenses  for  the  future  ? 
Will  any  one  believe  that  they  can  fall  far  short  of  the  average 
of  the  two  last  years  ?  Must  they  not  vary,  according  to  the 
peculiar  exigencies  of  different  years,  from  $16,000,000  to 
$18,000,000?  Mr.  W.  said,  his  examinations  had  satisfied  him 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  HJLAS  WXIGHT. 


413 


that  they  must,  and  that  $17,000,000  was  as  low  an  average  as 
should  be  contemplated,  especially  when  we  were  inquiring  as  to 
supplies  for  the  common  treasury.  He  believed  a  careful  inspec 
tion  of  the  expenses  of  past  years,  and  of  the  several  laws  of  a 
late  date,  making  permanent  appropriations,  would  bring  the 
mind  of  each  Senator  to  the  same  conclusion  to  which  his  had 
been  brought  by  the  investigations  to  which  he  had  referred. 

"  Having  thus  settled,  as  far  as  that  could  be  done  by  analogy 
and  experience,  the  amount  required  for  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  government,  Mr.  W.  said  it  now  became  his  duty  to  com 
pare  that  amount  with  the  revenue  from  customs,  to  enable  the 
Senate  to  form  a  judgment  upon  the  soundness  or  unsoundness 
of  the  proposition  he  had  laid  down.  This  he  had  done  in  the 
same  manner  in  which  he  had  examined  and  presented  the  expend 
itures,  and  for  the  same  years,  and  he  would  give  to  the  Senate, 
in  as  concise  a  form  as  possible,  the  results  presented  by  the 
documents.  To  make  the  comparison  more  simple  and  perfect, 
and  to  give  it  less  of  the  dry  detail  of  figures,  he  had  in  this 
comparison,  as  in  the  statement  of  the  expenses,  grouped  periods 
of  four  years  for  the  first  sixteen' years  of  the  examination,  arid 
would  present  separately  each  of  the  three  last  years.  In  this 
way  the  two  statements  might  be  compared  with  each  other  with 
convenience,  and  without  possession  of  the  mass  of  calculations 
which  led  to  the  results.  The  comparison  follows  : 


YEARS. 

Average  gross 
expenditures. 

Average  reve 
nue  from  cus 
toms. 

Deficit  of  cus 
toms  to  meet 
expenses. 

Excess  of  cus 
toms  over  ex 
penditures. 

For  the  years 

Millions. 

Millions. 

Millions. 

Millions. 

1817  to  1820  
1821  to  1824 

304-5 
21 

19% 
16  8-10 

10>'8 

4¥ 

1825  to  1828  

23  9-10 

21X 

2% 

1829  to  1832  .  .   . 
1833 

28^ 
24K 

24^ 
29 

4tf 

4% 

1834  

24% 

lt'>K 

8% 

1835  

17% 

19% 

IX 

"  The  foregoing  comparison,  Mr.  W.  said,  afforded  the  ground 
for  several  most  useful  inferences  in  relation  to  the  former  policy 
and  practices  of  this  government.  Some  of  those  inferences  he 
must  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  Senate  and  the  country,  as  he 
thought  they  would  be  useful  in  all  time  to  come. 


414  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  The  first  which  he  would  draw  was  that,  in  the  nineteen 
years  last  preceding  the  present,  the  revenue  from  customs  had 
exceeded  the  expenses  of  the  government  in  but  two  years,  and 
those  two  were  years  when  peculiar  circumstances,  occasioned 
either  by  our  own  legislation,  or  by  the  condition  of  our  foreign 
relations,  most  satisfactorily  accounted  for  the  excesses  of  reve 
nue  from  this  source.  The  first  was  the  year  1833,  when  the 
greatest  excess  appeared.  The  high  tariff  of  1828  ceased  its 
operation  on  the  third  of  March  in  that  year,  but  the  long  credits 
allowed  under  that  act  necessarily  extended  the  collections  of 
the  customs,  which  accrued  under  it,  over  the  whole  of  that  year. 
In  the  meantime,  the  tariff  act  of  1833,  known  as  the  compromise 
act,  was  passed,  and  commenced  its  operation  on  the  same  day  on 
which  the  act  of  1828  ceased  to  operate.  This  compromise  act 
introduced  the  system  of  short  credits  and  cash  duties,  now  a 
part  of  our  commercial  policy.  From  this  state  of  facts  every 
one  must  see  that,  during  the  last  three-quarters  of  the  year 
1833,  double  collections  of  the  revenue  from  customs  must  be  con 
stantly  making;  first,  the  revenue  upon  the  importations  of  1832 
and  the  first  quarter  of  1833,  thrown  into  the  three  last  quarters 
of  1833  by  the  long  credits  allowed  under  the  tariff  act  of  1828; 
and  secondly,  the  revenue  upon  the  importations  of  1833,  so  far 
as  the  cash  duties  and  short  credits  prescribed  by  the  compromise 
act  made  the  duties  upon  those  importations  payable  within  that 
year.  Hence  it  was  that  the  revenue  from  customs  in  that  single 
year  exceeded  $29,000,000,  and  that  without  anything  unusual 
or  extraordinary  to  affect  the  course  of  trade,  or  give  to  the 
importation  of  dutiable  goods  an  unnatural  increase. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  ought  further  to  be  remarked  that  the  great 
excess  of  the  revenue  from  customs  over  the  gross  expenditures 
of  this  year,  notwithstanding  the  causes  he  had  mentioned  which 
conspired  so  vastly  to  increase  the  collections  of  revenue  from 
this  source,  was  to  be  accounted  for  in  the  fact  that  the  payments 
toward  the  public  debt,  during  the  year  1833,  were  very  trifling 
in  amount,  and  far  less  than  in  any  one  of  the  sixteen  years 
which  had  preceded  it.  The  excess,  therefore,  was  a  result  not 
only  necessary,  but  natural.  Great  accumulation  from  peculiar 
causes  on  the  one  side,  and  an  almost  entire  failure  to  make  pay- 


LibE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  415 

mentsupon  onr  debt,  from  causes  equally  peculiar,  but  to  which  he 
would  not  allude,  on  the  other,  could  not  fail  to  produce  an 
apparent  excess  of  revenue.  If,  however,  gentlemen  would  take 
the  trouble  to  compare  the  receipts  and  payments,  and  the 
revenue  from  customs  of  this  with  the  next  succeeding  year, 
they  would  require  no  further  explanation  of  the  excess  from 
customs  in  1833.  The  accounts  of  1834  will  show  that  heavy 
payments  were  made  during  that  year  upon  the  national  debt; 
indeed,  that  the  balance  of  that  debt,  with  exceptions  wholly 
unimportant,  was  entirely  paid  off  and  discharged;  and  that  the 
revenue  from  customs  fell  down  to  less  than  $16,250,000,  and  left 
a  deficiency  in  the  revenue  from  this  source,  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  year,  of  more  than  $8,250,000. 

"The  next  year,  and  the  only  other  one  which  presents  an 
excess  of  the  revenue  from  customs  over  the  expenditures,  is 
1835.  In  reference  to  the  small  excess  of  this  year  of  $1,500,000, 
two  considerations  only  need  be  suggested.  The  first  is,  that  the 
peculiar  state  of  our  relations  with  France  during  the  last  year, 
and  especially  during  the  last  quarter  of  that  year,  gave  just 
alarm  to  the  commercial  men  of  the  country  that  disturbances 
might  grow  out  of  those  relations,  and  that  interruptions  might  be 
experienced  in  our  commercial  relations,  growing  out  of  those  dis 
turbances.  Hence  they  were  induced,  toward  the  close  of  that 
year,  to  increase  their  importations  to  an  almost  unexampled 
extent.  This  single  consideration  is  believed  to  have  swelled  the 
amount  of  revenue  from  customs  during  the  last  year  much 
beyond  the  whole  amount  of  the  excess  which  appears.  The 
second  consideration  referred  to  is,  that  the  ordinary  appropria 
tion  bill  for  the  fortifications  of  the  country  failed  to  pass  the 
two  Houses  of  Congress  during  our  last  session,  and,  therefore, 
the  expenses  of  1835  were  diminished  by  the  usual  amount  of 
appropriations  for  those  objects.  Had  that  bill  passed  in  the 
shape  insisted  upon  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  all  know 
that  the  expenses  of  the  year  would  have  been  increased  much 
beyond  the  excess  of  the  revenue  from  customs;  and  Mr.  W. 
said  he  believed,  had  the  bill  passed  as  agreed  to  by  the  Senate, 
that  excess  would  have  been  more  than  consumed  by  the  expendi 
tures  it  would  have  authorized. 


416  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"After  these  considerations,  he  could  not  believe  that  the 
excesses  in  the  revenue  from  customs  over  the  expenditures,  for 
the  years  1833  and  1835,  would  be  relied  upon  anywhere,  or  by 
any  one,  as  evidence  that  the  revenues  from  that  source  were 
more  than  equal  to  our  current  expenses. 

"  The  next  inference  he  would  draw  from  this  comparison 
between  the  revenue  from  customs  and  the  expenses  of  the 
government  was,  that  Congress  had  not,  as  has  been  often  and 
broadly, alleged,  imposed  duties  without  regard  to  revenue,  or  to 
the  wants  and  liabilities  of  the  government.  A  very  few  sug 
gestions,  he  thought,  would  make  this  position  clear  and  indis 
putable. 

"From  the  existence  of  the  government  until  the  year  1835  we 
had  been  in  debt,  and  any  amount  of  revenue,  come  from  what 
source  it  might,  after  paying  the  ordinary  appropriations,  would 
be  absorbed  in  payments  upon  that  debt.  Hence  duties  had  been 
imposed  beyond  the  calls  growing  out  of  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  government,  and  the  surplus  of  revenue  had  been  applied 
to  the  debt  of  the  nation.  As  peculiar  interests  had,  at  certain 
periods,  favored  an  increase  of  duties  upon  imports,  the  rates  of 
duty  may  have  gone,  and  at  one  period  unquestionably  did  go, 
to  an  excessive  height;  but  the  revenues  consequent  upon  this 
mistaken  policy  diminished  the  more  rapidly  the  common  debt, 
and  thus  hastened  the  time  when  high  duties  could  find  no  favor, 
or  even  apology,  with  the  people  or  with  Congress. 

"  Mark  the  sequel.  The  national  debt  was  diminished  with  a 
rapidity  theretofore  unprecedented,  during  the  years  1829,  1830 
and  1831,  and  it  became  apparent,  not  only  to  every  statesman, 
but  to  the  whole  country,  that  the  period  of  its  final  extinction 
was  near  at  hand.  What  was  the  course  of  the  national  Legisla 
ture  ?  Immediately  to  revise  and  reduce  the  tariff.  The  \7ery 
protracted  session  of  Congress  of  1831-1832  is  not  more  fresh  in 
the  recollection  of  all  than  is  the  fact  that  a  readjustment  of  the 
rates  of  duty  upon  imports,  and  a  consequent  reduction  of  the 
revenue  from  customs,  was  the  principal,  if  not  the  sole  cause  of 
the  unusual  length  of  that  session.  The  result  was  the  passage 
of  the  tariff  act  of  1832,  to  take  effect  on  the  4th  of  March,  1833. 
Such,  however,  was  the  feeling  of  the  country,  that  further  legis- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  417 

lation,  in  the  session  of  1832-1833,  was  demanded  of  Congress, 
and  the  compromise  act  arrested  and  qualified  the  act  of  1832, 
and  provided  for  further  and  graduated  reductions,  under  the 
distinct  understanding  that,  upon  the  final  payment  of  the 
national  debt,  the  public  revenues  were  to  be  reduced  to  the 
economical  wants  of  the  government.  The  reduction  was  made 
as  rapidly  as  it  was  supposed  the  important  interests  connected 
with  the  subject  would  permit,  while  all  expected  that  no  very 
considerable  accumulation  in  the  treasury  would  be  experienced 
under  the  operation  of  the  law  of  1833.  It  will  hereafter  be 
shown  that  these  anticipations  were  entirely  reasonable,  and  that 
their  disappointment  has  proceeded  from  the  unprecedented  sales 
of  the  public  lands  within  the  few  last  years,  and  mostly  within 
the  last  and  the  present  year,  and  from  no  other  cause  of  suffi 
cient  importance  to  deserve  a  notice  in  this  view  of  the  subject. 
These  facts  he  held  to  be  sufficient  to  show  that  the  legislation 
of  Congress,  in  regard  to  the  revenue  from  customs,  had  been 
with  peculiar  reference  to  the  wants  of  the  public  treasury,  and 
had  been  intended  to  be  measured  by  those  wants. 

"  The  remaining  inference  from  the  comparison  referred  to  is, 
that  the  revenue  from  customs  is  not,  as  at  present  regulated, 
more  than  sufficient  to  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  is  not  sufficient,  unaided  by  the  revenues  from  the 
public  lands,  to  authorize  any  extraordinary  appropriations  for 
public  defenses  of  any  description,  naval  or  military. 

"The  revenue  from  customs  for  the  year  1834  has  been  shown 
to  have  been  sixteen  and  a  quarter  millions,  and  that  for  ]835, 
ninteen  and  three-eighths  millions,  while  the  average  expendi 
tures  of  the  government  for  the  same  two  years,  separate  from 
any  payments  upon  the  national  debt,  are  proved  to  have  been 
more  than  $1.8,000,000;  and  it  is  worthy  of  repetition  that  in  the 
expenditures  of  1 835  is  not  included  anything  for  the  fortifica 
tions  of  the  country,  as  the  fortification  bill  of  that  year  was  lost 
between  the  two  houses  of  Congress. 

"  It  has  further  been  attempted  to  be  shown  that  the  average 
annual  expenditures  of  the  government,  separate  from  any  extra 
ordinary  appropriations  for  the  public  defense,  cannot  for  the 
future  be  estimated  at  a  less  sum  than  $17,000,000.  Compare, 
27 


418  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

then,  the  revenue  from  customs  for  the  years  1834  and  1835,  when 
the  compromise  bill  fully  regulated  that  revenue,  with  this  esti 
mate  of  expenditure,  and  see  the  result.  The  average  of  the 
revenue  from  that  source  for  the  two  years  is  seventeen  and  four- 
fifth  millions,  while  it  is  shown  that  that  revenue  for  1835,  was 
increased  by  the  apprehensions  of  a  French  war,  from  one  to 
three  millions.  This  will  reduce  the  average  of  the  two  years, 
placing  them  upon  the  basis  of  ordinary  and  uninterrupted  com 
mercial  intercourse,  below  the  estimate  for  the  ordinary  expenses 
of  the  government. 

"  Connect  with  this  view  another  important  consideration 
growing  out  of  the  compromise  act,  which  is,  that  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  present  year,  a  reduction  in  the  rates  of  duty 
of  ten  per  cent  upon  the  existing  rates,  took  effect;  which,  by 
the  lowest  estimates,  will  reduce  the  revenue  from  customs  a  full 
million.  Take,  then,  the  year  of  excessive  importations  of  1835 
as  the  rule,  and  the  revenue  from  customs  will  exceed  the  amount 
estimated  as  required  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment  by  a  sum  too  small  to  be  made  the  dependence  for  any 
extraordinary  appropriations.  This  inference,  then,  is  fully  sus 
tained;  and  the  revenue  from  customs  at  the  present  time  is 
shown  to  be  no  more  than  equal  to  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
government. 

"  But  the  bill  under  consideration  is  perspective,  and  reaches 
forward  in  its  action  to  the  close  of  the  year  1841.  During  this 
period,  its  construction,  as  given  by  its  friends,  charges  the  whole 
expenses  of  the  land  system  upon  the  treasury.  It  becomes 
important,  therefore,  to  inquire  what  those  expenses  are,  and 
probably  may  be.  The  mere  expenses  of  the  present  system  of 
sales  will  be  omitted,  and  those  of  a  more  material  character 
examined.  What,  then,  are  those  expenses  annually  ?  The 
amount  of  money  proposed  to  be  appropriated  by  the  bill  mak 
ing  the  regular  annual  Indian  appropriations  for  the  present  year, 
is  $573,000,  and  the  appropriations  provided  for  in  it,  as  will  be 
seen  by  an  examination  of  the  bill,  are  in  their  character  perma 
nent,  for  a  longer  period  than  the  prospective  operation  of  this 
bill.  The  principal  items  are  the  payment  of  annuities,  the  sup 
port  of  farmers  and  mechanics,  and  other  provisions  stipulated 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  419 

by  existing  treaties  to  be  made  for  the  various  Indian  tribes. 
Nothing  is  included  in  this  appropriation  bill  for  the  expenses  of 
additional  Indian  treaties,  for  the  removal  of  Indians,  or  for  any 
other  new  expenditure  under  the  head  of  the  Indian  department. 

"  The  expenses,  therefore,  of  the  purchase-money  to  be  paid 
to  the  Indians  for  lands,  of  the  annuities  stipulated  by  future 
treaties,  of  the  making  of  such  treaties,  of  the  removal  of  the 
Indians  from  the  lands  purchased  under  them,  and  of  all  other 
things  incident  to  our  Indian  aifairs,  and  to  the  perfection  of 
title  and  possession  to  the  lands  in  the  government,  remain  to  be 
provided  for  from  revenues  other  than  those  derived  from  the 
lands  on  account  of  which  the  expenses  are  incurred.  Our  pre 
sent  policy  is  to  expedite,  to  the  utmost  extent  of  our  power,  the 
extinction  of  the  Indian  title  to  all  the  lands  east  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  and  the  removal  of  the  Indians  west  of  that  river.  In 
pursuance  of  that  policy,  we  are  constantly  making  new  pur 
chases  and  new  treaties,  and  the  expenses  of  holding  Indian 
treaties,  and  for  the  purchase-money  of  new  lands,  are  constantly 
and  rapidly  increasing.  The  expenses  of  the  removal  of  the 
Indians  from  the  lands,  and  of  their  subsistence  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  are  necessarily  increasing  in  the  same  ratio,  and  if  these 
accumulated  expenses  are  to  be  cast  upon  the  treasury,  while  the 
revenues  from  the  sales  of  lands  are  to  be  subtracted  from  it,  the 
consideration  becomes  one  of  serious  import,  whether  the  reve 
nue  from  the  customs,  the  only  source  of  revenue  remaining, 
when  that  from  the  lands  shall  be  taken  away,  will  sustain  the 
treasury  against  these  accumulated  calls,  and  how  far  this  source 
of  revenue  will  bear  the  reduction  provided  for  by  the  compro 
mise  act,  and  still  supply  the  treasury. 

"  It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  a  reduction  of  ten  per  cent  in 
the  revenue  from  customs  took  effect,  by  the  provisions  of  that 
act,  on  the  first  day  of  the  present  year;  that  a  further  similar 
reduction  is  to  take  place  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1838;  that 
a  still  further  reduction  of  ten  per  cent  is  to  take  place  on  the 
first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  1840;  and  that  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1841,  every  rate  of  duty  then  above  twenty  per  cent  ad 
valorem  is  to  be  reduced  to  that  rate,  without  regard  to  the 
amount  of  reduction.  Mr.  W.  said  he  believed  it  was  conceded 


420  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

on  all  hands  that  this  last  reduction  alone  would  diminish  the 
revenue  from  customs  full  $5,000,000  beyond  the  intermediate 
and  graduated  reduction  periodically  provided  for  in  the  bill. 

"  Mr. W.  said  he  was  aware  he  should  be  answered  that,  after 
the  year  1841,  the  revenue  from  the  lands  was,  by  the  pro 
visions  of  the  bill  under  discussion,  to  be  restored  to  the  treasury. 
This  answer  was  specious  and  plausible;  but  was  it  efficient  and 
solid  ?  Look  at  the  comparison  which  had  been  made  between 
the  revenue  from  customs  and  the  expenses  of  the  government, 
as  both  were  shown  to  exist  at  the  present  time.  The  difference 
in  favor  of  the  revenue,  if  anything,  was  too  trifling  to  be  made 
matter  of  account,  while  nothing  was  allowed  for  extraordinary 
appropriations  for  the  defense  of  the  country.  Allow,  then,  for 
the  reduction  of  ten  per  cent  in  that  revenue  for  the  present  and 
the  next  year, 'and  it  will  not  meet  the  ordinary  expenses  at  their 
present  rates.  Carry  on  the  calculation  until  you  reach  two 
further  similar  reductions,  and  where  is  the  treasury  to  look  for 
the  means  to  answer  the  ordinary  calls  upon  it  ?  From  whence 
are  to  be  drawn  the  moneys  to  extend  and  complete  our  navy,  to 
fortify  our  commercial  towns,  to  defend  our  extensive  coast,  to 
garrison  our  Indian  frontier,  to  arm  our  militia  and  to  perfect 
our  other  works  of  national  defense  projected  and  proposed  by 
the  executive  departments  of  the  government?  Could  he  be 
wrong  in  saying  that  the  means  for  these  expenditures  would  be 
wanting,  and  that  these  valuable  and  most  essential  national 
objects  could  not  be  accomplished,  in  case  this  bill  should  become 
a  law,  and  this  branch  of  the  public  revenue  should  be  diverted 
from  the  legitimate  uses  of  the  public  treasury  ? 

"  To  illustrate  and  demonstrate  more  clearly  the  soundness  of 
this  position,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  review,  in  the  most  condensed 
manner  possible,  the  revenue  derived  to  the  treasury  from  the 
public  lands,  for  the  series  of  years  covered  by  his  former 
examinations,  in  reference  to  the  expenses  of  the  government, 
and  the  revenues  from  customs.  The  statement  had  been  derived 
from  the  Treasury  department,  and  was  authentic. 

''  The  following  table  shows  the  receipts  of  money  received 
into  the  treasury,  from  the  sales  of  public  lands,  during  the  years 
mentioned : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  421 

"  1817 f . . . .  $1 ,991 ,226  00 

1818 2,606,304  00 

1819 3,274,422  00 

1820 1,635,871  00 

1821 1,212,966  00 

1822 1 , 803 , 581  00 

1823 916,52300 

1824 984,418  00 

1825 1 , 216 ,090  00 

1826. . .  1 ,393,785  00 

1827 1 , 495 , 845  00 

1828 1,018,308  00 

1829 1 ,517,175  00 

1830 2 , 329 , 356  00 

1831 3,210,815  00 

1832 2 , 623 , 381  00 

1833 3,067,68200 

1834. 4,887,600  00 

1835 14,757,600  00 

"  A  slight  examination  of  this  statement  will  show  the  fluctua 
tions  in  the  sales  of  the  public  lands.  The  period  embraced  by 
the  statement  commences  as  the  country  was  emerging  from  the 
embarrassments  and  derangements  in  its  pecuniary  affairs,  grow 
ing  out  of  the  then  late  war  with  Great  Britain.  In  1817,  the 
receipts  into  the  treasury  were  a  trifle  short  of  $2,000,000;  in 
1818,  more  than  $2,500,000;  and  in  1819,  more  than  $3,000,000. 
From  this  time  to  the  year  1829,  a  term  of  ten  years,  the  receipts 
from  this  source  did  not,  in  any  one  year,  exceed,  by  any  con 
siderable  amount,  $1,500,000,  and  in  two  of  the  years  fell  short 
of  $1,000,000.  In  the  year  1830  they  rose  to  $2,250,000  ;  in  1831 
to  about  $3,250,000,  and  in  1832  fell  back  to  about  $2,500,000. 
With  the  year  1833  commenced  the  great  increase  of  sales  which 
have  caused  the  principal  accumulation  of  money  in  the  treasury 
at  this  moment.  During  that  year  the  receipts  into  the  treasury 
from  the  sales  of  lands  were  $3,875,000,  in  1834  $4,800,000, 
and  in  1835  $14,750,000,  almost  $10,000,000  beyond  the  receipts 
of  any  former  year  ;  a  net  increase,  in  a  single  year,  more  than 
twice  as  large  as  the  whole  receipts  of  the  most  extravagant 
year  which  had  preceded  it. 

"  Who,  Mr.  W.  said  he  must  ask,  could  expect  a  continuance 


422  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  sales  at  this  rate  for  any  length  of  time  ?  Who  were  the 
purchasers  who  had  paid  these  immense  amounts  for  the  public 
domain  in  a  single  year  ?  Settlers,  actual  settlers  ?  No,  sir  ; 
speculators  ;  men  who  have  purchased  to  sell  to  settlers  ;  men 
who,  before  the  present  year  shall  close,  will  come  into  the  mar 
ket  in  competition  with  this  government,  and  take  from  it  its 
customers.  What  lands,  Mr.  President,  do  these  men  purchase  ? 
Your  very  best  and  choicest  lands.  They  purchase  for  specula 
tion,  and  every  consideration  of  inducement  to  the  settler  is  fully 
regarded  in  their  purchases  —  location,  advantages  of  navigation, 
of  water-power  and  of  timber,  are  no  less  carefully  secured  than 
first  qualities  of  soil.  The  government  sells  lands  for  cash  in 
advance  only,  and  these  purchasers  will  sell  upon  credit.  How 
long  will  it  be,  with  these  advantages,  before  they  will  draw  the 
emigration  from  the  land  offices  of  the  government  to  theirs, 
and  take  the  market  from  us  ?  Once  taken  away,  it  is  impossible 
that  we  can  recover  it  until  these  lands,  purchased  upon  specula 
tion,  are  fully  settled,  as  we  cannot  hope  to  induce  settlers  to 
purchase  inferior  lands  and  pay  the  money  in  advance,  while 
superior  lands  are  offered  to  them  upon  credit.  What,  then,  are 
we  to  expect  from  our  revenue  from  the  public  lands,  as  soon  as 
the  present  fever  for  speculation  in  them  shall  subside  ?  Can  we 
hope  that  those  revenues,  postponed  until  the  year  1841,  will 
compensate  for  the  then  reduced  rates  of  the  revenues  from  cus 
toms,  and  thus  afford  to  the  public  treasury  the  means  to  meet 
the  ordinary  and  extraordinary  calls  upon  it  ?  Mr.  W.  said,  it 
seemed  to  him  most  clear,  that  if  the  revenues  from  the  public 
lands  were  diverted  from  the  treasury  for  the  period  proposed 
by  the  bill,  and  the  revenues  from  customs  were  reduced,  as  by 
the  operation  of  the  existing  laws  they  must  be  reduced,  both 
sources  together  would  not,  after  the  expiration  of  the  year  1841, 
be  equal  to  the  wants  of  the  public  treasury. 

"  That  our  country  was  rapidly  increasing  in  population  and 
extent,  and  consequently  and  proportionably  in  its  ordinary 
expenditures,  must  be  apparent  to  all;  and  that,  with  a  fixed 
tariff,  the  revenue  from  customs  might  be  expected  to  increase 
with  the  increase  of  expenses,  would  be  equally  apparent  ;  but, 
when  our  rates  of  duty  upon  imports  were  diminishing  at  a  rate 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  423 

per  cent  greater  than  the  increase  of  our  population  and  business, 
the  dependence  for  means  to  supply  the  treasury  upon  that  source 
of  revenue  must  be  destroyed,  unless  the  revenues  from  it  could 
now  be  shown  very  far  to  exceed  the  present  wants  of  that  trea 
sury.  This  had  not  only  not  been  shown,  but  he  trusted  the 
comparisons  he  had  made  between  the  revenues  from  customs 
and  the  expenses  of  the  government,  for  the  last  nineteen  years, 
and  more  especially  for  the  last  two  years,  had  clearly  shown 
the  reverse,  and  had  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Senate  that 
the  present  revenues  from  the  customs  were  no  more  than  equal 
to  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  government,  without  any  extra 
ordinary  appropriations  for  any  purposes  whatsoever.  Mr.  W. 
said  he  felt  bound  to  notice,  in  this  place,  that  the  revenues  from 
the  lands  were,  in  this  sense,  a  much  more  calculable  dependence 
for  the  treasury  than  those  from  the  customs.  The  receipts  and 
expenditures  from  the  former,  the  value  of  the  lands  being 
fixed  by  law,  might  be  safely  assumed  to  be  regulated  and  gradu 
ated  by  the  increase  of  population  and  business  of  the  country, 
while  the  rates  of  duty  which  were  to  graduate  the  latter  were 
periodically  undergoing  so  rapid  a  reduction,  and  the  free  articles 
were  increasing  so  vastly  upon  the  dutiable  articles  in  our  impor 
tations,  that  very  little  certainty  could  be  anticipated  in  calcula 
tions  of  the  amount  of  revenue  to  be  derived  from  the  latter 
source.  He  would  give  the  Senate  the  amount  of  free  articles 
imported  for  the  last  four  years,  to  show  the  immense  changes 
which  the  present  revenue  laws  had  produced  in  our  trade  in 
reference  to  the  revenues  from  customs: 
"  In  the  year  1832,  the  importation  of  articles  free  of  duty 

amounted  to $14,249,453 

"  In  the  year  1833,  the  importation  of   articles  free  of  duty 

amounted  to 32,447,950 

"  In  the  year  1834,  the  importation  of  articles  free  of  duty 

amountedto 68,393,180 

"  In  the  year  1835,  the  importation  of  articles  free  of  duty 

amountedto 77,443,236 


"  From  this  comparison  it  is  seen  that  this  description  of 
importations  has  almost  doubled,  in  each  successive  year,  since 
the  passage  of  the  tariff  act  of  1832;  and  that,  during  the  two 


424  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

last  years,  the  value  of  the  importations  free  of  duty  has  been 
more  than  four  times  the  value  of  the  same  articles  imported 
in  the  two  preceding  years,  and  has  come  to  exceed  the  whole 
value  of  dutiable  importations. 

"Take  away,  then,  from  the  public  treasury,  the  revenues 
received  into  it  from  the  public  lands,  and,  Mr.  W.  asked,  who 
could  tell  how  soon  it  would  want  means  to  meet  the  demands 
upon  it?  He  called  upon  gentlemen,  and  especially  upon  the 
parties  to  the  compromise  act,  to  give  their  careful  attention  to 
this  part  of  the  argument.  If  revenue  should  be  wanted,  did 
those  gentlemen  doubt  what  course  would  be  taken  by  Congress 
to  raise  it  ?  Did  they  doubt  that  resort  would  be  instantly  made 
to  an  increase  of  the  rates  of  duty  upon  imports?  Was  any  one 
wild  enough  to  suppose  that  a  direct  tax  would  be  resorted  to  to 
supply  the  deficiency  in  the  revenues,  or  that  loans  would  be 
made  upon  the  credit  of  the  government,  and  a  new  national 
debt  be  created  for  this  purpose  ?  He  was  sure  no  one  who 
heard  him  could  anticipate  either  of  the  last-mentioned  modes  of 
supplying  the  treasury ;  and  an  increase  of  the  indirect  taxation, 
by  an  increase  of  the  customs,  was  the  only  remaining  measure 
within  the  power  of  Congress.  He  must  further  caution  gentle 
men  to  remember  that  this  was  a  mode  of  raising  revenue  not 
likely  to  be  unpopular  with  a  very  large  section,  if  not  an  entire 
majority,  of  the  Union.  He  made  this  reference  to  peculiar  local 
interests,  not  with  pleasure,  but  with  deep  reluctance,  and  he 
could  not  be  induced  to  do  it  from  any  other  than  a  most  lively 
conviction  that  the  measure  before  the  Senate  was  eminently  cal 
culated  again,  and  that  speedily,  to  revive  agitations  which  had 
so  recently  shaken  the  country  to  an  extent  unknown  to  its 
former  history,  and  had  more  strongly  threatened  the  integrity 
and  perpetuity  of  the  Union  than  any  other  questions  which  had 
ever  before  occupied  the  attention  of  Congress.  He  must,  there 
fore,  again  assure  the  friends  of  this  bill  that  its  passage,  and  the 
subtraction  of  this  portion  of  the  public  revenues  from  the 
national  treasury,  would  bring  that  treasury  to  want;  and  that, 
in  that  event,  its  wants  would  be  supplied  by  an  increase  of  the 
duties  upon  imports,  an  increased  tariff. 

"  To  give  greater  force  to  this  part  of  the  argument  he  would 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  425 

take  another  view  of  the  probable  revenue  from  customs  in  the 
year  1842,  after  the  reductions  provided  for  in  the  compromise 
act  shall  have  been  fully  made.  The  importations  of  goods  pay 
ing  duties  for  the  last  four  years  have  been  as* follows: 

"  In  the  year  1832,  the  value  of  dutiable  goods  imported 

was $68,000,000 

"  In  the  year  1833,  the  value  of  dutiable  goods  imported 

was 63,000,000 

"  In  the  year  1834,  the  value  of  dutiable  goods  imported 

was 47,000,000 

"  In  the  year  1835,  the  value  of  dutiable  goods  imported 

was 66,000,000 

"These  importations  form  an  average  of  about  $61,000,000  per 
annum.  Suppose  the  increase  of  population  and  business  by  the 
year  1842  increases  the  amount  of  importations  to  $70,000,000  of 
goods  paying  duties;  all  duties  are  then  to  be  reduced  to  the 
standard  of  twenty  per  cent  ad  valorem,  or  under.  This  rate  of 
duty  upon  $70,000,000  would  be  $14,000,000  of  revenue,  in  case 
all  duties  were  at  the  maximum  rate  of  twenty  per  cent;  but  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  duty  upon  a  large  class  of  articles 
is  now  only  twelve  and  a  half  and  fifteen  per  cent;  and  that, 
from  that  cause,  the  revenue  to  be  derived  from  $70,000,000 
in  value  of  dutiable  importations  in  1842,  if  the  present  laws 
continue  in  operation,  cannot  be  estimated  at  more  than  about 
$12,000,000.  Compare  this  amount  with  the  sum  demanded  for 
the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  government,  and  who  will  believe 
that  the  revenue  from  customs,  at  the  period  in  contemplation, 
even  with  the  then  reduced  revenue  from  the  public  lands  added 
to  it,  will  be  equal  to  those  expenses?  Who  does  not  see,  if  the 
present  surplus  in  the  treasury  be  given  away  to  the  States,  and 
the  revenue  from  the  lands  be  taken  from  the  treasury  for  six 
years  to  come,  that  the  tariff  must  be  raised,  if  not  before  the 
year  1842,  at  least  as  soon  as  the  vast  reduction  of  the  present 
tariff,  required  to  be  made  at  the  close  of  1841,  by  the  provisions 
of  the  compromise  act,  shall  take  effect?  If  figures  and  experi 
ence  can  be  relied  upon,  such  a  result  must  follow  the  passage  of 
this  bill.  [Mr.  WEIGHT  here  gave  way  for  a  motion  to  adjourn.] 


426  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"THURSDAY,  April  21,  1836. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said,  when  addressing  the  Senate  yesterday,  he 
had  attempted  to  establish  the  propositions  — 

"1.  That  the  whole  amount  of  'net  proceeds '  of  the  public 
lands  in  the  treasury  on  the  30th  of  September,  1835,  could  not, 
by  the  most  extended  and  liberal  calculation,  equal  $4,030,000, 
and  was  more  truly  but  a  trifle  over  $350,000;  while  the  opera 
tion  of  this  bill  would  be  to  distribute  as  '  net  proceeds '  of  the 
public  lands  almost  818,000,000  of  the  money  in  the  treasury  on 
that  day ;  thus,  in  fact,  distributing  from  $  1 4,000,000  to  $1 7,000,000 
of  money  not  derived  from  lands,  but  from  other  sources  of 
revenue. 

"  2.  That  the  revenue  from  customs,  as  ascertained  from  a 
comparison  between  that  revenue  and  the  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment  for  the  last  nineteen  years,  and  from  an  examination  of 
the  present  revenue  laws  and  their  influence  upon  the  revenue  to 
be  collected  under  them,  will  only  be  equal  to  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  government  and  cannot  bear  any  extraordinary 
appropriations  for  any  branch  of  the  public  defenses. 

"  3.  That  this  branch  of  the  public  revenue  (the  only  source 
of  revenue  remaining  to  the  treasury,  if  that  from  the  lands  shall 
be  taken  from  it)  will  fall  far  short  of  meeting  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  government,  before  the  close  of  the  year  1841,  at 
which  time  the  revenues  from  the  public  lands  are  again  to  be 
restored  to  the  public  treasury,  because  it  is  only  equal  now  to 
those  expenses,  and,  by  the  existing  laws,  is  to  undergo  a  reduc 
tion  at  about  the  rate  of  five  per  cent  per  annum  until  1 840,  and, 
at  the  close  of  the  year  1841,  an  arbitrary  reduction  to  twenty 
per  cent  ad  valorem  of  all  duties  above  that  rate. 

"  4.  That  the  restoration  of  the  revenue  from  the  public  lands 
at  that  period  will  be  wholly  inadequate  to  supply  the  treasury, 
because  the  revenue  from  customs  will  be  reduced  to  some 
$12,000,000,  or  at  most  $14,000,000,  while  the  ordinary  expenses 
will  be  about  $17,000,000;  and  because,  from  the  sales  of  all  the 
valuable  lands,  the  revenues  from  that  source  will  be  greatly 
diminished,  if  not  reduced  to  the  simple  expenses  incurred  on 
account  of  the  lands. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  before  proceeding  with  his  argument  further,  he 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  427 

would  notice  two  positions  of  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  [Mr 
Southard],  which  had  been  presented  by  him  in  a  new  shape,  as 
justifying  two  important  provisions  of  this  bill. 

"  The  first  to  which  he  alluded  was  the  grant  of  500,000  acres 
of  land  to  certain  of  the  new  States,  the  avails  of  which  were  to  be 
expended  in  projects  of  internal  improvements;  and  the  reason 
for  the  grant  was  said  to  be  that  those  States  had  exempted 
the  public  lands  from  taxation.  This  argument,  Mr.  W.  said,  he 
had  always  supposed  was  fully  answered  by  the  articles  of  com 
pact  which  had  accompanied  the  admission  of  those  States  into 
the  Union.  The  five  per  cent  granted  to  the  new  States,  out  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  lands  within  them  respectively,  he 
had  always  understood  was  the  equivalent  for  this  exemption  of 
the  public  domain  from  State  taxation,  and  that  it  had  been  so 
accepted  by  those  States  in  the  compacts  referred  to.  If  he  was 
correct  in  this  understanding,  he  could  not  see  why  this  further 
grant  of  half  a  million  of  acres  of  land  to  each  was  to  be  made 
upon  that  consideration.  But  the  Senator  further  urged  that  this 
grant  was  to  be  justified  upon  the  principle  that  the  improve 
ments  to  be  made  by  the  State  from  the  avails  of  the  land  would 
enhance  the  value  of  the  remaining  lands,  owned  by  the  govern 
ment  in  each  State,  to  an  extent  equal  to  the  value  of  the 
500,000  acres  granted  to  make  the  improvements.  This  argu 
ment  can  avail  little,  unless  the  present  minimum  price  of  the  pub 
lic  lands  is  to  be  raised.  All  the  lands,  after  having  been  once 
offered  at  public  sale,  are  subject  to  be  taken  by  any  purchaser 
at  the  price  established  by  law  of  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per 
acre,  and  at  that  price  they  now  sell  with  too  great  rapidity. 
Surely,  then,  it  cannot  be  wise  in  Congress  to  make  these 
immense  grants  with  a  view  to  enhance  the  value  of  the  remain 
ing  lands,  if  it  be  designed  to  continue  the  sales  at  the  present 
established  price,  because,  however  much  the  value  of  the  lands 
may  be  increased  by  the  operation,  that  value  to  the  government 
is  not  changed.  The  money  to  be  paid  for  the  lands  will  be  the 
same  without  as  with  the  improvements.  Is  it  intended  to  raise 
the  minimum  price  of  the  public  lands?  He  supposed  not.  He 
had  heard  no  friend  of  the  bill  avow  such  an  intention,  and  he 
felt  confident  he  should  not  hear  any  such  purpose  avowed; 


428  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

though  he  must  say  that  many  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the 
bill,  as  well  as  the  one  he  was  now  considering,  seemed  to  him  to 
bear  strongly  in  that  direction. 

"  The  second  consideration  to  which  he  referred  was  the 
Senator's  defense  of  that  provision  of  the  bill  which  gives  to 
each  of  the  new  States  ten  per  cent  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales 
within  them  respectively,  over  and  above  their  full  shares  of  the 
balance,  according  to  the  rate  of  distribution  adopted  by  the 
bill,  as  applicable  to  all  the  States.  This  was  justified  upon  the 
ground  of  the  rapid  increase  of  population  in  these  States  since 
the  last  census,  upon  which  the  general  distribution  was  to  be 
made.  It  was  not  his  object,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  attempt  to  show 
that  this  provision  would  give  too  much  to  the  new  States,  but 
that  the  rule  assumed  was  arbitrary  and  unequal.  He  knew  that 
some  of  the  new  States  were  increasing  in  population  with  won 
derful  rapidity,  and  he  also  supposed  that  some  of  the  old  States 
might  not  have  any  greater,  and  perhaps  not  as  great  a  popula 
tion  now  as  in  1830.  These  would  form  the  extremes,  while 
other  States,  both  old  and  new,  were  increasing  at  a  rate  which 
would  form  the  mean  between  them.  It  could  not,  then,  be 
equal  or  just  to  take  from  all  the  old  States  equally,  or  to  give 
to  all  the  new  equally,  on  account  of  the  increase  or  diminution 
of  population  since  the  last  census,  as  all  must  see  that  the  same 
ratio  of  increase  or  diminution  will  not  be  applicable  to  any  two 
States,  new  or  old.  If  a  standard  of  distribution,  different  from 
that  of  the  census  of  1830,  is  to  be  taken,  that  standard  ought 
to  have  reference  to  the  actual  population  of  all  the  States.  It 
was  a  fact,  unquestionable  in  his  opinion,  that  some  of  the  States, 
denominated  old  States  by  the  classification  made  in  the  bill,  had 
added  more  to  their  federal  numbers  within  the  five  years  past 
than  many  of  the  new  States,  and  yet  ten  per  cent  of  the  fund 
to  be  divided,  and  which  is  now  the  common  property  of  all  the 
States  in  precise  proportion  to  their  federal  numbers,  is  to  be 
taken  from  the  former  and  given  to  the  latter  before  a  general 
distribution  is  made.  It  was  not  material  to  his  purpose  to 
attempt  to  show  what  States  would  lose  or  what  ones  would  gain 
by  this  unequal  and  partial  provision.  It  was  enough  to  have 
shown  that  its  application  must  and  will  be  unequal,  partial  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  429 

unjust,  to  establish  the  position  that  it  cannot  be  a  constitutional 
rule  for  the  distribution  of  a  common  fund. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  notice  here  what  he  considered  the 
most  extravagant  anticipations  of  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr. 
Southard]  as  to  the  probable  avails  to  the  public  treasury  from 
the  public  domain.  He  found  he  had  misunderstood  the  Sena 
tor,  and  had  supposed  him  even  more  extravagant  in  his  antici 
pations  than  he  really  was;  but  he  had  been  corrected,  and  still 
was  compelled  to  think  that  the  sum,  in  fact,  assumed,  gave 
much  stronger  evidence  of  a  free  indulgence  of  a  lively  imagi 
nation  than  of  a  familiarity  with  the  facts  upon  which  any  con 
clusion  should  be  founded.  To  test  the  correctness  of  his 
impressions  he  had  resorted  to  facts,  and  proposed  to  lay  them 
before  the  Senate  almost  without  comment.  The  Senator  had 
told  us  that  the  public  lands  were  to  bring  into  the  national 
treasury  $1,250,000,000.  How  much  of  this  is  imagination,  and 
how  much  reality  ?  The  sales  of  the  public  lands,  as  a  system, 
commenced  in  the  year  1796.  Up  to  the  30th  day  of  September, 
1835,  thirty-nine  years  and  three-quarters,  the  whole  sum  paid 
into  the  treasury  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  is  $58,500,000. 
What  has  been  sold  to  produce  this  sum,  and  what  calculations 
as  to  the  product  of  future  sales,  can  be  safely  made  from  our 
past  experience. 

"  There  has  been  paid  into  the  treasury,  as  the  avails  of  sales 
of  the  public  lands  in  the  Sjtate  of  Ohio,  from  the  com 
mencement  of  the  land  system  to  the  thirtieth  of  Sep 
tember  last. .  $16,780,177 

"  There  remain  to  be  sold  in  that  State,  subject  to  private 
entry,  and  not  entered  on  the  thirtieth  September  last, 
4,310,366  acres,  which,  estimated  at  the  minimum  price, 
are  worth 5,387,958 

"  Making  an  aggregate  value  for  the  public  lands  in  Ohio,  of    $22,168,135 


"  This  estimate  must  be  sufficiently  accurate  for  so  general  a 
calculation,  inasmuch  as  the  fact  that  lands  in  that  populous 
State  remaining  subject  to  be  taken  at  the  minimum  price  of  the 
government,  and  not  taken,  must  go  far  to  prove  that  their  value 
in  the  market  does  not  materially  exceed  that  price. 


430  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  then  make  the  State  of  Ohio,  known 
to  be  one  of  the  largest  and  most  valuable  in  point  of  soil  of  the 
new  States,  the  basis  of  a  calculation  of  value  for  a  portion  of 
the  public  domain. 

11  The  value  of  Ohio,  as  has  been  seen  above,  is $22,168,135 

"  Assume  that  Indiana,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Louisiana,  Mis 
sissippi,  Alabama,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Arkansas 
and  Florida  are  each  to  bring  into  the  treasury,  from 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  as  much  as  is  to  be  real 
ized  from  those  sales  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  this 
will  produce  an  aggregate  of 221,681,350 

"  And  will  present  a  total  value  for   these  seven   new 

States  and  four  large  Territories,  of $243,849,485 

"  Deduct,  then,  the  amount?  already  received,  as  follows: 

"  From  sales  in  Ohio $16,780,177 

"  From  sales  in  Indiana 9,510,481 

"  From  sales  in  Illinois 5,355,611 

"  From  sales  in  Missouri 3,886,224 

"  From  sales  in  Louisiana 999,087 

' '  From  sales  in  Mississippi 6 , 837 , 770 

"  From  sales  in  Alabama 10,097,347 

"  From  sales  in  Michigan,    including    Wis 
consin  3,959,896 

u  From  sales  in  Arkansas 636,642 

"  From  sales  in  Florida 556,283 

58,619,518 

"  And  there  will  remain  to  come  into  the  public  treasury, 
from  the  entire  sales  of  these  seven  States  and  four 
Territories,  the  sum  of 185,229,967 


The  estimate  of  the  Senator  is $1,250,000,000 

Take  from  it  what  remains  to  be  received  from  the  sales 
yet  to  be  made  in  the  country  mentioned 185,229,967 


"  And  there  will  remain  a   balance  "for  the   Senator  to 

realize,  from  sources,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  him  unknown,  of . .    $1 , 064 , 770 , 033 


"  So  far,  facts  might  furnish  us  with  some  guides  in  reference 
to  these  swollen  anticipations;  and,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  was  sure 
that  no  one,  not  even  the  most  sanguine  and  enthusiastic,  would 
doubt  that  the  calculation  he  had  made  was  much  more  favor 
able  to  the  treasury  than  future  experience  would  realize.  He 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  431 

did  not  himself  believe  that  any  single  State  or  Territory  he  liad 
named  would  bring  into  the  treasury  from  the  sales  of  lands  an 
amount  equal  to  the  State  of  Ohio;  but,  however  that  might 
prove,  all  must  know  that  no  such  amounts  are  to  be  expected 
from  Louisiana  or  Florida,  nor  can  any  such  amount  be  expected 
from  the  entire  sales  in  Michigan.  The  estimate  must  be  many 
millions  beyond  what  can  be  reasonably  anticipated;  and  yet  that 
estimate,  tor  the  eleven  large  divisions  of  country,  seven  of  which 
are  now  States,  and  the  remaining  four  rapidly  approaching  that 
condition  of  political  existence,  falls  short  of  one-fifth  of  the  amount 
anticipated  by  the  Senator  to  be  brought  into  the  treasury  from 
the  avails  of  the  public  domain.  That  he  must  have  included  in 
his  flattering  estimate  the  whole  country  guaranteed  by  this 
government  to  the  Indian  tribes  west,  and  now  daily  moving  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  is  most  palpable;  but  that  any  reasonable  esti 
mate  of  that  country,  and  of  all  the  acres  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  in  addition,  must  have  failed  to  produce  his  sum  total,  Mr. 
VV.  said,  seemed  to  his  mind  equally  palpable. 

"He  would  now  proceed  with  his  argument  as  originally 
intended,  and  would  examine  the  surplus  in  the  treasury,  with 
the  view  of  showing  that  the  estimates  of  the  friends  of  this  bill 
in  regard  to  it  were  about  as  extravagant  as  those  of  the  honor 
able  Senator  from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  Southard]  in  reference  to  the 
proceeds  of  the  public  lands.  The  calls  upon  the  Treasury 
department  for  the  balance  of  moneys  in  the  treasury  had  been 
frequent,  and  he  thought  lie  might  say,  at  least,  monthly,  since 
the  commencement  of  the  present  session  of  Congress.  The  last 
had  been  received  at  too  late  a  period  to  be  yet  printed  and  laid 
upon  the  tables  of  the  Senators,  and  was  a  call  for  the  balance  as 
existing  on  the  first  day  of  the  present  month.  The  amount  as 
given  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was,  according  to  his  best 
recollection,  between  $31,000,000  and  $32,000,000;  but,  as  he  had 
not  the  report  to  refer  to,  he  would  assume  it  to  be  $32,000,000. 

"It  should  now  be  distinctly  impressed  upon  the  attention  of 
the  Senate  and  the  country  that  this  amount  is  not  the  surplus 
in  the  treasury,  but  the  whole  amount  of  money  in  the  treasury 
for  any  purpose  of  the  government.  It  should  also  be  equally 
strongly  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  all,  and  most  especially  of 


432  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ourselves,  that  of  all  the  appropriations  of  the  year,  which,  at  the 
ordinary  rates,  have  been  shown  to  amount  to  an  average  of  from 
$17,000,000  to  $18,000,000  annually,  those  for  the  pay  of  Con 
gress,  for  the  pensions,  and  partial  appropriations  for  the  Indian 
war  in  Florida,  are  all  that  have  yet  passed  and  become  laws. 
How  are  we,  then,  to  tell  what  portion  of  this  amount  of  money 
is  surplus,  and  what  is  required  for  the  expenses  of  the  govern 
ment  ?  Mr.  "W.  said  he  knew  but  one  mode  of  making  even  an 
estimate  upon  this  point.  Wishing,  so  far  as  it  was  possible,  to 
deal  with  the  facts  in  relation  to  this  whole  subject,  he  had 
resorted  to  that  mode,  and  had  examined,  with  considerable 
labor  and  care,  the  entire  files  of  bills  which  had  been  reported 
to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  by  their  respective  standing  com 
mittees;  selecting  from  each  file  bills  of  a  public  character  only, 
and  ascertaining  the  sums  the  several  committees  had  recom 
mended  for  appropriation  for  the  public  service.  To  protect 
himself  from  any  charge  or  suspicion  of  unfairness  in  this  exami 
nation,  he  felt  bound  to  give  to  the  Senate,  in  substance,  the  title 
of  each  bill  he  had  included  in  the  statement,  that  all  might 
judge  whether  he  had  mistaken  the  character  of  the  appropria 
tions  he  had  called  public.  The  list  was  as  follows: 

BILLS  ON  THE  FILES  OP  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

Bill  No. 
51.  Appropriations  for  support  of  government. 

53.  Naval  appropriation  bill. 

54.  Ordinary  fortification  bill. 

55.  Army  bill. 

69.  Expenses  of  Indian  war  in  Florida. 

70.  Ordinary  appropriation  for  the  Indian  department. 
97.  Clerks  in  the  office  of  the  Quartermaster-General. 

100.  The  erection  of  a  marine  hospital  at  Baltimore. 

101.  The  erection  of  a  marine  hospital  at  Portland,  Maine. 
105.  Clerks  in  the  Engineer  department. 

142.  Erection  of  custom-houses  at  Gloucester  and  Plymouth. 

143.  Arrears  of  pay  to  the  Inspector-General. 
154.  To  improve  the  harbor  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

174.  To  continue  the  Cumberland  road  from  Vandalia  to  the  Mississippi 

river. 

175.  To  continue  the  Cumberland  road  from  the  Mississippi  river  to  Jeffer 

son  City. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  433 

Bill  No. 

192.  To  erect  a  marine  hospital  at  Wilmington,  Delaware. 

201.  To  purchase  sites  and  commence  new  fortifications. 

203.  For  the  navy-yard  at  Charleston,  S.  C. 

215.  Expenses  of  the  Indian  war  in  Florida,  second  bill. 

216.  Civil  and  diplomatic  expenses  for  1836. 

217.  Outfit  to  Charge  d' Affaires  at  Prussia. 

225.  Prize-money  to  the  captors  of  the  frigate  Philadelphia. 

234.  Compensation  to  Commodore  Barron  for  use  of  patent. 

254.  Erection  of  new  treasury  building. 

259.  Annual  appropriations  for  the  military  academy. 

268.  Salary  of  the  judge  of  the  Orphans'  Court,  Washington. 

272.  Arrears  of  pay  to  Gen.  Macomb. 

273.  Compensation  for  Indian  depredations. 

279.  To  pay  the  Connecticut  militia  in  service  during  the  late  war. 

307.  Appropriations  for  harbors  already  commenced. 

321.  Compensation  to  the  heirs  of  Marshal  Rochambeau. 

323.  For  making  and  improving  roads. 

325.  For  repairing  and  improving  the  public   buildings  and  grounds  in 

Washington. 

332.  For  the  care  and  preservation  of  the  Potomac  bridge. 
348.  To  refund  certain  duties  on  a  Belgian  vessel. 
352.  To  make  good  the  depreciations  to  the  Rhode  Island  brigade  of  the 

Revolutionary  army. 
363.  For  the  erection  of  light-houses,  light-boats,  beacons  and  buoys,  and  for 

the  survey  of  certain  rivers  and  harbors. 

374.  To  construct  an  arsenal  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina. 

376.  For  the  purchase  of  Bell's  patent  for  elevating  and  pointing  cannon. 

375.  For  the  erection  of  an  armory  on  the  western  waters. 

377.  For  the  purchase  of  Hall's  patent  for  rifles. 

406.  For  the  better  protection  of  the  western  frontier. 
415.  To  remove  a  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  river. 
418.  To  remove  a  bar  at  the  entrance  of  Pensacola  bay,  and  for  construct 
ing  a  hydraulic  dock  or  inclined  plane  at  that  place. 
427.  Further  appropriation  for  the  Indian  war  in  Florida,  third  bill. 

431.  To  construct  a  road  from  Milwaukie  to  the  Mississippi  river. 

432.  To  improve  the  mail  road  from  Louisville  to  St.  Louis. 
446.  To  erect  a  marine  hospital  at  New  Orleans. 

454.  To  provide  for  additional  clerks  in  the  departments. 

457.  For  the  better  defense  of  the  Arkansas  frontier. 

483.  To  construct  a  road  from  Helena  to  Jackson,  in  Arkansas. 

485.  To  improve  the  navigation  of  certain  rivers. 

492.  To  try  experiments  as  to  Brown's  fire-ship. 

518.  To  erect  a  marine  hospital  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island. 

28 


434  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Bill  No. 

523.  To  commence  the  improvement  of  harbors  for  which  no  appropriations 

have  been  heretofore  made. 
538.  For  repairs  to  the  wharves  and  the  erection  of  a  new  public  store  at 

Staten  Island,  New  York. 

BILLS  ON  THE  FILES  OF  THE  SENATE. 

12.  To  improve  the  navigation  of  the  Wabash  river. 

32.  To  increase  the  pay  of  the  clerks  in  the  Navy  department. 

54.  To  open  roads  in  Arkansas. 

63.  To  complete  the  road  from  Lime  creek  to  the  Chattahoochce. 

81.  For  the  support  of  the  penitentiary  at  Washington. 

82.  To  construct  roads  in  Florida. 

98.  To  purchase  Boyd  Reilly's  patent  for  vapor  bath. 

112.  For  the  relief  of  the  cities  of  Washington,  Alexandria  and  Georgetown. 
131.  Pay  of  Missouri  militia  in  the  Black  Hawk  war. 
135.  To  pay  the  passage  of  G-en.  Lafayette  from  France. 
142.  To  erect  a  depot  of  arms  on  the  western  frontier  of  Missouri. 
146.  To  complete  improvements  already  commenced  upon  certain  roads  and 

rivers  in  Florida. 
211.  To  construct  certain  roads  in  Arkansas. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  the  House  bills  above  enumerated  were  fifty-six,  and  pro 
posed  to  appropriate  the  gross  sum  of $23,212,854 

;'  The  number  of  Senate  bills  brought  into  the  statement 
was  thirteen,  which  proposed  to  appropriate  the  gross 
sum  of 2,456,785 

"  Since  this  statement  had  been  prepared,  the  general  navy 
appropriation  bill,  sent  from  the  House,  had  been  reported 
to  the  Senate  by  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  of  this 
body,  with  recommendations  of  amendments,  adding  to 
the  amount  originally  proposed  by  the  committee  of  the 
House,  to  be  appropriated  by  the  bill,  the  sum  of 1 ,845,407 


"  Thus  showing  an  aggregate  of  appropriations  of  a  public 
character,  recommended  by  the  proper  standing  commit 
tees  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  and,  if  made,  to  be 
taken  from  the  moneys  in  the  treasury,  of $27,515,416 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  must  so  far  explain  these  statements  as  to  say 
that  the  file  of  the  bills  of  the  House  was  first  examined,  and 
the  list  of  bills  of  a  public  character  prepared  ;  that,  upon  the 
subsequent  examintion  of  the  Senate  file,  a  very  large  number  of 
similar  bills  for  the  same  objects,  and  of  the  same  purport  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  435 

amount,  were  found  upon  that  file  ;  that  all  such  duplicate  bills 
had  been  rejected  from  the  statement,  which  accounted  for  the 
very  small  number  of  bills  embraced  as  Senate  bills,  and  the  very 
small  comparative  amount  of  appropriations  recommended  by 
the  committee  of  the  Senate.  Had  the  bills  upon  that  file  been 
first  examined,  and  the  duplicates  upon  the  House  file  been 
rejected,  the  apparent  recommendations,  with  the  exception  of 
the  ordinary  annual  appropriation  bills,  which  always  originate 
in  the  House,  would  have  been  substantially  reversed.  It  had 
required  much  care  to  avoid  embracing  the  same  appropriation 
twice,  in  consequence  of  the  duplicate  reports  in  the  respective 
Houses  ;  but  as  the  examination  had  been  made  by  himself 
personally,  he  spoke  with  great  confidence  when  he  said  that  no 
instance  would  be  found  in  which  this  had  been  done,  although  a 
similarity  of  titles  in  one  or  two  cases  might  lead  to  that  sus 
picion. 

"  Let  us  then,  said  Mr.  W.,  state  the  account  with  the  treasury,  and  see 
what  surplus  we  have  which  is  not  called  for  by  the  wants  of  the  fed 
eral  government.  He  had,  he  said,  assumed  the  amount  of  money  in 
the  treasury  to  be $32,000,000 

"  Deduct  the  appropriations  before  mentioned,  some  of  which 
had,  in  fact,  been  made,  and  all  of  which  had  been  dis 
tinctly  recommended  by  the  proper  standing  committees 
of  one  or  both  Houses  of  Congress 27,515.046 

"  And  there  will  remain  in  the  treasury  an  apparent  sur 
plus  of $4,484,954 

"  This  would  be  the  state  of  the  treasury  upon  the  supposition 
that  the  appropriations  proposed  by  the  bills  which  had  been 
enumerated,  and  no  other,  should  be  made  during  the  present 
session  of  Congress. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  intend  to  be  understood  as  expressing 
the  opinion  that  all  the  bills  he  had  enumerated  would  pass,  and 
much  less  that  no  appropriations  other  than  those  contained  in 
those  bills  would  be  made.  The  above  was  the  result  upon  that 
supposition ;  but  while  he  did  not  expect  that  result  would 
be  exactly  realized  in  that  way,  there  were  strong  grounds  for 
believing  that  a  result  not  more  favorable  to  the  treasury,  and 
to  a  surplus  for  distribution,  ought  to  be  produced,  and  would 


436  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

be  produced  by  the  action  of  Congress  during  its  present  session. 
The  grounds  for  this  belief  it  would  be  his  next  duty  to  give  to 
the  Senate.  The  whole  number  of  bills  upon  the  House  file 
when  he  made  the  examination  was  554,  of  which  the  statement 
he  had  made  embraced  but  fifty-six,  leaving  498  of  those  bills 
not  embraced  in  the  estimate  of  appropriations.  The  whole 
number  of  bills  upon  the  Senate  file  at  the  same  time  was  221, 
of  which  but  thirteen  were  named,  leaving  208  of  those  bills  out 
of  the  estimate.  Every  member  of  the  Senate  would  well  know, 
what  every  other  person  who  would  take  the  trouble  to  examine 
the  bills  before  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  at  any  session  might 
see,  that  more  than  ninety  in  one  hundred  of  all  those  bills  pro 
pose  an  appropriation  of  money  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 
Here,  then,  were  775  bills,  sixty-nine  of  which  recommended  the 
appropriation  of  more  than  $27,500,000,  and  the  appropriations 
covered  by  the  remaining  706  were  not  estimated  at  all,  but 
were  known  to  be,  at  least  nine-tenths  of  them,  bills  proposing 
to  appropriate  money,  and  in  amounts  varying  from  the  very 
smallest  sums  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  Some  of 
them,  Mr.  W.  said,  were  entirely  public  in  their  character,  but 
did  not  specify  the  sums  they  proposed  to  appropriate.  Of  these 
he  would  particularly  refer  to  the  following  : 

BILLS  UPON  THE  FILE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

Bill  No. 

104.  For  the  increase  of  the  engineer  corps. 

142.  Proposes  to  erect  custom-houses  at  forty  different  ports. 

207.  To  put  into  active  service  all  the  vessels  of  war  in  ordinary  and  upon 
the  stocks. 

212.  Proposes  to  extend  the  present  pension  laws  to  all  who  served  for  three 
months  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  the  widows  of  such 
deceased  pensioners  as  were  the  wives  of  the  pensioners  at  the  time 
the  service  was  performed. 

297.  Provides  for  the  payment  of  the  Connecticut  militia  who  were  in  ser 
vice  during  the  late  war,  with  interest  upon  their  respective  claims 
from  the  time  of  the  service. 

385.  Directs  the  survey  of  certain  roads,  rivers,  etc. 

427.  Extends  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  militia  killed  in  service,  dying 
in  service  or  on  their  return  home,  or  from  wounds  received  while  in 
service,  the  half-pay  for  five  years  allowed  by  the  existing  laws  to 
regulars  serving  in  the  infantry. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  437 

Bill  No. 

459.  To  extend  and  repair  the  arsenal  at  Charleston,  S.  C. 

469.  Reorganizes  the  General  Land  Office,  and  extends  the  force  employed 
in  it. 

474.  To  authorize  a  surveying  district  west  of  Lake  Michigan. 

542.  To  remit  or  refund  the  duties  upon  the  goods  burned  at  the  late  confla 
gration  in  New  York. 

BILLS  UPON  THE  FILE  OF  THE  SENATE. 

33.  Arrears  of  pay  to  Commodore  Hull. 

37.  To  establish  a  Surveyor-General's  office  for  the  Htate  of  Illinois. 

52.  To  increase  the  corps  of  topographical  engineers. 

70.  Payment  to  the  heirs  of  General  Eaton 
100.  To  pay  the  Vermont  militia  who  served  at  Plattsburgh. 
113.  To  purchase  the  stock  of  the  Louisville  and  Portland  canal. 
185.  To  add  three  regiments  to  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
220.  To  provide  moral  and  religious  instruction  for  the  army. 

"  Here,  Mr.  W.  said,  were  nineteen  of  the  706  bills  not  included 
in  the  estimate,  because  they  did  not  name  the  sums  which  would 
be  required  to  carry  them  into  operation ;  but  the  slightest  exami 
nation  of  the  titles  only  will  satisfy  everyone  that  these  nineteen 
bills  alone,  were  they  to  become  laws,  would  require  more  money 
from  the  public  treasury  than  the  whole  balance  above  shown  to 
remain,  after  deducting  the  amount  proposed  to  be  specifically 
appropriated  by  the  sixty-nine  bills  before  enumerated.  He  was 
aware  it  might  be  said  that  these  bills  would  not  become  laws, 
and  he  did  not  pretend  to  assume  that  all  of  them  would,  although 
he  believed  several  of  them  had  passed  the  one  or  the  other 
House  of  Congress  during  the  present  session.  What  he  intended 
to  say  was,  that  they  were  bills  of  a  public  character,  that  their 
passage  had  been  recommended  by  the  appropriate  committees 
of  Congress,  and  that,  to  that  extent,  they  were  to  be  considered  as 
calls  which  might  probably  be  made  upon  the  treasury,  and  which 
ought,  at  the  least,  to  be  considered  before  we  come  to  the  con 
clusion  that  we  have  millions  of  money,  which  is  not  called  for  by 
any  wants  of  the  government,  and  which  we  must  give  away  to 
get  rid  of  it. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  it  would  probably  still  be  contended  that  so 
many  of  the  bills  to  which  he  had  referred  would  fail  to  pass 
and  become  laws,  that,  after  a  deduction  of  the  amounts  appro- 


438  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

priated  by  all  which  would  pass,  there  would  remain  a  large 
amount  of  money  in  the  treasury  unappropriated.  In  reply 
to  any  such  suggestions,  he  must  call  to  the  recollection  of  the 
Senate  some  other  facts,  directly  and  importantly  affecting  the 
moneys  in  the  treasury.  There  is  a  constant  heavy  balance  of 
outstanding  appropriations,  which  form  a  direct  lien  upon  that 
money.  The  amount  of  these  appropriations,  on  the  first  of 
January  last,  was,  according  to  his  present  recollection,  riot  less 
than  $7,000,000,  and  probably  at  this  moment  cannot  be  less  than 
$5,000,000. 

"The  three  bills  which  have  already  passed,  making  appro 
priations  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Indian  war  in  Florida, 
have,  taken  together,  appropriated  but  $1,620,000,  while  it  is 
estimated  that  that  war,  if  now  terminated,  will  cost  the  treasury 
full  $5,000,000.  Here,  therefore,  are  at  least  $3,500,000,  which 
will  be  wanted,  and  must  be  had  during  the  current  year,  no 
part  of  which  is  embraced  in  any  of  the  bills  which  have  been 
mentioned. 

"  After  deducting  all  the  bills  upon  the  files  of  the  two  Houses 
which  have  been  particularly  named,  eighty-eight  in  number, 
there  will  remain  687  bills,  nearly  all  of  which  propose  to  appro 
priate  money.  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  not  attempt  to  estimate 
the  amount  ;  but  all  would  admit  that  many  of  those  bills  were 
to  pass,  and  that  the  amount  of  money  which  would  be  appro 
priated  by  those  which  should  become  laws  would  be  large. 

"  There  was  another  very  important  item  of  probable  appro 
priation  which  he  was  bound  to  notice  in  this  place,  but  of  which 
the  rules  of  the  Senate  did  not  permit  him,  at  present,  to  speak 
in  so  intelligible  a  manner  as  he  could  wish.  He  supposed,  how 
ever,  he  might  say  he  referred  to  certain  Indian  treaties  now 
before  this  body,  two  of  which,  if  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  as 
he  believed  they  ought  to  be,  and  hoped  they  would  be,  would 
require  payments  from  the  treasury  of  at  least  $7,000,000.  The 
Senate  would  understand,  from  this  reference,  the  particular 
subjects  to  which  he  alluded. 

"It  seemed  to  be  conceded  by  all  that  the  great  work  of 
national  defense,  in  all  its  branches,  ought  to  command  the 
peculiar  attention  of  Congress  during  its  present  session.  In  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  439 

public  bills  to  which  he  had  referred,  very  limited  appropria 
tions  for  any  of  these  objects  were  proposed.  In  the  bill  pro 
posing  appropriations  for  the  navy,  nothing  was  embraced  for  an 
accelerated  increase  of  our  naval  force,  for  the  procuring  of 
additional  materials,  the  construction  of  additional  ships  of  war, 
or  the  arming,  equipping  and  putting  into  actual  service  those 
now  partially  completed,  beyond  the  ordinary  annual  appropria 
tions  for  those  objects.  One  bill,  proposing  to  appropriate  about 
$2,500,000  for  new  fortifications,  was  the  principal,  if  not  the 
only  extraordinary  appropriation  included  under  that  head. 
There  were  not  included  any  appropriations  for  the  erection  of 
new  arsenals,  except  in  one  single  instance,  or  any  appropriations 
for  arms  and  ordnance  beyond  the  ordinary  appropriations  for 
those  objects. 

"He  must  ask  the  friends  of  the  bill  to  look  at  these  facts,  at 
the  public  wants  developed  in  their  exhibition,  and  to  compare 
the  condition  of  the  treasury  and  its  means,  abundant  as  they 
choose  to  consider  those  means,  with  these  public  calls,  and  then 
to  say  how  this  bill  is  to  be  executed  and  the  public  wants 
answered. 

"The  balance  in  the  treasury,  at  the  close  of  the  first  quarter 
of  the  present  year,  at  the  very  highest  estimate  from  the 
proper  department,  was  less  than $32,000,000 

"  We  have,  then,  seen  public  appropriations  recommended  by 

the  committees  of  Congress,  amounting  to  more  than 27,500,000 

"Leaving  a  surplus  at  this  time  of  less  than $4,500,000 

"  We  then  find  nineteen  public  bills,  which,  if  passed  into 
laws,  will  require  millions  to  carry  them  into  execution;  a  regular 
amount  of  outstanding  appropriations  of  from  $5,000,000  to 
$7,000,000;  the  expenses  of  the  Florida  war,  not  yet  provided 
for,  amounting  to  at  least  $3,500,000;  the  large  number  of  687 
bills  upon  the  files  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  not  included 
in  the  above  estimate  of  those  bills,  and  almost  all  of  them  pro 
posing  appropriations  of  money;  provisions  for  Indian  treaties, 
requiring,  at  the  least,  $7,000,000;  the  increased  appropriations 
for  the  public  defense,  beyond  the  partial  ones  made  in  the 
bills  enumerated.  Take,  then,  the  bill  before  the  Senate,  which 


440  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

proposes  to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  from 
the  commencement  of  the  year  1833,  onward.  Those  proceeds, 
received  into  the  treasury  up  to  the  30th  of  September,  1835, 
have  been  shown  to  be  a  very  trifle  short  of  $18,000,000.  It  is 
now  ascertained,  by  reports  from  the  Treasury  department,  that 
the  receipts  into  the  treasury  from  the  lands,  for  the  last  quarter 
of  1835  and  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  year,  will  amount 
to  full  $10,000,000.  Pass  this  bill,  then,  and  see  the  effect. 

"  The  money  in  the  treasury,  on  the  first  of  the  present  month, 

was  about $32,000,000 

"  The  money  to  be  distributed  under  this  bill,  up  to  the  same 

date.'is  about. .  28,000,000 


"  Leaving  on  that  day,  in  the  treasury,  to  be  applied  to  all  the 
objects  of  appropriations  which  have  been  before  examined, 
about $4,000,000 


"  Mr.  W.  said  we  should  be  told  here  that  the  revenues  of  the 
year  were  to  be  received,  and  would  be  applicable  to,  and  suffi 
cient  for,  these  appropriations.  How  is  the  fact  ?  The  receipts 
for  the  first  quarter  of  the  year  are  included  in  the  above  balance 
of  moneys  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  day  of  the  present  month. 
The  revenue  from  the  public  lands,  if  this  bill  passes,  is  to  be 
reserved  for  distribution,  and  is  not  applicable  to  any  other 
appropriations.  The  means  of  the  treasury  will  then  be  the 
$4,000,000  remaining  in  it  as  above  shown,  and  the  revenue  from 
customs  for  the  last  three-quarters  of  the  year.  Suppose  that 
revenue  to  equal  the  highest  estimates  of  the  friends  of  the  bill, 
and  to  be  $5,000,000  per  quarter,  or  $15,000,000  for  the  last 
three-quarters  of  1836,  we  shall  then  have  $19,000,000  for  the 
service  of  the  present  year  for  all  purposes,  ordinary  and  extra 
ordinary,  a  sum  just  about  equal  to  or  exceeding  by  $1,000,000 
only,  the  average  ordinary  expenses  of  the  government  for  the 
last  two  years.  With  what  rapidity  can  the  public  defenses  be 
prosecuted  with  a  fund  of  $1,000,000  per  annum  ? 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  would  be  asked,  what  shall  be  done  with  the 
large  amount  of  money  in  the  deposit  banks,  if  this  bill  be  not 
passed  and  that  money  distributed  to  the  States  ?  For  himself, 
he  was  ready  to  answer,  he  would  appropriate  for  the  wants  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  44] 

the  government,  and  especially  for  the  public  defenses  of  every 
description,  and  in  every  quarter,  all  that  can  be  economically 
and  profitably  expended,  and  the  balance,  whatever  it  may  be, 
he  would  invest  in  securities,  the  payment  of  which,  with  interest, 
is  guaranteed  by  some  one  of  the  States.  In  that  way  he  would 
preserve  whatever  surplus  revenue  there  may  be  for  the  present, 
and  would  not  give  it  away  until  time  had  been  allowed  to  com 
plete  the  permanent  defenses  of  the  nation,  and  to  see,  from  the 
practical  operation  of  our  present  revenue  laws,  whether  any 
surplus  would  remain  after  these  heavy  expenditures  shall  have 
been  incurred. 

"Mr.  W.  said  a  very  brief  notice  of  two  other  suggestions 
should  relieve  the  Senate  from  his  very  tedious  remarks. 

"The  first  suggestion  to  which  he  referred  was  the  probable 
effect  upon  the  States  of  this  Union,  of  dividing  to  them  the 
revenues  of  the  national  treasury,  from  whatever  source  the  reve 
nue  to  be  divided  may  have  been  derived.  Our  system  is  com 
plex,  and  a  full  and  independent  preservation  of  all  its  parts  is 
indispensable  to  its  healthful  action.  The  federal  government  is 
but  the  agent,  the  organ  of  the  States — is  constituted  by  them, 
and,  without  their  concurrence,  countenance  and  support,  cannot 
exist.  Still  it  is,  for  some  purposes,  superior  to  the  governments 
of  the  States,  and  within  its  sphere,  its  action,  if  coming  in  colli 
sion  with  the  action  of  the  State  governments,  is  to  prevail. 
How  important  then  that  it  should  be  the  constant  care  and 
interest  of  the  respective  States  to  keep  this  government  most 
strictly  within  the  sphere  marked  out  and  prescribed  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  Union.  And  what  will  more  strongly  tend  to 
change  the  feelings  of  the  States,  to  put  to  sleep  their  watchful 
ness  and  care  and  jealousy  of  the  powers  of  this  government, 
than  to  accustom  them  to  depend  upon  its  treasury,  or  its  tax 
ing  power,  for  the  means  of  their  support,  of  their  internal 
improvements,  of  their  general  education  and  the  like  ?  He 
did  not  intend  to  express  distrust  of  the  patriotism  of  the 
States  ;  he  certainly  did  not  feel  any  such  distrust ;  but  is 
there  not  danger  —  great  danger  —  in  this  blending  of  govern 
ment  interests  between  the  nation  and  the  States  ?  Is  there 
not  danger  that  such  a  disposition  of  the  national  treasure 


442  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

may  make  taxation  popular  ?  We  must  not  forget  that  we  are 
the  representatives  of  the  States  ;  that  their  will  is,  or  should  be, 
the  law  for  our  government  in  our  seats  here.  May  not  the  dis 
tribution  of  millions  from  the  national  treasury  excite  expecta 
tions  of  future  bounty,  which  will  induce  the  States  to  undertake 
works  of  internal  improvement  requiring  years  for  their  comple 
tion,  and  means  far  beyond  those  now  in  our  treasury  to  meet 
the  expenditures?  May  not  the  anticipations  thus  excited  of 
future  dividends  be  disappointed,  and  the  necessity  be  thus  pro 
duced  of  raising  additional  revenues  for  the  uses  of  the  States, 
either  by  themselves  or  by  us  ?  In  such  a  state  of  things  where 
would  taxation  be  likely  to  fall?  Would  the  Legislatures  of  the 
States  impose  direct  taxes  upon  their  immediate  constituents,  or 
would  they,  much  more  probably,  instruct  their  agents  and 
representatives  here  to  raise,  by  the  indirect  taxation  within  the 
power  of  this  government,  the  revenues  the  States  require  ?  May 
not  a  condition  of  things  of  this  description  render  taxation  here 
popular  at  home,  and  thus  convert  this  government  into  a  mere 
power  to  raise  revenue  for  the  expenditure  of  the  State  govern 
ments,  until  either  the  independence  of  the  State  governments  is 
merged  in  their  dependence  upon  the  federal  government  for 
money,  or  until  the  unequal  action  of  such  a  system  shall  break 
our  bond  of  union,  and  thus  destroy  the  power  which  oppresses 
one  portion  for  the  benefit  of  another  portion  of  its  common 
citizens,  possessing  a  common  right  to  its  protecting  care  ? 

"  May  there  not  be  danger,  also,  that  the  institutions  of  this 
government  will  be  suffered  to  languish ;  that  the  proper  appro 
priations  for  their  support  will  be  withheld;  that  the  army  will 
be  neglected  ;  the  navy  destroyed  ;  the  fortifications  discontinued; 
and  even  the  civil  and  judicial  departments  be  insufficiently  sus 
tained  ;  that  the  fund  to  be  distributed  may  be  enlarged  ? 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  must  say  he  felt  great  danger  in  this  view  of 
the  action  of  this  bill.  His  apprehension  arose  from  no  ungene 
rous  distrust  of  the  patriotism  of  the  States,  but  from  a  full  and 
perfect  knowledge  that  our  local  interests,  in  the  different  sec 
tions  of  the  Union,  conflict  with  each  other,  and  that  no  system 
of  taxation  which  can  or  will  be  adopted,  for  purposes  such  as  he 
had  indicated,  will  act  equally  upon  all  the  States. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  443 

"The  other  suggestion,  Mr.  W.  said,  which  he  proposed  to 
make,  was  in  relation  to  that  provision  of  the  bill  which  declares 
that  the  distribution  under  it  to  the  States  shall  cease,  in  case  the 
country  shall  be  involved  in  a  foreign  war.  It  is  worthy  of 
remark,  preliminarily,  that  this  provision  excluded  those  wars  to 
which  we  were  more  peculiarly  and  constantly  exposed,  —  the 
wars  with  the  Indians  within  the  limits  of  the  States  and  upon 
our  borders.  Whatever  may  be  the  expenses  of  those  wars  in 
future,  the  distribution  provided  for  is  to  continue,  and  the 
expenses  of  such  wars  are  to  be  charged  upon  revenues  to  be 
derived  from  sources  other  than  the  public  lands.  What  would 
be  the  effect  of  this  provision  upon  the  States,  in  case  just  cause 
of  war  with  a  foreign  power  should  arise  ?  Would  it  be  the 
expression  of  an  unjust  suspicion  of  their  patriotism  to  say  that 
they  would  find  in  the  action  of  this  bill  a  direct  temptation  to 
resist  any  such  war  ?  It  was  most  apparent  that  war  must,  at  all 
times,  embarrass  the  commerce  and  business  of  the  people  of 
the  States  ;  and  if,  in  addition  to  these  objections  to  a  state  of 
war,  their  dividends  from  the  national  treasury,  rendered  more 
necessary  in  time  of  war,  were  to  be  suspended  by  the  occurrence 
of  war,  was  it  wrong  to  suppose  that  this  principle  of  distribution, 
accompanied  by  such  a  condition,  might  induce  them  to  resist  a 
declaration  of  war,  even  at  the  hazard  of  the  interest  and  the 
honor  of  the  nation  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  feared  the  action  of  the 
bill  in  this  respect,  and,  if  the  distribution  must  take  place,  he 
would  prefer  that  this  condition  should  not  be  retained,  but  that 
the  whole  subject  should  be  left  open  for  the  future  action  of 
Congress,  whenever  any  emergency  shall  arise  calling  for  a 
change." 

On  the  27th  of  April  the  bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed 
for  a  third  reading,  by  a  vote  of  25  to  21,  and  was  sent 
to  the  House.  After  a  spirited  discussion  in  that  body, 
on  the  22d  of  June  it  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of 
104  ayes  and  85  nays. 


444  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LVIL 

THE  BILL   FOR    PURCHASING   SITES    AND   MATERIALS    FOR 
FORTIFICATIONS. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  1836,  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson 
reported,  from  the  Military  Committee  of  the  House,  a 
bill  making  appropriations  to  purchase  sites  and  mate 
rials  for  the  construction  of  fortifications.  This  was 
understood  to  be  antagonistic  to  the  whig  policy  of  dis 
tribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands. 
This  bill  occasioned  a  discussion  which  called  forth  the 
best  talent  of  both  parties.  The  bill  passed  the  House, 
and  in  the  Senate  was  debated  until  the  26th  of  May, 
when  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  yeas  31  to  nays  9.  On  the 
19th  Mr.  WRIGHT  addressed  the  Senate,  in  favor  of  the 
bill,  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said,  when  the  subject  was  last  before  the  Senate 
he  had  moved  an  adjournment,  with  the  intention,  more  particu 
larly,  of  making  a  reply  to  some  of  the  remarks  of  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun],  who  had  then  just  addressed 
the  body  against  the  bill.  So  much  time,  however,  had  elapsed 
that  the  reply  intended  had  been  principally  abandoned ;  and, 
as  he  did  not  see  that  Senator  in  his  seat,  and  understood  he 
was  absent  upon  official  duty,  he  should  only  notice  such  of  his 
observations  as  were  material  to  the  views  he  proposed  to  pre 
sent  upon  the  merits  of  the  bill. 

"  On  the  eighteenth  of  February  last,  the  Senate  came  to  a 
final  vote  upon  a  resolution  offered,  at  an  early  day  of  the  session, 
by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Benton],  upon  the 
subject  of  appropriations  for  the  public  defense.  All  would 
recollect  the  declaration  of  the  mover  of  the  resolution,  made 
at  the  time  of  its  introduction,  that  he  considered  it  as  antago 
nistic  to  the  two  propositions  then  before  the  Senate  for  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  445 

distribution,  among  the  States,  of  the  public  moneys  in  the  trea 
sury  ;  the  first  the  land  bill,  and  the  second  the  proposition  of 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  so  to  amend  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  to  authorize  an  entire  distri 
bution,  for  a  series  of  years,  of  the  surplus  revenues,  from  what 
ever  source  derived.  None  could  have  forgotten  the  protracted 
debate  upon  that  resolution,  or  the  views  entertained  and  ex 
pressed  by  those  who  took  part  in  the  debate.  Upon  the  one 
side,  the  declarations  of  the  honorable  mover  were  sustained  arid 
enforced,  and  upon  the  other  side  the  policy  of  a  system  of  forti 
fications  was  resisted  by  some,  while  others  admitted  and  advo 
cated  the  policy  and  expediency  of  suet  a  system  but  denied 
that  the  land  bill  was  antagonistic  to  the  proposed  appropriations. 
The  subject  occupied  the  principal  attention  of  the  Senate  for 
some  four  weeks,  and  a  very  slight  modification  only  was  adopted. 
"The  palpable  and  declared  object  of  the  resolution  was  to 
present  to  the  Senate  the  great  and  vital  question,  whether  the 
surplus  revenues  in  the  national  treasury  should  be  given  away, 
as  gratuities  to  the  States,  before  the  public  defenses  were  pro 
vided  for,  or  whether  those  defenses  should  first  command  the 
attention  and  favor  of  the  national  Legislature.  The  resolution, 
as  drawn  and  offered,  related  to  the  surplus,  and  necessarily  pre 
sented  this  question.  The  modification  merely  removed  the 
application  of  the  resolution  from  the  surplus  revenue  to  the 
whole  revenues  of  the  government,  and  made  the  pledge  more 
broad  than  the  mover  of  the  original  resolution  had  proposed. 
In  its  amended  shape,  it  stood  in  the  following  words  : 

"'  Resolved,  That  so  much  of  the  revenue  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
dividends  of  stock  receivable  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  may 
be  necessary  for  the  purpose,  ought  to  be  set  apart  and  applied  to  the 
general  defense  and  permanent  security  of  the  country.' 

"  In  this  shape  it  was  voted  upon  by  the  Senate;  and,  upon  a 
call  of  the  yeas  and  nays,  every  Senator  then  in  his  seat,  to  the 
number  of  forty-two,  out  of  the  forty-eight  members  of  the 
body,  recorded  his  name  in  favor  of  it. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  thought  he  had  a  right  to  ask  whether  this 
vote  ought  not  to  have  been  considered  a  pledge  to  the  country, 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  that  all  necessary  appropriations  for 


446  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  public  defense  should  be  first  made  out  of  the  public  moneys 
in  the  treasury  before  any  other  disposition  should  be  attempted 
to  be  made  of  those  moneys  ?  He  thought  the  inquiry  could  not 
be  considered  impertinent  or  improper  ;  and  he  called  the  atten 
tion  of  those  Senators  who  had  voted  for  that  resolution  to  its 
fair  implication,  and  to  the  measure  now  under  discussion.  This 
was  the  first  measure  for  general  public  defense,  which  had  been 
presented  for  the  action  of  the  body,  since  the  passage  of  the 
resolution.  Were  the  defenses  it  proposed  necessary,  so  as  to 
bring  it  within  the  pledge  contained  in  the  resolution  ? 

"  To  answer  this  inquiry,  it  would  be  proper  to  look  further 
into  the  resolution  itself,  and  into  the  information  it  had  elicited. 
In  addition  to  the  general  pledge  before  quoted,  it  contained  a 
call  upon  the  President,  and,  through  him,  upon  the  proper 
departments  of  the  government,  as  to  the  appropriations  neces 
sary  and  proper  to  be  made  for  the  various  branches  of  the  pub 
lic  defense,  naval  and  military.  An  answer  to  that  call,  most 
full  and  satisfactory,  had  been  given,  and  for  his  present  purpose 
it  was  only  necessary  to  refer  to  the  clear  and  strong  letter  from 
the  Secretary  of  War,  to  whose  department  that  branch  of  the 
public  defenses  provided  for  by  this  bill  particularly  pertained. 
The  Secretary  speaks  with  especial  reference  to  the  bill  under 
discussion,  and  therefore  his  remarks  are  susceptible  of  the  most 
clear  and  unquestionable  application.  The  bill  was  reported 
from  the  Committee  on  Military  Aifairs,  recommending  appro 
priations  for  the  commencement  of  new  fortifications  at  nineteen 
new  points  upon  the  sea-coast.  The  Secretary  had  adopted 
twelve,  and,  for  the  present,  rejected  the  remaining  seven  appro 
priations.  He  had  recommended  delay  and  further  examination 
merely  as  to  the  latter  class;  while  he  had,  in  the  most  clear  and 
unequivocal  language,  urged  action — prompt,  full  and  efficient 
action — as  to  the  former  class. 

"Mr.  W.  said,  as  attempts  had  been  made  to  cast  doubt 
and  obscurity  over  the  opinions  of  the  Secretary  in  this  matter, 
he  should  speak  for  himself.  He  would  read  from  the  nine 
teenth  and  twentieth  pages  of  the  report,  and  the  language  was 
as  follows  : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  447 

"  '  It  cannot  be  doubted  but  that  fortifications  at  the  following  places,  enu 
merated  in  this  bill,  will  be  necessary  : 

At  Penobscot  bay,  for  the  protection  of  Bangor,  etc. 

At  Kennebec  river. 

At  Portland. 

At  Portsmouth. 

At  Salem. 

At  New  Bedford. 

At  New  London. 

Upon  Staten  Island. 

At  Soller's  Flats. 

A  redoubt  on  Federal  Point. 

For  the  Barancas. 

For  Fort  St.  Philip. 

"'  These  proposed  works  all  command  the  approach  to  places  sufficiently 
important  to  justify  their  construction  under  any  circumstances  that  will 
probably  exist.  I  think,  therefore,  that  the  public  interest  would  be  pro 
moted  by  the  passage  of  the  necessary  appropriations  for  them.  As  soon 
as  these  are  made,  such  of  the  positions  as  may  appear  to  require  it  can  be 
examined,  and  the  form  and  extent  of  the  works  adapted  to  the  existing 
circumstances,  if  any  change  be  desirable.  The  construction  of  those  not 
needing  examination  can  commence  immediately,  and  that  of  the  others  as 
soon  as  the  plans  are  determined  upon.  By  this  proceeding,  therefore,  a 
season  may  be  saved  in  the  operations.' 

"  Such,  Mr.  President  (said  Mr.  W.),  are  the  expressions  and 
the  opinions  of  the  head  of  the  department,  upon  which  the  call 
has  been  made,  on  this  important  subject  of  fortifications.  Are 
those  expressions  and  opinions  equivocal  ?  Has  not  the  Secre 
tary  told  us  that  he  believed  *  the  public  interests  would  be  pro 
moted  by  the  passage  of  the  necessary  appropriations  for  them  ?' 
Has  he  not  told  us  that,  by  making  these  appropriations  now,  '  a 
season  may  be  saved  in  the  operations  ?'  Where,  then,  is  the 
doubt  ?  Where  the  equivocation  ?  The  bill  originally  contained 
provisions  for  nineteen  new  works.  The  Secretary  selects  and 
recommends,  unequivocally,  appropriations  for  twelve  of  the 
nineteen,  and  as  unequivocally  recommends  a  postponement  of 
appropriations  and  further  surveys  and  examinations  as  to  the 
remaining  seven.  He  meets  fairly  and  fully  the  whole  bill,  and 
gives  his  opinions  and  his  reasons  as  to  every  part  of  it.  Whence, 
then,  the  pretense  that  his  recommendations  are  obscure,  and  his 
opinions  doubtful,  as  to  the  works  still  embraced  in  the  bill? 


448  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

The  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  since  the  receipt  of  the  report 
of  the  Secretary,  have  considered  his  views,  and  made  their  bill 
conform  to  them.  They  have  recommended  that  the  appropri 
ations  for  the  seven  works,  for  which  the  Secretary  does  not 
recommend  immediate  appropriations,  should  be  strickn  from  the 
bill,  and  the  Senate  has  unanimously  agreed  to  the  amendments. 
They  have  been  made,  and  the  bill  is  now  precisely  what  the 
Secretary  tells  us  the  public  interests  require  that  it  should  be. 
Whence,  then,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  again  asked,  these  attempts  to 
prove  that  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  was  doubtful  as  to  the 
remaining  twelve  new  fortifications?  The  answer  was  clear  and 
conclusive,  and  he  should  only  repeat  what  had  been  already 
said  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Preston] 
when  he  gave  it.  Gentlemen  had  taken  the  expressions  of  the  Sec 
retary,  applicable  to  the  seven  works  for  which  he  recommended 
the  suspension  of  immediate  appropriations,  and  had  applied 
them  to  the  twelve  works  in  reference  to  which  he  had  given 
the  opinion  that  the  public  interests  would  be  promoted  by  the 
passage  of  the  necessary  appropriations  for  them.  Any  one  who 
would  read  with  care  the  report  of  the  Secretary  would  detect  thk 
error,  and  absolve  that  officer  from  all  obscurity  or  equivocation. 

"It  should  be  further  remembered  that  the  President,  upon 
whom  the  call  was  made,  has  especially  and  fully  indorsed  the 
recommendation  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  So  far,  therefore,  as 
the  information  and  opinions  of  the  executive  departments  can 
establish  a  necessity  for  the  works  for  which  the  bill  under  con 
sideration  provides,  we  are  able  to  pronounce,  without  doubt  or 
hesitation,  that  they  are  necessary  to  the  public  defense. 

u  What,  then,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  must  ask,  is  the  condition  of 
the  Senate  in  its  action  upon  this  bill,  after  the  pledge  given  to 
the  country  in  the  resolution  above  quoted  ?  Were  we  at  liberty 
to  refuse  the  appropriations,  unless  we  disputed  the  necessity  of 
the  works  ?  It  seemed  to  him  not.  It  seemed  to  him  we  were 
estopped  by  our  own  acts,  unless  we  were  prepared  to  assert  and 
show,  in  opposition  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  and  the  con 
curring  opinion  of  the  President,  that  the  works  proposed  to  be 
constructed  are  not  necessary  to  the  national  defense,  within  the 
fair  scope  and  meaning  of  our  own  resolution. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  449 

"  He  must,  then,  appeal  to  the  Senate,  and  to  every  individual 
Senator,  to  know  whether  there  is  one  member  of  that  body  who 
will  deny,  or  even  question,  the  necessity  of  one  of  the  works 
now  proposed  by  the  bill.  He  did  not  believe  he  should  hear  a 
voice  raised  in  doubt,  much  less  in  denial,  of  the  necessity  of 
each  and  every  one  of  these  works.  How,  then,  was  the  Senate 
to  refuse  the  appropriations,  and  preserve  the  pledge  it  had  given 
to  the  country,  that  the  public  defenses  were  first  to  occupy  its 
attention,  and  that  provision  for  these  defenses,  so  far  as  such 
provision  might  be  necessary,  was  first  to  be  made  from  the 
public  moneys  in  the  treasury,  and  the  public  revenues  to  be 
received  into  that  treasury. 

"  Objections  to  the  bill,  however,  had  been  made,  and  Mr.  W. 
said  he  would  detain  the  Senate  for  a  few  moments,  to  examine 
some  of  those  objections. 

"  The  first  in  order  which  he  would  notice  was,  that  new  dis 
coveries  in  the  art  and  science  of  defense  might  supersede  the 
present  propositions;  that  the  power  of  steam  and  its  application 
to  the  defenses  of  a  nation  were  yet  little  known  and  had  been 
little  tried,  and  that  future  experience  might  prove  that  this 
power  would  furnish  a  preferable  substitute  for  the  permanent 
defenses  proposed  by  the  bill.  In  answer  to  this  objection,  he 
would  merely  ask,  in  sincerity  and  candor,  whether  a  single 
member  of  the  Senate  had  brought  his  mind  to  the  belief  that 
our  important  commercial  towns,  our  principal  and  most  useful 
harbors,  and  the  mouths  of  our  great  navigable  rivers,  which 
were  susceptible  of  perfect  defense  by  permanent,  stationary  and 
durable  fortifications,  were  to  be  left  to  any  description  of  movable 
and  floating  defenses,  whether  moved  and  governed  by  steam  or 
by  the  natural  elements  ?  Did  any  man,  who  had  in  the  slightest 
degree  examined  this  subject,  delude  himself  with  the  notion 
that  a  commercial  nation,  with  a  coast  more  extended  and  exposed 
than  any  other  nation  of  the  world,  and  with  the  means  in  its 
treasury  for  the  construction  of  permanent  and  secure  defenses, 
was  either  to  wait  for  new  discoveries  as  to  the  power  and  appli 
cation  of  steam,  or  to  trust  its  wealth  and  commerce  to  the  pro 
tection  of  floating  batteries  instead  of  well-constructed  and 
immovable  fortifications  ?  For  himself,  Mr.  W.  said,  his  enthu- 
29 


450  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WXIGHT. 

siasm  as  to  modern  improvements  had  carried  his  mind  to  no 
such  conclusions.  He  had  not  doubted,  and  did  not  now  doubt, 
that  steam,  as  connected  with  harbor  defense,  was  to  be  made  a 
most  important  agent  in  the  great  work  in  which  we  were 
engaged,  and  he  was  prepared  to  go  as  far  as  experience  and 
wisdom  would  warrant  in  providing  for  its  use;  but  he  would 
not,  for  one  moment,  admit  that  the  important  points  upon  our 
coasts  susceptible  of  permanent  land  defenses  were  to  be  left  to 
the  uncertain  and  doubtful  protection  of  moving  batteries  of  any 
description.  He  had  not  heard  it  advanced  that  the  science  of 
defense  by  fortifications  was  very  imperfect,  or  that  improve 
ments  were  to  be  soon  anticipated;  and  having  come  to  the  con 
clusion  that  these  were  the  defenses  which  the  country  required, 
at  the  points  named  in  the  bill,  and  that  the  art  of  constructing 
them  had  been,  in  all  essential  particulars,  as  perfect  for  centuries 
as  it  now  is,  he  was  prepared  to  give  his  support  to  the  bill,  with 
out  waiting  the  uncertainty  of  valuable  improvements  by  new 
discoveries. 

"  The  next  objection  he  proposed  to  notice  was,  that  we  want 
information  as  to  some  of  these  proposed  works;  that  the  neces 
sary  examinations,  surveys  and  estimates  have  not  been  made, 
and  that  we  act  in  the  dark  in  making  appropriations  without 
them.  This  objection,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  was  willing  to  admit  was 
specious  and  plausible  ;  but  as  to  these  particular  works  he 
thought  he  should  be  able  easily  to  show  that  it  was  much  more 
specious  than  solid  and  substantial.  He  had  understood  from  the 
remarks  made  by  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs  [Mr.  Benton],  when  this  bill  was  first  under  discussion, 
that  all  these  points  had  been  selected  as  points  proper  for  the 
construction  of  permanent  fortifications  by  the  first  board  of 
engineers  which  ever  examined  our  Atlantic  coast  with  a  view  to 
its  permanent  defense  ;  that  several  subsequent  examinations,  by 
competent  and  skillful  engineers,  had  been  made  for  the  same 
purpose,  and  that  all  had  selected  these  points  as  capable  of 
being  defended  by  the  erection  of  forts  and  batteries,  and  as  of 
sufficient  importance,  either  as  commercial  towns,  or  safe  and 
convenient  harbors  and  roadsteads,  to  render  such  defenses  neces 
sary  to  the  protection  of  our  commerce  and  the  security  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  451 

country;  and  that  conjectural  plans  and  estimates  of  the  works 
required  had  been  repeatedly  made  at  all  the  points.  He  now 
received  the  assent  of  that  honorable  Senator  to  the  correctness 
of  his  understanding  in  these  particulars,  and  was,  therefore,  not 
mistaken  in  assuming  this  as  one  ground  for  the  immediate  action 
of  the  Senate.  But  there  was  another  and  a  stronger  ground. 
A  call  had  been  made  upon  the  War  Department,  upon  this  sub 
ject,  and  the  answer,  full,  complete  and  apparently  satisfactory 
to  all,  was  before  us.  That  department  was  in  possession  of  all 
the  information  which  had  been  collected  as  to  the  necessity  and 
propriety  of  these  works.  No  one  would  doubt  the  competency 
of  the  head  of  that  department  to  form  a  safe  and  correct  opinion 
upon  the  sufficiency  of  that  information  for  the  discreet  action 
of  Congress.  What,  then,  does  the  Secretary  say  in  reference 
to  the  fortifications  provided  for  in  this  bill  ? 

"  '  It  cannot  be  doubted  but  that  fortifications  at  the  following  places, 
enumerated  in  this  bill,  will  be  necessary. 

"  '  I  think,  therefore,  that  the  public  interest  would  be  promoted  by  the 
passage  of  the  necessary  appropriations  for  them.  As  soon  as  these  are 
made,  such  of  the  positions  as  may  appear  to  require  it  can  be  examined, 
and  the  form  and  extent  of  the  works  adapted  to  existing  circumstances,  if 
any  change  be  desirable.  The  construction  of  those  not  needing  examina 
tion  can  commence  immediately,  and  that  of  the  others  as  soon  as  the  plans 
are  determined  upon.  By  this  proceeding,  therefore,  a  season  may  be  saved 
in  the  operations.' 

"  These  are  the  opinions  of  the  executive  officer  of  the  gov 
ernment  especially  charged  with  these  works  of  defense,  and 
fully  aware  of  all  the  information  in  the  possession  of  the  gov 
ernment  in  relation  to  their  necessity  and  propriety.  Does  he 
tell  us  we  want  more  information  before  we  can  act  ?  No,  sir. 
He  tells  us  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  fortifications  at  the  points 
mentioned  will  be  necessary.  Does  he  tell  us  that  we  want  fur 
ther  examinations,  surveys  and  estimates,  before  we  can  hazard 
an  appropriation  ?  No,  sir.  He  tells  us  that  when  the  appro 
priations  have  been  made,  such  of  the  positions  as  may  appear  to 
require  it  can  be  examined,  and  the  form  and  extent  of  the  works 
adapted  to  existing  circumstances,  '  if  any  change  be  desirable.' 
Does  he  tell  us  that  nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  making  the 
appropriations  now  ?  No,  sir.  He  tells  us  that,  by  this  proceed- 


452  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ing,  a  season  may  be  saved  in  the  operations.  So  much,  Mr. 
President,  said  Mr.  W.,  for  the  objection  that  we  have  not  infor 
mation  to  authorize  these  appropriations. 

"Another  objection  is,  that  we  have  not  engineers  to  superin 
tend  these  works;  and  that,  unless  the  corps  of  engineers  be 
increased,  the  appropriations,  if  made,  must  remain  unexpended. 
Mr.  W.  said  this  was  an  objection  to  this  class  of  appropri 
ations  which  had  been  frequently  advanced  upon  former  occa 
sions,  and  he  had  repeatedly  attempted  to  answer  it ;  in  which 
attempt,  he  was  sorry  to  say,  he  had  been  so  unsuccessful 
that  the  same  objection  again  met  him  here.  He  must  repeat 
his  former  opinion,  that  the  money  of  the  government  would 
command  engineers  of  science,  skill  and  experience;  and  that 
gentlemen  were  entirely  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the  corps  of 
engineers,  holding  military  commissions  under  the  United  States, 
monopolized  all  the  science,  experience  or  skill  to  be  found  in 
this  widely  extended  country.  But,  for  the  sake  of  this  argu 
ment,  he  would  admit  the  necessity  of  an  increase  of  the  corps 
of  engineers;  and  what  would  be  the  effect  upon  the  duties  of 
the  Senate  in  relation  to  this  bill?  An  act  for  the  increase  of 
that  corps,  to  the  extent  recommended  by  the  head  of  the  corps, 
had  long  since  passed  this  body,  and  been  sent  to  the  House  of 
Representatives.  We,  therefore,  had  discharged  our  duty  in 
this  matter,  and  he  was  for  continuing  to  discharge  that  duty  in 
a  manner  consistent  with  our  own  action.  It  was  not  for  the 
Senate  to  wait  the  passage  of  one  of  its  bills  through  the  other 
branch  of  Congress,  before  it  would  act  upon  another  and  more 
important  public  measure.  Let  us,  said  Mr.  W.,  follow  our  own 
action,  be  consistent  with  ourselves,  carry  out  our  own  measures, 
and  leave  the  House  of  Representatives  to  their  proper  responsi 
bilities.  This  objection  has  no  foundation  with  us,  because  .we 
have  already  obviated  it  by  our  legislative  action,  and  it  does 
not  become  us  to  assume  that  any  other  branch  of  the  govern 
ment  will  not  discharge  the  same  duty. 

"A  further  objection  to  the  passage  of  this  bill  is,  that  if  the 
appropriations  be  made,  the  money  cannot  be  expended.  It  is 
asserted  that  the  ordinary  appropriations  for  the  fortifications 
already  commenced  will  cost  more  money  than  it  is  in  the  power  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  453 

the  officers  of  the  government  to  expend,  and  that  hence  addi 
tional  appropriations  for  new  works  cannot  be  expended.  Mr. 
W.  said  he  did  not  see  that  the  conclusion  followed  from  the 
premises.  If  it  were  true  that  money  could  not  be  expended  at 
one  point  upon  our  extended  coast,  for  the  want  of  laborers,  he 
could  not  see  that  it  necessarily  followed  that  laborers  could  not 
be  procured  at  other  points.  The  evidence  upon  which  this 
objection  rests  is  a  report  from  the  head  of  the  engineer  depart 
ment,  stating  that  some  eighty  or  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
appropriated  for  the  construction  of  a  fort  at  Throg's  Neck,  near 
the  harbor  of  New  York,  was  not  expended  during  the  last  year, 
because  laborers  were  not  procured;  that  invitations  to  laborers 
were  published  and  circulated  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  in 
several  of  the  eastern  cities,  without  effect.  The  report,  no 
doubt,  states  truly  the  facts,  as  far  as  it  goes;  but  there  are 
other  facts  required  to  enable  us  to  form  a  correct  judgment  as 
to  the  inference  authorized  from  this  failure  to  procure  laborers. 
What  prices  were  offered?  Were  they  equal  to  the  current 
prices  of  similar  labor  in  the  cities  where  the  invitations  were 
circulated  ?  Was  the  season  of  the  year  that  when  laborers  are 
usually  disengaged  and  at  liberty  to  make  contracts  ?  Were 
the  character  and  condition  of  the  work  such  as  the  mass  of 
laborers  were  competent  to  perform,  and  would  be  willing  to 
engage  in  at  ordinary  wages  ?  These  and  other  inquiries  should 
be  answered  before  we  are  authorized  to  conclude  that  money 
would  not  command  labor  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  our  great 
commercial  metropolis. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  this  objection  had  been  repeatedly  urged  during 
the  discussions  of  the  present  session,  and  he  had  himself  repeat 
edly  attempted  to  answer  it,  —  he  was  mortified  to  see  how  unfor 
tunately,  as  the  objection  continued  to  be  urged  with  undimin- 
ished  earnestness  and  confidence.  He  must,  therefore,  again 
repeat  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  most  perfect  and  com 
plete  refutation  of  the  idea  that  money  will  not  command 
labor  in  and  about  New  York,  to  any  extent  to  which 
money  is  offered  and  paid.  All  will  remember  that  since 
we  have  been  here,  during  our  present  session,  the  city  of 
New  York  has  been  visited  bv  a  conflagration  unequaled  in  the 


454  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

history  of  this  continent.  From  five  to  seven  hundred  extensive 
buildings,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city,  were  laid  in  ashes  in  the 
course  of  a  few  hours.  He  had  recently  seen  several  intelligent 
merchants  from  that  city,  some  of  whom  were  among  the  suf 
ferers  by  the  fire.  All  agreed  in  assuring  him  that  by  the  time 
he  would  probably  pass  the  city  on  his  way  to  his  home,  after  the 
adjournment  of  Congress,  he  would  almost  want  a  guide  to  point 
out  to  him  where  the  fire  had  extended;  that  new  buildings  were 
rising  upon  the  ruins  of  those  destroyed  by  the  fire,  with  a 
rapidity  wholly  incredible  ;  that  it  almost  seemed  that  an  entire 
city  was  rising  from  the  earth,  as  by  the  power  of  magic;  that 
the  present  month  would  entirely  complete  a  large  proportion  of 
the  new  buildings.  This,  Mr.  President,  has  been  mostly  done  in 
the  season  of  winter,  and  a  winter,  too,  unequaled  in  severity 
and  duration.  And  can  it  be  true  that  at  that  point  the  United 
States  cannot  command  labor  by  money  ?  Can  private  enterprise 
accomplish  so  much  in  a  few  months,  and  yet  the  government 
not  be  able  to  spend  a  few  thousand  dollars  upon  works  of 
defense,  because  labor  cannot  be  procured  for  money  ?  Sir,  the 
conclusion  is  contradicted  by  facts,  is  contradicted  by  experience, 
is  contradicted  by  the  plainest  dictates  of  sense  and  reason.  The 
government  must  not  expect  to  obtain  labor  but  by  paying  the 
current  prices  for  the  labor  it  requires  ;  and  at  those  prices  its 
money  will  go  as  far,  be  as  sure  to  command  labor,  and  to  obtain 
it,  as  will  the  money  of  private  citizens. 

"But,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  there  is  another  view  of  this 
subject.  What  is  the  course  of  these  expenditures  ?  For  what 
are  expenses  first  to  be  incurred  ?  The  points  at  which  the  forti 
fications  are  to  be  erected  are  fixed  in  the  bill  ;  but  you  have 
acquired  no  title  to  the  necessary  grounds,  and  no  jurisdiction 
from  the  States  over  those  sites,  when  you  have  purchased  them. 
Both  of  these  steps  must  be  taken  before  common  prudence  will 
warrant  the  commencement  of  the  proposed  erections.  In  all 
cases  the  purchase  of  the  grounds  must  require  an  expenditure 
of  money,  and  the  grant  of  the  necessary  jurisdiction  must  require 
time  for  the  action  of  the  respective  State  Legislatures.  It  will 
not  be  supposed  that  the  application  will  be  made  for  the  grant 
of  jurisdiction  until  Congress  place  at  the  disposition  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  455 

proper  executive  department  the  means  to  make  the  purchase  of 
a  site,  in  case  the  jurisdiction  be  obtained.  Mr.  W.  said,  to  illus 
trate  his  meaning,  he  would  speak  of  the  proposed  appropriation 
for  his  own  State  ;  because  he  was  more  fully  acquainted  with 
the  facts  in  that  case  than  any  other  embraced  in  the  bill.  He 
referred  to  the  appropriation  of  $200,000  for  the  purchase  of  the 
site  of  Fort  Tompkins  and  its  dependencies,  and  for  the  erection 
thereon  of  fortifications  to  protect  and  defend  the  main  entrance 
into  the  harbor  of  New  York.  This  site  is  so  plainly  designated 
by  the  nature  of  the  ground,  and  the  formation  of  the  harbor, 
that  no  person  who  ever  passed  the  point  can  have  failed  to  see 
and  mark  it.  Indeed,  the  State,  during  the  late  war  with  Great 
Britain,  and  when  the  national  treasury  was  destitute  of  means 
to  prosecute  the  war,  and  much  more  to  defend  our  coast,  took 
this  matter  into  its  own  hands,  possessed  itself  "of  this  site,  and 
erected  upon  it  three  works  of  defense  :  Fort  Tompkins  upon  the 
heights,  to  defend  the  outer  works  from  approach  by  land  ;  Fort 
Richmond  upon  the  water,  to  defend  the  Narrows;  and  Fort 
Hudson,  an  extensive  water-battery,  to  act  in  aid  of  Fort  Rich 
mond,  and  to  reach  an  enemy  in  his  approach  to  the  Narrows 
from  the  outer  harbor.  These  works  still  belong  to  the  State,  but 
had  not  been  kept  in  repair  since  the  war.  The  consequence  was, 
that  they  had  gone  into  a  state  of  dilapidation,  and  he  was 
unable  to  say  what  their  value  might  now  be  to  the  government. 
He  had  understood  that  they  cost  the  State  some  $400^000.  He 
knew  that  repeated  overtures  had  been  made  by  the  State  to  this 
government  to  purchase  them,  with  the  site,  and  that  the  Legis 
lature  had  repeatedly  authorized  negotiations  for  their  sale  and 
transfer  to  the  United  States.  Nothing  had  hitherto  been 
effected,  and  he  had  recently  been  informed  that  the  Legislature 
of  the  State,  now  in  session,  had  again  authorized  the  sale  and 
transfer.  In  this  case  this  must  be  the  first  step,  and  the  pay 
ment  for  the  site  the  first  item  of  expenditure.  So  far,  therefore, 
as  that  may  go,  no  objection  would  be  interposed  that  the  money, 
if  appropriated,  could  not  be  expended ;  nor  would  it  be  said  that 
time  was  required,  or  information  wanted,  to  accomplish  these 
objects.  He  did  not  suppose  that  any  other  point  was  precisely 
similarly  circumstanced  ;  but  he  did  suppose  that  in  all  cases, 


456  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

whether  the  sites  were  the  property  of  the  States,  or  of  indivi 
duals,  a  title  was  to  be  secured  to  the  United  States  and  paid  for 
out  of  the  respective  appropriations  ;  and  that  the  proper  juris 
diction,  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  government,  was  to  be 
obtained  from  the  respective  State  Legislatures  in  the  mode 
pointed  out  by  the  Constitution.  Means,  therefore,  would  be 
required,  as  well  as  time,  in  all  cases  ;  and,  so  far  as  both  were 
concerned,  the  application  to  the  case  of  Staten  Island  would  be 
measurably  applicable  to  all  the  other  cases  embraced  in  the  bill. 

"What  were  the  next  subjects  of  expenditure?  Mr.  W.  said 
it  seemed  to  him  that  the  materials  for  the  construction  of  a  for 
tification  would  next  require  the  expenditure  of  money.  The 
stone,  brick,  lime,  sand,  timber,  iron,  and  all  other  materials, 
must  be  purchased  and  brought  to  the  spot.  Was  there  any 
objection  to  making  the  contracts  and  procuring  the  delivery  of 
these  materials  during  the  time  required  to  negotiate  for  the 
site,  and  procure  the  grant  of  jurisdiction  ?  He  could  see  none. 
Would  not  these  preparatory  steps  occupy  time  enough  to  allow 
all  further  necessary  surveys  and  examinations  to  be  made  ?  He 
was  sure  no  one  could  doubt  the  fact  ?  What,  then,  was  the 
strength  of  the  objection  that  the  money  could  not  be  expended, 
or  that  more  time  was  required  for  surveys  and  examinations  ? 

"But,  Mr.  W.  said,  there  was  another  view  of  this  objection 
of  time,  which  seemed  to  him  as  absurd  in  practice  as  it  must  be 
fatal  in  principle  to  these  works  of  public  defense.  He  referred  to 
that  class  of  the  opponents  of  this  bill  who  urged  the  necessity 
of  delay  in  making  these  appropriations,  and  at  the  same  time 
pressed  upon  us  measures  for  the  gratuitous  distribution  among 
the  States  of  the  very  moneys  in  the  treasury  with  which  these 
fortifications  were  to  be  constructed.  The  land  bill,  which  had 
passed  this  body  but  a  few  days  since,  was  one  of  these  measures, 
and  some  gentlemen  had  been  frank  enough  to  put  their  opposi 
tion  to  this  bill  upon  the  ground  that  it  might  interfere  with  the 
moneys  proposed  to  be  distributed  under  the  provisions  of  that 
act.  Others,  and  much  the  largest  number  of  the  friends  of  that 
measure,  had  placed  their  opposition  to  this  bill  upon  the  ground 
of  want  of  information  of  surveys,  examinations  and  estimates  ; 
and  yet  they  had  not  failed  to  urge,  with  all  the  ardor  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  457 

former  class,  the  giving  away  to  the  States  the  very  means  by 
which  alone  these  most  important  and  confessedly  necessary 
modes  of  public  defense  can  be  erected,  when  the  information 
they  seem  to  desire  shall  have  been  obtained.  What  is  the  value 
of  such  professions  of  friendship  for  the  defenses  of  the  country  ? 
What  will  be  the  use  of  the  information  sought  when  the  means 
of  proceeding  with  the  works  shall  have  been  given  away  ?  For 
what  valuable  purpose  shall  we  learn  that  the  positions  named  in 
the  bill  are  well  selected,  the  fortifications  wise  and  necessary, 
the  plans  economical,  and  the  appropriations  proposed  only  rea 
sonable  for  present  objects,  when  the  treasury  shall  have  been 
exhausted  in  bounties  to  the  States,  and  we  have  not  a  dollar  at 
command  to  be  applied  to  new  or  additional  defenses  ?  Mr.  W. 
said  he  must  say  that  gentlemen  who  assumed  this  position  sub 
jected  themselves  most  strongly  to  the  suspicion  that  a  division 
of  the  public  moneys,  and  not  the  prosecution  of  works  of 
defense,  was  their  darling  object.  To  the  other  class,  who 
openly  and  frankly  opposed  the  bill  upon  the  ground  that  it  con 
flicted  with  the  schemes  for  a  distribution  of  the  public  moneys, 
he  must  award  greater  fairness.  They  met  what  he  considered 
to  be  the  true  question,  openly  and  without  disguise.  He  must, 
however,  here  bring  to  the  memory  of  these  opponents  of  the 
bill  now  under  discussion  some  of  the  arguments  used  by  those 
who  opposed  the  passage  of  the  land  bill  through  the  Senate.  It 
was  contended,  Mr.  W.  said,  by  himself  and  others,  that  any 
system  of  distribution,  such  as  was  proposed  by  that  bill,  would 
tend  to  impede  the  necessary  public  appropriations,  to  arrest  the 
prosecution  of  the  necessary  public  defenses,  and  to  embarrass 
the  national  government  in  all  its  departments,  and  in  every 
branch  of  the  public  service.  It  was  urged  that  such  distribution 
would  necessarily  lead  the  States  into  measures  involving  heavy 
and  long-continued  expenditures;  that  the  arguments,  estimates 
and  flattering  calculations  of  the  friends  of  that  bill  were  emi 
nently  calculated  to  produce  anticipations  of  future  dividends 
which  could  not  be  realized;  that  the  members  of  both  Houses 
of  Congress  were  the  representatives  of  the  States  and  of  the 
people  of  the  States,  and  must  and  ought  to  be  strongly  influ 
enced  by  the  wishes  and  interests  of  those  whom  they  respectively 


458  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

represented;  that  when  disappointment  as  to  the  amounts  to  be 
divided  should  come  upon  the  constituent  body  —  as  come  that 
disappointment  must  —  the  necessities  of  the  States,  growing  out 
of  these  delusive  expectations,  would  be  paramount  to  the  neces 
sities  of  this  government  with  the  representative  bodies  ;  and 
that  appropriations  for  the  permanent  defenses  of  the  country, 
appropriations  for  the  navy,  appropriations  for  the  army,  and 
appropriations  for  all  other  branches  of  the  public  service  would 
be  injuriously  restricted  or  wholly  refused,  that  the  sum  to  be 
divided  to  the  States,  as  surplus  revenue,  might  be  increased. 

"Mr.  W.  said,  when  he  urged  these  arguments,  he  did  not 
even  dream  that  he  should  see  their  correctness  demonstrated 
before  the  close  of  the  present  session  of  Congress.  He  did  not 
then  believe  that  the  evil  tendencies  of  these  plans  for  distribu 
tion  would  be  so  soon  and  so  boldly  developed.  In  this  he  had 
been  entirely  disappointed.  Already  we  had  met,  in  open  avowal, 
the  influence  he  had  feared ;  and,  upon  this  first  measure  of  pub 
lic  defense  which  had  been  presented  to  the  Senate  since  the 
passage  of  that  dangerous  bill,  we  had  heard  opposition  distinctly 
avowed  upon  the  ground  that  the  appropriations  might  conflict 
with  the  various  plans  for  a  distribution  of  the  moneys  in  the 
treasury.  If  he  had  before  merely  doubted,  he  should  now  be 
most  perfectly  confirmed  in  his  hostility  to  these  projects,  so  long 
as  any  branch  of  the  public  service  called  for  the  expenditure  of 
the  public  moneys  on  hand. 

"He  would  now,  Mr.  W.  said,  proceed  to  examine,  very 
briefly,  one  or  two  of  the  objections  offered  by  the  honorable 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  to  the  passage  of  the 
bill  under  discussion.  The  first  objection  of  that  honorable 
Senator  which  he  proposed  to  notice  was,  the  want  of  engineers 
to  superintend  the  expenditures  proposed;  and  he  had  anticipated 
the  argument  to  be  drawn  from  the  action  of  the  Senate,  in  the 
increase  of  the  engineer  corps  to  about  twice  its  present  strength, 
by  the  assumption  that  this  increase  would  not  bring  engineers 
of  experience,  and  would  not  therefore,  at  present,  authorize  an 
increase  of  appropriations. 

"We  are,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  if  the  position  assumed 
by  the  opponents  of  this  bill  be  admitted,  in  a  condition  unknown 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  459 

to  the  history  of  any  people  who  have  ever  before  existed  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth.  We  have  no  debt.  Our  treasury  is  full 
to  overflowing.  We  are  defenseless  in  almost  every  respect.  And 
yet  we  cannot  be  defended,  according  to  the  doctrines  of  some, 
because  our  money  will  not  purchase  the  labor  necessary  to  con 
struct  the  defenses  we  need.  According  to  others,  we  cannot  be 
defended,  because  we  have  not  engineers  of  skill  and  experience 
to  direct  the  expenditure  of  the  money,  if  we  appropriate  it.  An 
increase  of  our  engineer  corps  will  not  aid  us  in  this  particular, 
because  such  an  increase  will  not  bring  with  it  the  requisite  skill 
and  experience;  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence  from  these  con 
clusions,  we  must  not  increase  the  engineer  corps,  because,  with 
out  an  increase  of  appropriations  for  fortifications,  we  shall  have 
nothing  for  the  engineers  to  do,  who  may  be  added  to  the  corps. 
Was  ever,  Mr.  President,  so  helpless  a  condition  of  any  people 
before  known  ?  Money  in  the  treasury  to  an  excess,  but  nobody 
will  work  for  it  ;  defenses  of  every  description  imperatively 
required,  but  men  of  skill  and  science  cannot  be  found  to  super 
intend  their  construction.  Therefore,  we  must  give  away  the 
money,  and  wait  for  the  defenses  of  the  nation,  until  the  treasury 
shall  contain  other  means,  until  money  will  command  labor,  and 
until  engineers  can  be  educated  to  superintend  the  public  works. 
"  The  honorable  Senator  put  forth  another  objection  to  this  bill, 
which  was  even  less  anticipated  from  that  quarter  than  was  the 
objection  which  has  just  been  examined.  It  was,  that  the  bill  is 
in  competition  with  the  several  propositions  for  the  distribution 
of  the  surplus  revenue.  Remembering  the  constitutional  opinions 
held  and  expressed  by  that  Senator  but  two  years  since,  on  the 
subject  of  a  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  among  the  States, 
Mr.  W.  said  it  was  impossible  that  he  could  have  expected  oppo 
sition  to  this  bill  from  that  quarter  upon  that  ground.  In  the 
Senator's  speech  upon  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  made  in  the 
Senate  in  January,  1834,  are  found  the  following  remarks  : 

"'There  is  another  aspect,  said  Mr.  C.,  in  which  this  subject  maybe 
viewed.  We  all  remember  how  early  the  question  of  the  surplus  revenue 
began  to  agitate  the  country.  At  a  very  early  period,  a  Senator  from  New 
Jersey  [Mr.  Dickerson]  presented  his  scheme  for  disposing  of  it,  by  distri 
buting  it  among  the  States.  The  first  message  of  the  President  recom- 


460  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STLAS  WRIGHT. 

mended  a  similar  project,  which  was  followed  up  by  a  movement  on  the 
part  of  the  Legislature  of  New  York,  and  I  believe  some  of  the  other 
States.  The  public  attention  was  aroused,  the  scheme  scrutinized,  its  gross 
unconstitutionally  and  injustice,  and  its  dangerous  tendency  of  absorbing 
the  power  and  existence  of  the  States,  were  clearly  perceived  and  denounced. 
The  denunciation  was  too  deep  to  be  resisted,  and  the  scheme  was  aban 
doned.' 

"Such,  Mr.  W.  said,  were  the  opinions  of  the  Senator  upon 
the  subject  of  a  distribution  of  the  surplus  revenue  to  the  States; 
and  could  he  have  expected  from  him  an  objection  to  the  passage 
of  a  bill  providing  for  the  defenses  of  the  country,  for  the  more 
rapid  prosecution  of  a  system  of  defenses  with  which  he  had 
once  been  officially  and  closely  connected,  because  it  comes  in 
competition  with  propositions  for  a  distribution  of  the  surplus 
moneys,  so  recently  pronounced  grossly  unconstitutional,  unjust 
and  dangerous  to  the  power  and  existence  of  the  States?  [Here 
Mr.  Preston  remarked  that  his  colleague  was  not  in  his  seat, 
but  detained  from  it  by  official  duties,  and  he  hoped  Mr.  W. 
would  consent  to  suspend  his  remarks  until  Mr.  C.  should  be  in. 
Mr.  W.  replied  that  he  regretted  very  much  the  absence  of  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina,  as  he  would  greatly  have  preferred 
to  have  replied  to  him  in  his  presence ;  but  as  he  had  no  remarks 
of  a  personal  character  to  make,  he  could  not  consent  to  delay 
the  bill  by  a  suspension  of  his  argument.]  Mr.  W.  proceeded: 
He  had  nothing  to  add  on  the  subject  of  this  great  change  of 
opinion  on  the  part  of  the  Senator,  except  that  it  had  surprised 
and  disappointed  him,  coming  from  that  quarter. 

"Another  position  of  the  Senator  was  not  less  singular  and 
extraordinary,  and  called  for  a  reply.  It  was  the  assertion  that 
the  bill  was  not  intended  to  expedite  the  construction  of  fortifi 
cations,  but  to  retain  the  public  money  in  the  banks  where  it  was 
now  deposited;  and  he  went  so  far  as  to  say  that,  were  the 
objects  of  the  bill  what  they  purported  to  be  —  the  erection  of 
fortifications  —  he  would  support  it.  Mr.  W.  said,  in  the  absence 
of  that  Senator,  he  would  take  no  notice  of  this  unjust  and  ungen 
erous  imputation  upon  the  motives  of  the  friends  of  this  bill,  but 
would  examine  the  position,  supposing  it  had  any  foundation  in 
fact.  The  bill  upon  its  face  contains  as  direct  and  positive 
appropriations  as  any  other  appropriation  bill  which  has  been 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  461 

presented  to  congress.  If  passed,  it  will  devolve  upon  the 
proper  executive  department  the  immediate  duty  of  obtaining 
the  proper  sites  and  commencing  the  several  works,  and  of  pro 
ceeding  in  their  construction  with  all  possible  dispatch,  so  far  as 
the  means  appropriated  will  go.  Has  any  one  suggested,  or  will 
any  one  believe,  that  any  sinister  intentions,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  may  vote  for  the  bill,  will  influence  the  executive  officers  in 
the  prompt  and  faithful  discharge  of  their  duties  under  it?  Had 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  suggested,  or  could  he  suggest, 
any  change  of  the  form  of  the  bill,  so  as  to  make  the  appropria 
tions  more  positive  and  unconditional,  or  the  duty  to  expend  the 
money  more  imperative  and  urgent  ?  He  hazarded  nothing  in 
giving  a  negative  answer  to  these  inquiries.  Language  could 
not  improve  the  bill  in  these  particulars;  nor  had  it  been  inti 
mated  that  there  was  either  doubt  or  condition  to  be  found  upon 
its  face.  He  would,  then,  leave  the  Senator,  and  the  Senate,  to 
determine  how  far  he  was  sustained  in  placing  his  opposition  to 
a  proper  and  positive  law  upon  the  ground  of  his  suspicion  that 
some  who  support  it  entertain  intentions  unfavorable  to  its  exe 
cution. 

"He  must  present  this  objection  of  the  Senator  in  another  light, 
and  see  whether  it  may  not  be  made  quite  as  applicable  to  him 
self  as  to  those  who  advocate  and  support  the  defense  bills. 
His  charge  is,  that  they  desire  to  retain  the  money  in  the  deposit 
banks.  What  disposition  does  he  propose  to  make  of  it  ?  for  he 
is  the  author  of  a  variety  of  propositions  upon  the  subject. 
The  last,  and  that  one  on  which  he  presumed  the  Senator 
intended  to  rely,  was,  to  deposit  the  money  in  the  treasuries  of 
the  several  States,  without  interest.  But  when,  and  upon  what 
terms,  is  the  money  to  be  transferred  from  the  deposit  banks  to 
the  several  State  treasuries  ?  When,  and  as  soon  as,  the  Legis 
lature  of  each  State  shall  have  passed  a  law,  pledging  the  faith 
of  the  State  for  the  repayment  of  the  money  upon  the  call  of 
Congress.  Nearly  all  those  Legislatures  have  closed  their  annual 
sessions,  and  all  probably  will,  before  this  proposition  can  become 
a  law,  if  it  is  to  become  a  law  at  all.  Much  the  larger  number 
of  them  do  not  again  convene  until  November,  December  and 
January.  The  money,  therefore,  according  to  the  disposition 


462  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

proposed  by  the  Senator  himself,  must  remain  in  the  deposit 
banks  for  the  whole  of  the  present  year,  at  the  least;  while,  in 
several  of  the  States,  the  legislative  sessions  are  biennial  only; 
and,  in  one  State  at  least,  it  is  said  its  Constitution  prohibits  the 
the  Legislature  from  contracting  a  debt  for  any  purpose.  Mr.  W. 
said,  were  he  to  charge  the  honorable  Senator  with  a  design  to 
continue  the  money  in  the  deposit  banks,  and  assert  that  he  had 
made  this  dilatory  proposition  for  a  different  disposition,  to  accom 
plish  that  design,  would  the  Senator  consider  him  courteous  or 
just?  Would  the  Senate  consider  the  imputation  of  such  motives 
to  any  member  of  the  body  parliamentary  or  proper  ?  It  was  not 
his  purpose  to  make  any  such  charge.  It  was  not  his  habit  to 
impute  motives  to  the  members  of  this  body  for  acts  done  under 
their  official  responsibility;  and  he  did  not  believe  that  such  a 
charge,  if  made  against  the  honorable  Senator,  would  be  founded 
in  fact.  He  did  not  believe  the  Senator,  in  making  the  proposi 
tion  upon  which  he  had  commented,  had  been  actuated  by  any 
design  to  retain  the  money  in  the  deposit  banks,  but  the  reverse. 
Yet  he  did  believe  that  such  a  design  imputed  to  that  Senator 
would  have  precisely  as  much  foundation  in  justice  and  truth  as 
the  similar  charge  preferred  by  him  against  the  friends  of  the 
defense  bills;  and  he  trusted  he  had  shown  that  the  effect  of  the 
Senator's  proposition  would  be  to  retain  the  money  in  the  banks 
much  longer,  and  much  more  certainly,  than  any  effect  to  be 
apprehended  from  the  passage  of  these  bills. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  his  intention  and  desire  was  to  apply  the  money 
in  the  treasury  to  a  constitutional  use.  The  money  is  the  avails 
of  '  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises,'  laid  and  collected  by,  or 
under  the  authority  and  direction  of,  Congress,  'to  pay  the 
debts,  and  provide  for  the  common  defense  and  general  welfare 
of  the  United  States.'  The  first  great  constitutional  use  to  which 
the  public  moneys  were  to  be  applied  had  been  fully  performed. 
The  debts  had  been  fully  paid.  The  second,  to  '  provide  for  the 
common  defense,'  it  is  the  object  of  this  bill  to  prosecute  more 
vigorously  and  efficiently.  For  that  reason  he  supported  it,  and 
most  earnestly  hoped  it  would  be  successful.  Yet  it  was  not  for 
him  to  impute  improper  or  unworthy  motives  to  those  who  thought 
the  Constitution  and  the  public  interests  would  be  better  served 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  468 

by  giving  away  this  money  to  the  States,  or  what  was,  in  his 
judgment,  precisely  equivalent,  lending  it  to  the  States  without 
interest,  and  upon  a  declaration  upon  their  respective  statute 
books  that  they  would  repay  the  principal  whenever  their  repre 
sentatives  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  should  order  them  to 
do  so.  He  thought,  however,  so  long  as  he  abstained  from  the 
imputation  of  motives  to  those  who  advocated  such  a  disposition 
of  these  moneys,  he  was  entitled  to  an  exemption  from  imputation 
as  to  his  own  motives,  in  urging  a  use  of  the  money  such  as  the 
honor  and  interests  and  safety  of  the  country  required  and 
demanded,  and  such  as  the  Constitution  not  only  authorized  but 
directed  in  terms." 


464  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LVIII. 

VIEWS  CONCERNING  CERTAIN  STATE  LEGISLATION  IN  1836. 

Upon  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  in  1836,  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyl 
vania  incorporated  it  as  a  State  institution,  with  many 
peculiar  and  unusual  powers  and  privileges,  and,  among 
others,  authorizing  it  to  engage  in  buying  and  selling 
stocks.  This  attracted  the  attention  of  thoughtful  rnen 
and  excited  their  alarm.  The  Legislature  of  New  York 
chartered  banks  at  the  session  of  1836,  and  with  lavish 
prodigality  lent  its  credit,  with  utter  disregard  to  all 
fears  of  loss,  and  engaged  in  the  construction  of  pauper 
canals,  whose  tolls  have  never  paid  for  their  repairs, 
attendance  and  other  expenses.  Observing  and  reflecting 
men  anticipated  and  predicted  the  natural  and  inevitable 
consequences.  New  York  promulgated  excellent  theories, 
which  were  counterbalanced  by  examples  which  would 
not  bear  the  test  of  scrutiny.  Mr.  WRIGHT  watched 
these  with  painful  anxiety.  To  each  surrounding  circum 
stance  he  gave  its  full  weight.  The  just  tendency  and 
natural  influence  of  every  act  was  considered,  and  com 
municated  to  his  trusted  friends  without  reserve.  Thomas 
M.  Burt,  Esq.,  then  connected  with  the  Albany  Argus  as 
a  proprietor,  wrote  him  concerning  the  action  of  the 
State  Legislature.  He  had  long  known  Mr.  Burt,  and 
had  unlimited  confidence  in  his  honesty  of  purpose  and 
the  purity  and  unselfishness  of  his  motives,  and  unhesi 
tatingly  trusted  his  discretion  and  judgment.  He  there 
upon  wrote  him,  in  the  spirit  of  candor  and  frankness, 
the  following  letter,  in  which  he  expressed  his  anxieties 
and  fears  concerning  the  action  of  the  Legislature,  in 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  465 

which  he  substantially  predicted  the  paper-money  explo 
sion,  which  burst  upon  the  country  within  the  ensuing 
year: 

"WASHINGTON,  April  8,  1836. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR. — Your  note  has  remained  a  long  time  without 
an  answer.  The  only  excuse  I  can  give  you  is  my  business 
engagements  here.  Indeed,  I  have  never  found  myself  so  unac 
countably  engaged  at  any  former  session  of  Congress  as  during 
most  of  the  present.  You  ask  the  opinion  of  our  friends  here  as 
to  the  course  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  November  elections.  1 
have  seen  no  one  who  doubts  that  the  violent  and  unprincipled 
and  corrupt  course  of  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  during  its 
late  session,  will  strengthen  very  much  the  republican  vote,  at 
the  polls  and  the  republican  cause  among  the  people;  and  I  have 
heard  no  doubt  expressed  as  to  the  result  of  the  electoral  vote 
of  the  State.  It  is  rumored,  it  is  true,  that  the  Legislature,  at 
its  adjourned  session  in  May,  threaten  to  district  the  State  for 
the  choice  of  electors,  for  the  purpose  of  saving  to  the  opposi 
tion  such  portion  of  the  vote  as  may  be  saved  to  them  in  that 
way.  This,  however,  would  be  an  act  of  desperation  which  I 
cannot  persuade  myself  even  that  bank-bought  Legislature  will 
dare  to  do.  Should  they  make  the  attempt,  there  is  great  proba 
bility  in  my  mind  that  such  would  be  the  revulsion  produced  upon 
the  public  feeling  that  they  would  lose  many  of  the  districts 
which  are  now  theirs.  Unless  this  is  done  I  have  no  more  doubt 
of  the  vote  of  that  State  than  of  our  own,  and  that  it  will  be 
given  by  a  sweeping  majority. 

"I  see  by  the  Argus,  this  morning,  that  the  Genesee  canal  has 
passed  the  Assembly,  and  that  the  Black  River  has  been  ordered 
engrossed  in  the  Senate,  in  addition  to  the  $3,000,000  Erie  rail 
road  appropriation  pending  in  the  Senate.  What  does  all  this 
mean  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  wildness  of  the  Pennsylvania 
fever  (for  I  will  not  believe  that  the  Pennsylvania  corruptions 
prevail  at  Albany)  has  taken  possession  of  our  Legislature  also. 
They  seem  to  look  at  millions,  as  sober,  discreet  men  look  at  dol 
lars,  and  to  be  willing  to  embark  the  credit  of  our  State  when 
the  Pennsylvanians  only  gave  bank  charters  with  power  to 
gamble  in  stocks.  Who  that  knows  anything  of  the  matter 
30 


466  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

believes  that  road  will  ever  be  made  as  a  condition  precedent  to 
the  obtaining  the  $3,000,000  of  State  credit  ?  Who  does  not 
know  that  this  law,  if  passed,  will  only  be  used  to  raise  that 
stock,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  for  scenes  in  Wall  street  which 
will  throw  into  the  shade  all  former  transactions  of  a  stock- 
gambling  character.  And  who  does  not  see  that  when  honest 
men  have  been  cheated  and  ruined  by  the  wire-workers  in  the 
stock  market,  they  will  come  to  the  Legislature,  show  that  the 
State  was  a  direct  party  to  the  frauds,  and  demand,  with  a  justice 
that  would  sustain  a  bill  in  equity,  either  that  the  State  shall 
make  the  road  or  pay  the  $3,000,000  it  has  promised.  And  who 
does  not  see  farther,  who  has  any  acquaintance  with  legislation 
upon  subjects  of  this  character,  that  the  irresistible  course  will  be 
to  saddle  the  road  upon  the  State,  and  compel  an  expenditure  of 
from  ten  to  twenty  millions  to  save  the  three  millions  now 
promised,  when  the  work  to  be  constructed  will  not,  for  a  century 
to  come,  if  ever,  keep  itself  in  repair  after  it  is  well  made. 

"  Such,  precisely,  too,  will  be  the  character  of  the  expenditures 
upon  the  Genesee  and  Black  River  canals,  if  made.  The  State 
will  only  have  borrowed  from  four  to  six  millions  and  expended 
it,  to  saddle  it  upon  the  treasury  forever,  and  a  treasury  too  which 
is  now,  and  has  been  for  years,  living  upon  credit  alone,  two  more 
paupers  of  a  more  expensive  character  than  any  pauper  canals 
heretofore  constructed  and  now  constructing. 

"  I  cannot  be  mistaken,  when  I  see  the  startling  votes  in  both 
Houses  of  our  Legislature  upon  bills  like  these,  as  to  the  impelling 
power  in  the  rear.  Banks,  new  banks,  and  the  enlargement  of 
existing  banks,  must  be  that  power.  Are  there  not,  then,  eleven 
sound  men  in  the  Senate  who  will  cut  the  gordian  knot,  and  thus 
destroy  the  combination  by  which  these  monstrous  projects  are 
about  to  be  forced  upon  the  State  ?  Are  there  not  forty-two 
sound  men  in  the  Assembly  who  will  come  forward  and  do  the 
same  thing  ?  Are  we,  at  this  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  country, 
to  put  ourselves  by  the  side  of  Pennsylvania  by  lending  the 
whole  power  of  our  State  legislation  to  plunge  our  State  in  debt 
on  the  one  hand,  and  to  swell  the  false  bubble  of  excessive  credits 
and  consequent  excessive  and  unreal  speculations  on  the  other? 
I  must  say,  I  most  deeply  fear,  if  this  Erie  railroad  bill  shall  pass, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  467 

the  unjustifiable  gambling  it  will  produce  may  throw  into  the 
shade,  if  it  does  not  in  fact  justify,  Pennsylvania  in  her  course,  as 
having  given  life  to  a  corporation  of  somewhat  greater  capital,  to 
be  sure^  but  much  more  real  and  substantial  in  its  character. 

"  In  connection  with  this  subject  I  refer  you,  with  the  utmost 
gratification,  to  the  high  and  patriotic  example  of  the  State  of 
Ohio,  and  to  the  less  clear  but  equally  safe  example  of  Virginia. 
I  think  the  Argus  should  come  out  most  distinctly  with  these 
worthy  examples,  and  that  every  effort  should  be  made  by  firm 
friends  of  the  country,  in  and  out  of  the  Legislature,  to  concen 
trate  their  strength  against  a  lobby  which  otherwise  may  deluge 
the  State  with  banks  and  with  debt,  each  being  the  corrupt  con 
sequence  of  the  other. 

"  I  have  viewed  the  proceedings  of  our  Legislature  with  the 
deepest  interest  on  account  of  the  State  itself,  and  that  interest 
has  been  greatly  increased  by  the  conviction  that  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  country  are,  at  the  present  time,  and  from  causes  now  not 
mentioned  to  you,  turned  upon  our  acts  and  our  policy.  The 
sincerity  of  our  opposition  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  the  paper  system,  has  been  impeached  by  our  opponents  every 
where,  and  doubted  by  honest  friends  in  many  quarters  of  the 
country.  Nothing  but  the  soundness  of  our  policy,  when  pos 
sessing  the  power  of  the  State  almost  without  a  minority,  can 
rebut  these  impeachments  and  dissipate  these  doubts.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  we  fall  into  the  snare  which  the  bank  has  set  for  us  by 
its  unwise  extensions  and  consequent  promotion  of  the  spirit  of 
wild  and  dangerous  speculation,  we  cannot  expect  to  escape  the 
catastrophe  which  must  follow,  nor  can  we  expect  the  poor  con 
solation  of  arresting  our  very  motives  from  the  broadest  suspicion. 

"  I  do  hope  you  will  urge  these  considerations  upon  our  honest 
friends,  and  that  they  will  pause  before  they  take  the  fatal  steps 
which  seem  to  be  threatened  by  the  course  of  our  Legislature. 

"All  men  here  are  looking  forward  to  a  speedy  and  severe 
pressure  upon  the  local  banks,  occasioned  partly  by  the  efforts 
making  and  to  be  made  by  Mr.  Biddle  &  Co.  to  produce 
that  state  of  things,  and  principally  by  the  enormous  extensions 
for  speculations  of  every  sort,  and  particularly  in  lands  which 
cannot  be  converted  into  money  to  replace  the  capital  thus 


468  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

invested.  I  entertain  strongly  the  same  apprehensions,  and  I  do 
hope  that  our  friends  and  our  banks  will  be  aware  of  the  evil  and 
guard  themselves  in  time;  and  1  more  strongly  hope  that  our  Legis 
lature,  by  its  action,  will  neither  increase  the  evil  nor  hasten  the 
catastrophe. 

"  I  write  in  my  seat  and  under  an  excited  abolition  debate,  and 
cannot  add  more.  Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  show  this  to  Mr. 
Croswell,  Mr.  Flagg,  Gen.  Dix  and  the  Governor,  as  I  have  let 
ters  from  them  all  which  ought  to  have  been  answered  before 
this  day,  but  which  I  cannot  yet  get  time  to  answer.  It  will,  at 
least,  show  them  that  I  do  not  forget  my  duty  to  them,  if  I  do 
not  do  it.  Remember  me  most  kindly  to  your  family. 
"  Believe  me,  most  truly  yours, 

"  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  THOMAS  M.  BURT,  Esq." 

"  SENATE  CHAMBER,          ) 
"  WASHINGTON,  6th  June,  1836.  j 

"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER  AND  SISTER.  — Your  letter  of  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  May  came  to  me  this  morning,  and  has  confirmed,  by  the 
most  melancholy  result,  our  fears  as  to  your  young  son.  Our 
brother,  S.  D.,  by  a  letter  under  date  of  the  twenty-fifth,  informed 
us  of  his  severe  and  dangerous  illness,  and  we  have  watched  every 
mail  with  the  greatest  anxiety  to  learn  the  result,  striving,  as  poor 
short-sighted  mortals  in  this  world  always  do,  to  give  ourselves 
hope.  A  single  line  from  Luman,  accidently  opened  before  your 
letter  was  reached,  gave  us  the  melancholy  result,  and  your 
letter  to  Clarissa  gave  the  more  distressing  particulars. 

"What  can  I  say  to  console  you?  I  have  never  known  the 
feelings  of  a  parent,  and  cannot,  therefore,  from  personal  experi 
ence,  speak  either  of  your  attachments  or  your  loss.  I  have, 
however,  I  hope,  experienced  the  feelings  of  a  friend,  and  as  such 
can  sympathize  with  the  afflictions  of  a  friend.  As  such  I 
hope  you  will  not  doubt  that  I  feel,  as  deeply  as  I  am  capable  of 
feeling,  your  loss  and  your  affliction.  The  loss  of  a  friend  is 
severe,  and  tries  strongly  our  feelings  and  our  power  of  resigna 
tion  to  the  Supreme  Ruler.  The  loss  of  a  child  must,  to  a 
parent,  be  much  more  trying,  much  more  severe,  much  more 
painful  to  the  heart.  The  loss  of  an  only  child,  of  all  which 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  469 

calls  forth  and  embodies  the  parental  feeling,  is  perhaps  as  nearly 
an  insupportable  affliction  as  any  which  happens  to  us  in  our 
pilgrimage  upon  the  earth. 

"  Considering  your  sorrow,  thus  deep  and  aggravated,  I  thank 
you  most  sincerely  for  your  letter,  as  an  evidence  of  the  most 
creditable,  worthy  and  Christian-like  resignation  and  fortitude 
under  this  heavy  visitation.  It  is  wisdom  and  duty  so  to  disci 
pline  your  feelings  and  to  guard  yourselves  against  despondency 
and  permanent  injury  to  your  healths  from  unrestrained  indulg 
ence  of  grief,  when  the  dear  and  loved  object  is  beyond  your 
reach  for  good  or  evil.  Preserve  the  equanimity  of  feeling  your 
letter  so  fully  exhibits,  and  time  will  show  you  that  you  discharge 
an  important  duty  to  yourselves  and  to  your  many  friends.  I 
may  seem  cold  in  giving  this  advice.  I  do  not  feel  so,  and  hope 
you  may  not  think  so. 

"  Most  unexpectedly  to  me,  you  had  paid  me  the  compliment 
of  incorporating  my  name  with  that  of  your  darling  boy.  He 
has  gone  from  us,  and  the  name  has  ceased  to  exist  in  your  fam 
ily,  but  the  kind  remembrance  to  me  is  not  the  less  valued  and 
endeared  to  my  feelings.  That  I  can  repay  the  kindness  I  do 
not  hope;  that  I  shall  remember  it  I  do  believe. 

"  Clarissa  is  very  well,  but  most  deeply  afflicted,  to  day,  by 
this  news.  She  makes  herself  much  more  contented  here  than  I 
expected  she  could,  but  has  been  quite  anxious  heretofore,  and 
will  be  more  anxious  now,  for  our  adjournment.  I  do  not  expect 
that  we  shall  get  away  at  an  earlier  day  than  the  fourth  of  July, 
four  weeks  from  this  day,  and  I  confidently  hope  we  shall  not  be 
kept  here  to  a  later  day. 

"  We  regret  most  deeply  to  hear  that  Julia's  health  is  still  bad. 
She  has  need  of  perfect  health;  but  you  must  entreat  her,  for  your 
sake,  for  the  sake  of  her  many  friends,  not  to  let  grief  injure  her 
present  feeble  health,  but  to  take  all  pains  to  keep  her  mind  as 
far  at  ease  as  is  possible,  that  her  health  may  be  restored. 

"I  write  from  my  seat,  under  the  hearing  of    an  animated 
debate,  and  you  must  excuse  all  errors.     In  great  haste, 
"  Most  affectionately  yours, 

"SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 

"  Mr.  Lucius  MOODY." 


470  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LIX. 

PUBLIC  DEPOSITS. 

When  G-en.  Jackson,  through  Roger  B.  Taney,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  directed  that  no  further  deposits  of 
the  public  moneys  should  be  made  in  the  United  States 
Bank,  the  selection  of  depositaries  devolved  upon  the 
Treasury  Department.  Secretary  Taney  called  to  his 
assistance  Amos  Kendall,  then  Fourth  Auditor  of  the 
Treasury,  who  made  the  necessary  investigations  con 
cerning  the  banks  desiring  to  receive  these  deposits.  On 
his  report,  the  selections  were  made  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  who  were  not  advocates  of  the  national  bank. 
At  the  session  of  1835-36  a  bill  was  introduced  in  and 
passed  the  House  of  Representatives  to  regulate  the 
selection  of  these  deposit  banks  and  the  manner  of  their 
use.  In  the  Senate  this  bill  gave  place  to  another,  the 
thirteenth  section  of  which  directed  that  all  the  moneys 
in  the  treasury,  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1837,  over  and 
above  $5,000,000,  should  be  deposited  —  distributed  —  to 
the  several  States  in  proportion  to  their  representation  in 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  This  distribution 
—  for  it  was  one  in  fact  —  was  to  be  made  in  four  equal 
installments  on  the  first  days  of  January,  April,  July  and 
October  of  the  year  1837. 

The  bill  finally  passed  the  Senate  on  the  6th  of  June, 
1836,  by  a  vote  of  30  yeas  and  9  nays.  The  latter  were 
given  by  Messrs.  Benton,  King,  of  Georgia,  Mies,  Robin 
son,  Buggies,  Shepley,  Wall,  White  and  WBIGHT.  The 
bill  passed  the  House  on  the  twenty -second,  by  yeas  155 
to  38  nays  ;  among  the  latter  was  the  author. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  471 

When  this  bill  was  before  the  Senate,  Mr.  WRIGHT 
addressed  the  following  remarks  to  that  body  : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT,  in  offering  his  amendment,  said  he  rejoiced  that 
this  interesting  subject  had  at  last  come  to  its  discussion  before 
the  Senate;  and  he  rejoiced  still  more  to  see,  as  he  thought  he 
did  see,  a  disposition  upon  all  sides  of  the  House  to  consider  the 
bill  with  a  sincere  desire  to  agree  upon  a  law  which  should  here 
after  regulate  the  deposits  of  the  public  moneys  in  the  State 
banks.  He  would  assure  the  Senate  that  he  entered  upon  the 
discussion  with  the  most  earnest  hope  and  intention  that  their 
deliberations  might  be  brought  to  a  successful  termination,  and 
that  provisions  might  be  agreed  upon  which  would  not  only  meet 
the  assent  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  Senators,  but  be  satisfac 
tory  to  the  country,  and  quiet  the  complaints  and  remove  the 
apprehensions  which  now  surround  the  subject. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  ought  further  to  inform  the  Senate,  before  he 
proceeded  with  the  remarks  he  had  to  make,  that  no  pride  of 
authorship  could  attach  to  him  in  the  amendment  he  had  offered. 
The  sections  which  related  to.  the  regulation  of  deposits,  were 
the  bill  digested  by  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  of  the 
last  House  of  Representatives,  as  he  had  been  informed,  and  sup 
posed  to  be  true,  with  the  advice  of  the  head  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  and  was  reported  to  that  House,  but  not  acted  upon. 
He  did  not  himself  profess  a  sufficient  acquaintance  with  the  sub 
ject  to  be  able  to  frame  a  safe  and  proper  bill,  to  regulate  these 
deposits,  which  would  accommodate  the  treasury,  and  at  the 
same  time  be  so  far  consistent  with  the  interests  of  the  banks 
as  to  induce  their  assent  to  its  provisions.  He  had  not  so 
minutely  examined  the  provisions  of  these  sections  as  to  be  able 
to  pronounce  the  opinion  that  they  were,  in  all  respects,  right  in 
themselves,  or  preferable  to  others  which  might  be  suggested. 
The  last  two  sections  of  the  proposed  amendment  related  to  a 
subject  distinct  from  the  regulation  of  the  deposits,  and  had  been 
added  in  pursuance  of  recommendations  made  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  in  his  last  annual  report  to  Congress.  They 
were,  therefore,  propositions  of  the  Secretary,  for  the  temporary 
disposition  of  any  sjurplus  which  might  remain  in  the  treasury; 


472  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  he  had  offered  them  to  the  Senate  because  they  met  much 
more  perfectly  his  views  than  any  other  propositions  for  the  dis 
position  of  that  surplus  which  he  had  heard  from  any  other  quar 
ter.  He  was  not,  therefore,  the  author  of  any  portion  of  the 
amendment  he  had  presented;  and  his  action  must  not  be  con 
sidered  as  influenced  by  any  such  relation .  to  any  of  the  provi 
sions.  He  would  go  farther,  and  say  that  he  was  unconscious  of 
feeling  any  peculiar  attachment  to  any  of  the  propositions  he 
had  presented,  and  would  most  cheerfully  yield  them  and  give 
his  support  to  any  others  which  he  could  convince  himself  were 
better  suited  to  the  objects  all  had  in  view. 

"  Among  those  objects  it  appeared  to  him  that  the  security  of 
the  public  treasure  must  stand  first.  He  was  not  among  those 
who  entertained  the  least  apprehension  as  to  its  entire  security 
in  its  present  condition,  but  he  was  fully  conscious,  if  further 
accumulations  were  to  take  place,  that  a  change  of  that  condi 
tion  would  become  indispensable.  His  confidence  in  the  safety 
of  the  deposit  banks,  at  the  present  time,  was  perfect;  but  he 
could  not  fail  to  see  that,  if  the  amounts  in  deposit  went  on 
increasing,  a  just  apprehension  might  soon  be  entertained  that 
the  capital  and  means  of  the  banks  might  not  be  adequate  to 
their  immense  responsibilities.  Some  indulged  this  apprehension 
now,  and  he  was  desirous  to  adopt  measures  which  should  not 
only  arrest  its  increase,  but  put  an  end  to  it  for  the  future. 

"  Another  leading  object  in  any  action  upon  this  subject,  Mr. 
W.  said,  must  be  the  convenient  use  of  the  banks  as  the  fiscal 
agents  of  the  treasury.  And  here  it  should  be  borne  constantly 
in  mind  that  the  Senate  were  attempting  to  legislate  in  reference 
to  institutions  not  existing  by  the  authority  of  Congress,  not 
subject  to  the  control  or  direction  of  Congress,  and  in  no  way  to 
be  affected  by  the  action  of  Congress,  in  their  character  of  fiscal 
agents,  any  further  than  their  respective  voluntary  assents 
should  bind  them  to  such  subjection,  and  thus  connect  their 
interests  with  the  legislation  of  Congress.  We  were,  in  effect, 
Mr.  W.  said,  merely  making  proposals  to  these  institutions  for 
a  contract,  in  any  law  we  might  pass;  and  it  therefore  became 
us,  while  we  performed  scrupulously  and  rigidly  our  office  and 
duty  as  guardians  of  the  public  treasure,  so  far  to  regard  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  473 

interests  to  be  consulted  upon  the  other  side  as  not  to  make  our 
terms  or  proposals  such  as  must  meet  the  refusal  of  the  banks, 
and  thus  deprive  the  treasury  of  their  essential  services.  It  was, 
in  his  judgment,  the  wisest  protection  of  the  public  interests  to 
offer  to  the  deposit  banks  such  terms  as  would  make  it  their 
interest  to  discharge  promptly,  honestly  and  faithfully  their  duties 
to  the  treasury,  and  to  keep  carefully  and  safely  the  public  moneys 
intrusted  to  them;  and  he  could  not  consent  to  adopt  any  parsi 
monious  policy  which  would  so  tie  down  these  banks  as  to  com 
pel  them  to  make  an  unsafe  and  hazardous  use  of  the  moneys  in 
deposit,  to  indemnify  themselves  against  our  exactions.  Such  a 
course  would  be  to  draw  the  most  unsafe  banks  only  into  our 
service,  and  to  excite  them  to  a  use  of  the  public  moneys  danger 
ous  to  the  institutions  and  insecure  to  the  public. 

"A  third  object,  which  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  the 
legislation  under  consideration,  was  a  healthful  condition  of  the 
monetary  system  of  the  country.  Mr.  W.  said  he  could  not,  for 
a  moment,  doubt  that  the  large  accumulation  of  the  public  reve 
nues  in  the  banks  had  done  much  to  promote  the  spirit  of  excessive 
speculation  which,  during  the  past  year,  had  seemed  to  pervade 
every  section  of  our  vast  country  and  every  branch  of  enter 
prise.  The  ten  or  eleven  millions,  beyond  any  former  year,  which 
had  sought  investment  in  the  public  lands,  must,  to  a  very  great 
extent,  have  emanated  from  these  reservoirs  of  surplus  funds. 
The  year  was  one  of  plenty  and  profusion  in  every  department 
of  trade  and  business  ;  and  the  capital  of  the  banks,  and  in  the 
banks,  not  required  for  the  legitimate  uses  of  commerce,  must 
seek  other  employment.  Hence,  accommodations  were  liberal, 
and  speculations  ran  wild ;  for,  rely  upon  it,  said  Mr.  W.,  those 
gentlemen  are  mistaken  who  have  supposed,  and  have  told  us, 
that  banks,  lock  up  the  money  intrusted  to  their  keeping,  and 
deprive  the  community  of  its  use.  Such  is  not  the  nature  of 
these  institutions.  Such  is  not  their  interest ;  and,  as  soulless 
existences,  their  interests  are  their  only  governing  principle. 
The  fault  is  here.  They  will  not  keep  money  in  an  unproductive 
state ;  and  when  the  proper  customers  of  banks,  those  who 
require  loans  for  commercial  purposes,  when  speedy  returns  are 
certain,  do  not  apply  for  their  means,  they  will  loan  them  to 


474  LIFE  ANL  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

those  who  are  engaged  in  speculations;  to  those  who,  it  is 
known,  intend  to  apply  the  funds  obtained  to  the  purchase  of 
property  not  convertible  to  cash  at  pleasure,  but  dependent  upon 
casualties  which  render  the  use  hazardous  to  the  stability  of 
banking  facilities.  The  commercial  community  are,  at  this 
moment,  experiencing  a  severe  pressure  for  money.  Is  not  the 
principal  cause  to  be  found  here  ?  Were  the  millions  which 
have  been  invested  in  speculations  upon  real  estate,  derived  from 
bank  accommodations,  within  the  eighteen  months  last  past,  to 
be  returned  within  the  reach  of  legitimate  commercial  calls, 
does  any  one  suppose  the  pressure  at  present  existing  would  have 
been  felt  ?  Does  any  one  believe  it  would  continue  for  one  day  ? 
In  so  far  as  the  great  accumulation  of  the  moneys  of  the  govern 
ment  in  the  deposit  banks  may  have  promoted  this  spirit  of 
speculation  and  encouraged  these  loans,  it  is  the  imperative  duty 
of  Congress,  when  legislating  upon  the  subject  of  the  public 
deposits,  to  devise  some  mode  of  correcting  the  existing  evil 
and  of  preventing  its  recurrence  in  future.  In  our  use  of  the 
State  institutions  as  the  fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury,  we  should, 
as  far  as  may  be  in  our  power,  so  regulate  that  use  as  to  promote, 
not  to  disturb,  the  great  moneyed  interests  of  the  country,  and 
the  success  and  prosperity  of  commerce,  which  is  our  principal 
dependence  for  the  revenues  to  be  deposited. 

"With  these  preliminary  remarks,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would 
proceed  to  consider,  very  generally,  the  bill  and  amendment,  and 
to  point  out  some  of  the  principal  differences  between  the  two 
proposed  measures.  He  should  not,  at  this  time,  enter  into 
minute  details,  but  should  confine  his  remarks  to  those  differ 
ences  which  he  thought  highly  essential. 

"The  first  he  should  notice  was  the  liberty  given  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  by  the  amendment,  to  select  additional 
deposit  banks.  The  provision,  in  terms,  authorized  an  entire 
new  selection  under  the  law,  as  those  now  used  had  been  selected 
when  there  was  no  law  upon  the  subject ;  but  he  was  most  happy 
to  be  able  to  say  to  the  Senate  that  he  was  not  aware,  nor  did 
he  believe,  there  was  the  least  intention  or  desire  on  the  part  of 
the  Secretary,  or  of  any  one  else,  in  the  execution  of  this  power, 
to  dismiss  a  single  one  of  the  existing  deposit  banks.  He  did 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  475 

not  know,  or  believe,  that  any  bank  now  employed  was  consid 
ered  an  unsafe  depository  of  the  public  money,  or  had  failed  in 
any  essential  particular  to  perform  its  duties  promptly  and  faith 
fully  as  a  fiscal  agent  of  the  treasury.  He  did  believe,  however, 
that  if  the  public  moneys  were  to  remain  in  the  banks,  additional 
selections  ought  to  be  made  at  some  of  the  more  important  points. 
As  he  was  more  particularly  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  tilings 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  he  would  confine  his  remarks  to  that 
point.  Three  banks  of  deposit  had  been  selected,  and  were  now 
employed  in  that  city.  Two  of  those  banks  were,  by  their  char 
ters,  restricted  as  to  their  amount  of  loans;  and  his  recollection 
was,  that  the  utmost  extent  to  which  they  could  go  was  twice 
and  a-half  the  amount  of  their  capital  stock.  All  the  other 
banks  in  the  city  and  State  of  New  York,  with  very  few  excep 
tions,  were  subject  to  the  same  restriction  and  limitation;  and 
Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  doubt  that  the  third  deposit  bank,  from 
the  large  amount  of  its  capital,  and  the  known  discretion  and 
safety  of  its  directors,  was  practically  subjected  to  the  same  lim 
itation.  Hence  it  would  be  apparent  to  all  that  an  amount  of 
public  deposit  must  frequently  accumulate  in  these  three  banks, 
at  that  point,  which,  connected  with  the  capital  and  means  of  the 
banks  themselves,  would  constitute  a  fund  far  beyond  the  amount 
of  loans  they  were  at  liberty  to  make.  What,  he  should  be  asked, 
is  done  with  this  surplus  ?  Is  it  not  locked  up,  without  use  to  the 
banks  or  the  community?  He  was  ready,  as  he  believed,  to 
answer  the  inquiries,  and  to  say  that  it  is  not  locked  up  and  kept 
from  the  use  of  that  commercial  community.  When  such  a  state 
of  things  is  found  to  exist,  those  deposit  banks  suffer  balances  to 
remain  to  their  credit  in  the  neighboring  banks  of  the  city,  upon 
which  those  banks  extend  their  loans.  He  could  not  say  that  there 
were  permanent  arrangements  between  the  banks  as  to  these  bal 
ances;  but  he  believed  he  could  say,  with  perfect  safety,  that 
they  constantly  existed  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  and  that,  in 
this  indirect  way,  all  the  deposits  at  that  point  were  made  to  con 
stitute,  as  far  as  these  deposits  could  properly  be  made  to  con 
stitute,  capital  upon  which  accommodations  were  extended  to  the 
customers  of  the  banks. 

"  The  system,  however,  Mr.  W.  said,  was,  in  his  judgment, 


476  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

very  objectionable.  These  balances,  suffered  to  remain  in  the 
banks  not  selected  as  deposit  banks,  were,  from  the  necessity  of 
the  case,  payable  to  the  deposit  banks  upon  demand,  at  their 
pleasure.  It  gave  them,  therefore,  a  command  over  the  neigh 
boring  institutions,  which  should  not  exist  but  from  an  unavoid 
able  necessity.  If  we  so  arrange  the  disposition  of  the  public 
moneys  that  more  banks  than  those  now  selected  must  be 
employed  to  use  them  for  the  accommodation  of  the  business 
community,  there  is  no  reason  why  each  bank  should  not  be  made 
principal  in  its  own  use,  and  be  responsible  directly  to  the  trea 
sury,  and  not  indirectly,  through  its  neighboring  and  perhaps 
rival  institutions.  Mr.  W.  said  it  gave  him  great  pleasure  to  say 
that  he  had  never  heard  of  a  charge  of  unfairness,  or  an  unne 
cessary  exertion  of  the  power  possessed  by  the  deposit  banks 
in  the  city  of  New  York  over  their  debtor  banks;  but  there  was 
something  invidious  in  so  limiting  the  number  of  the  deposit  banks 
there  as  to  create  the  constant  necessity  of  permitting  part  of 
the  public  moneys  on  deposit  to  remain  in  other  banks,  and  be 
used  by  them,  or  to  be  taken  from  use,  and  locked  up  in  the 
deposit  banks.  It  added  an  unpleasant  responsibility  to  the 
deposit  banks,  because,  by  the  arrangement,  they  were  compelled 
to  be  answerable,  not  only  for  their  own  use  of  the  moneys 
intrusted  to  them,  but  for  the  use,  by  neighboring  and  rival 
institutions,  of  portions  of  those  moneys;  and  it  placed  the 
neighboring  and  rival  institutions,  which  would  consent  to  take 
and  use  any  part  of  these  moneys,  in  the  unpleasant  position  of 
agents  to  their  rivals,  and,  so  far,  subject  to  their  power  and  con 
trol.  This  state  of  things,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  believed  ought  not 
to  exist ;  and  either  that  the  amount  of  deposits  in  the  banks 
ought  to  be  reduced  to  a  limit  within  their  chartered  powers  of 
disposition,  or  that  the  number  of  deposit  banks  ought  to  be 
increased  to  an  extent  which  would  produce  that  consequence. 

"  The  bill  introduced  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  confined  the  deposits  to  the  existing 
deposit  banks,  and  contained  a  positive  prohibition  against  the 
selection  of  others,  except  at  points  where  the  public  service  might 
require  it,  and  where  there  was  now  no  such  bank.  Of  conse 
quence,  the  exception  would  not  aiford  a  remedy  in  the  case  he 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  477 

had  described  ;  and  he  did  not  doubt  that  the  situation  of  New 
York  must  be  substantially  that  of  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Balti 
more,  and  many  other  similar  points,  where  the  principal  collec 
tions  of  the  revenue  were  made.  For  these  reasons,  he  preferred 
the  amendment  he  had  offered  to  the  original  bill,  so  far  as  this 
difference  was  concerned. 

"  The  next  difference  he  proposed  to  notice,  Mr.  W.  said,  was 
the  omission,  in  the  amendment,  of  any  provision  for  the  pay 
ment  of  interest  upon  deposits.  This  omission,  so  far  as  his 
action  was  concerned,  had  been  made  upon  the  assumption  that 
some  disposition,  other  than  that  of  a  deposit  in  the  banks,  would 
be  made  of  any  surplus  of  the  moneys  so  deposited,  beyond  the 
contemplated  expenses  of  the  government.  Should  this  not  be 
so,  and  should  the  public  moneys  continue  to  accumulate  in  the^ 
banks,  without  appropriation  and  expenditure,  he  was  clearly  of 
the  opinion  that  the  banks  ought  to  allow  a  reasonable  interest 
for  their  use.  He  was,  however,  so  unwilling  to  make  an  invest 
ment  of  this  description,  because  he  held  it  so  directly,  if  not 
cornpulsorily,  an  inducement  to  the  banks  to  make  a  hazardous, 
if  not  improvident,  use  of  the  money  in  deposit  with  them,  that 
he  would  not,  in  this  stage  of  the  proceeding,  discuss  the  prin 
ciple  involved,  or  express  an  opinion  as  to  any  rate  of  interest 
which  he  might  think  it  proper  to  exact.  He  yet  entertained  the 
strongest  hope  that  the  adoption  by  the  Senate,  of  the  propo 
sition  he  had  made  for  the  investment  of  any  surplus  which 
might  be  found  to  exist,  would  entirely  supersede  the  necessity 
of  action  upon  this  proposition  ;  and  he  took  it  for  granted,  if 
his,  or  any  other  of  the  several  propositions  for  taking  the  sur 
plus  from  the  banks,  and  placing  it  beyond  their  reach,  should 
prevail,  all  would  concede  that  the  use  of  the  moneys  which 
would  remain  in  deposit  would  be  no  more  than  an  equivalent  for 
the  services  required  of  the  deposit  banks,  in  their  characters  as 
fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury.  If  none  of  those  propositions 
should  meet  the  approval  of  the  Senate,  then  he  might  be  com 
pelled  to  consider,  practically,  some  mode  of  requiring  the  banks 
to  pay  an  interest  upon  the  deposits,  and  the  rates  of  interest 
which  should  be  charged.  He  would  not,  however,  at  present, 
anticipate  the  difficulties  which  would  be  found  to  arise  from  any 


478  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

provision  of  this  sort.  A  further  consideration  connected  with 
this  part  of  the  subject,  Mr.  W.  said,  it  became  his  particular 
duty  to  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  Senate.  He  could  not  speak 
as  to  other  States  than  the  one  he  had  the  honor  in  part  to  repre 
sent  here  ;  but  the  banks  of  his  State,  as  he  had  before  remarked, 
were  limited  in  the  amounts  they  were  permitted  to  loan  ;  and  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  it  happened,  as  he  was  informed  and 
believed,  and  would  hereafter  often  happen,  that  the  amount  of 
public  deposits  in  the  deposit  banks  there,  would  be  greater, 
when  added  to  the  capital  and  means  of  those  banks,  than  they 
could  use  by  way  of  loans.  Under  the  present  arrangement,  he 
had  described  the  mode  in  which  the  surplus  of  such  deposits 
was  made  useful  and  available  to  the  mercantile  community. 
The  system  pursued,  on  the  part  of  the  deposit  banks,  of  letting 
balances  stand  to  their  credit  in  the  neighboring  institutions, 
upon  which  they  could  make  loans,  reached  this  great  and  useful 
object  ;  and  the  fact  that  these  balances  were  permitted  to 
remain  without  interest,  enabled  the  banks  thus  accommodated  to 
extend  to  their  customers  nearly  the  same  liberality  which  could 
be  extended  by  the  deposit  banks,  were  they  permitted  to  dis 
count  upon  the  same  funds.  But  if  interest  was  to  be  demanded 
of  the  deposit  banks,  it  was  certain  that  they  could  not  afford  to 
suffer  these  balances  to  remain  with  rival  institutions,  without 
interest.  They  could  not  afford  to  pay  interest  upon  funds,  and 
give  the  gratuitous  use  of  them  to  their  neighbors. 

"  Interest,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  the  governing  principle  of  a  bank, 
and  no  bank  would  consent  to  pay  interest  and  not  receive  inte 
rest  ;  much  less  to  pay  interest  for  the  benefit  of  a  rival  bank. 
The  deposit  banks,  therefore,  will  not  pay  interest  to  the  govern 
ment  upon  the  public  deposits,  and  suffer  portions  of  the  moneys 
in  deposit  with  them  to  remain,  in  the  shape  of  balances,  in 
neighboring  institutions,  without  interest.  Can  they,  then,  Mr. 
President,  said  Mr.  W.,  permit  them  to  remain  upon  the  pay 
ment  of  interest  ?  No,  sir  ;  I  think  they  cannot.  Balances 
suffered  to  remain,  under  a  stipulation  to  pay  interest,  would  be 
loans  in  effect,  and  loans  within  the  meaning  and  intent  of  the 
charters  of  the  banks  which  should  enter  into  such  a  stipulation 
by  way  of  addition  to  the  direct  loans  they  are  permitted  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  479 

make.  These  deposit  banks  will  be  sure  to  use  directly  so  much 
of  the  moneys  intrusted  to  their  care  as  they  are  permitted  by 
their  charters  to  use,  and  should  more  be  deposited,  it  is  impos 
sible  they  could  pay  an  interest  upon  it,  and  not  use  it  ;  it  is 
certain  they  would  not  pay  an  interest  upon  it,  and  permit  others 
to  use  it  without  interest;  it  is  shown  that  they  could  not  lend  it  to 
others  upon  interest,  to  be  used  as  the  basis  for  loans ;  and  therefore 
they  could  not  consent  to  receive  in  deposit  a  greater  sum  than 
they  could  use  under  the  powers  granted  in  their  own' charters. 
"  Here,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  thought  he  had  a  conclusive  argument 
to  prove,  either  that  an  interest  upon  the  deposits  ought  not  to 
be  charged,  or  that  the  number  of  deposit  banks  in  the  city  of 
New  York  ought  to  be  so  increased  that  each  bank  could  use,  by 
way  of  loans,  all  the  money  it  should  be  required  to  take  upon 
deposit.  He  did  not  oppose  the  plan  of  charging  the  banks  with 
an  interest  upon  the  deposits,  in  case  amounts  of  money,  beyond 
the  current  demands  upon  the  treasury,  were  to  remain  with 
them;  but  if  this  policy  was  to  become  the  law  of  the  land,  he 
desired  that  it  might  be  practically  applied,  so  that  the  institu 
tions  and  the  treasury  might  be  able  to  act  together,  in  adopting 
it.  This,  he  was  sure,  could  not  be  done,  without  the  selection 
of  additional  deposit  banks  at  some  of  the  important  points.  He 
had  stated  the  operation  at  New  York,  and  he  did  not  doubt  that 
the  same  consequences,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  would  be 
operative  at  several  of  the  other  important  points,  where  the 
collections  of  the  public  revenue  were  large.  He  must  here 
again  remind  the  Senate  that  we  were  legislating  in  reference  to 
institutions  not  subject  to  our  legislation,  and  which  were  to  be 
made  subject  to  it  by  their  own  voluntary  consent ;  by  a  free, 
and  full,  and  fair  contract,  or  not  at  all.  It  therefore  became  us 
to  offer  to  -them  terms  which  they  could  accept,  and  not  so  to 
economize  our  own  interests  as  to  deprive  us  of  the  aids,  impor 
tant,  if  not  indispensable,  of  those  fiscal  agents  of  our  treasury. 
For  these  reasons  he  preferred  the  amendment  to  the  original 
bill,  because  it  gave  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  power 
to  select  additional  deposit  banks — an  exercise  of  which  power 
would  be  indispensable,  in  case  the  principle  of.  charging  interest 
upon  the  deposits  should  be  made  a  feature  of  the  deposit  bill. 


480  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"The  only  other  principal  difference  between  the  bill  and 
amendment,  Mr.  W.  said,  which  he  proposed  to  notice,  was,  the 
different  propositions  for  the  temporary  disposition  of  any  sur 
plus  of  revenue  which  might,  from  time  to  time,  be  found  in  the 
treasury.  The  bill  offered  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  proposed  to  deposit  it  with  the  States, 
without  interest,  upon  a  mere  statute  pledge  of  repayment  of  the 
principal  when  Congress  should  call  for  it.  The  amendment 
offered  by  himself  proposed  simply  to  invest  it  in  the  stocks  and 
securities  issued  by  some  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union,  bear 
ing  a  fair  interest,  transferable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder,  and 
to  authorize  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  the  Commissioners 
of  the  Sinking  Fund,  at  any  time,  when  the  wants  of  the 
national  treasury  should  require  it,  to  sell  the  stock  so  pur 
chased  at  its  market  value. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  would  be  the  purpose  of  his  remaining  remarks 
to  examine  these  different  propositions,  and  assign  the  reasons  for 
his  preference  for  the  one  he  had  submitted. 

"  The  proposition  he  had  offered,  equally  with  that  of  the 
honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Calhoun],  rested  upon  the  responsibility 
of  the  States;  and  the  investments  were,  by  the  terms  of  it,  to 
be  confined  to  the  stocks,  or  other  securities,  issued  by  a  State, 
and  carrying  upon  its  face  a  pledge  of  the  faith  and  credit  of  the 
State  for  the  punctual  payments  of  interest  and  the  final  redemp 
tion  of  the  principal.  It  possessed  an  important  advantage  over 
the  proposition  of  the  Senator,  in  commanding,  for  the  money 
paid,  an  actual  and  transferable  security— a  security  which  might 
be  converted  into  money  at  pleasure,  without  any  agency  or 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  State.  It  also  secured  a  fail- 
interest  for  the  use  of  the  money,  while  it  should  remain  invested; 
and  in  this  respect  seemed  to  him  to  be  decidedly  preferable  to 
the  proposition  of  the  Senator. 

"  The  Senator  proposed  to  loan  the  money  to  the  States,  with 
out  interest,  until  wanted  for  the  uses  of  the  public  treasury, 
and  actually  called  for  upon  a  given  notice  (and  that,  too,  with 
out  any  security  possessed  by  the  government,  which  it  could  use), 
independently  of  the  action  of  the  States.  His  only  security 
was  a  legislative  pledge,  which  was  worth  nothing  until  made  so 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  481 

by  the  further  positive  action  of  the  State  Legislatures.  It  might, 
or  it  might  not,  be  convenient  for  them  to  respond  to  the  call  of 
Congress  for  this  money;  and  all  would  admit  that  their  pleasure 
must  determine  the  question  whether  or  not  the  money  should  be 
repaid,  as  none  would  contend  that  any  power  existed  in  Con 
gress,  or  in  any  department  of  this  government,  to  coerce  the 
fulfillment  of  this  legislative  promise  to  pay. 

"  But  by  whom,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  ask,  was  this  call  to  be 
made  upon  the  States?  By  Congress;  in  other  words,  by  the 
representatives  of  the  States  here,  and  by  the  representatives  of 
the  people  of  the  States  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress.  The 
States  were  to  be  made  the  debtors,  and  their  will,  expressed  by 
their  representatives  in  Congress,  was  to  determine  whether  their 
respective  debts  should  be  paid,  and  when  and  how  that  payment 
should  be  made.  This  was  the  financial  policy  of  the  proposi 
tion  of  the  honorable  Senator.  This  wras  the  security  to  the 
national  treasury  to  be  offered  for  the  almost  countless  millions 
which  the  imagination  of  the  Senator  had  accumulated  there,  to 
be  transferred  to  the  several  State  treasuries. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  he  here  met  an  objection,  which  he  must 
examine  in  a  manner  he  hoped  would  be  satisfactory  to  all  who 
would  honor  him  with  their  attention.  He  alluded  to  the  objec 
tion  that  the  mode  of  investment  he  had  proposed  would  intro 
duce  into  the  financial  operations  of  the  country  an  extensive 
system  of  '  stock-jobbing;'  would  make  the  government  itsell 
a  '  stock-jobber,'  and  would  confound  its  fiscal  agents  with  the 
*  bulls  and  bears  of  the  stock  market.' 

"  The  objection,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  most  seriously  urged,  and, 
therefore,  deserved  a  careful  examination.  He  hoped  to  be  able  to 
give  that  examination  in  a  manner  so  simple,  clear  and  intelligible 
that  friends  and  opponents  of  the  propositions  would  be  entirely 
satisfied  that  its  rejection  must  rest  upon  stronger  ground  th*n 
could  be  found  in  this  cabalistic  scarecrow.  In  what  securities  did 
he  propose  to  make  the  investments  ?  In  securities  resting  upon 
the  faith  and  credit  of  some  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union.  Were 
securities  of  that  character  the  subject  of  stock  gambling  ?  Would 
any  Senator  rise  in  his  place  and  say  that  the  stocks  or  other 
securities  issued  by  his  State,  and  dependent  upon  its  faith  for  their 
31 


482  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

final  redemption,  were  food  for  '  the  bulls  and  bears  of  the  stock 
market  ?'  Would  any  one  contend  that  securities  of  this  charac 
ter  were  to  be  classed  with  the  gambling  stocks  of  the  day  ? 
Would  it  be  urged  that  the  rise  and  depression  of  these  stocks 
in  the  market  for  the  last  ten  years  had  furnished  the  least  indi 
cation  that  they  were  affected  by  the  movements  of  those  who 
had  been  termed  '  the  bulls  and  bears  of  the  stock  market  ?'  He 
was  sure  he  might  give  a  negative  to  all  these  inquiries  without 
contradiction  here ;  and  if  so,  he  must  be  permitted  to  say  he 
considered  the  '  stock-jobbing  '  objection  most  conclusively 
answered. 

"  He  would  ask,  however,  what  were  gambling  stocks  in  prac 
tice  ?  Were  they  securities,  like  the  State  stocks,  defined  and 
certain  in  every  element  which  could  constitute  value  ?  Were 
they  certificates,  or  bonds,  for  a  given  amount  of  principal,  pay 
able  at  a  given  day  and  at  a  specified  place ;  with  a  given  rate  of 
interest  for  the  forbearance  of  payment,  also  payable  quarterly, 
half-yearly,  or  yearly,  at  a  given  place  named  upon  the  face  of 
the  security  ?  Could  stocks  or  securities  of  this  character  become 
the  subject  of  gambling  in  the  stock  market  for  any  other  cause 
than  a  doubt  as  to  the  payments  of  interest  and  principal  ?  And 
was  any  one  prepared  to  say  that  the  faith  of  any  State  of  the 
Union,  thus  pledged,  was  matter  of  doubt  or  uncertainty  in  the 
remotest  degree  ?  He  thought  not.  Where,  then,  was  the  room 
for  apprehension  as  to  stock-jobbing?  The  amount  of  principal 
secured  by  the  stock  was  liquidated  and  certain ;  the  day  of  pay 
ment  was  particularly  specified;  the  rate  of  interest  was  fixed, 
and  the  place  for  the  payments  of  interest  and  principal  was 
defined.  Where,  he  would  again  ask,  was  there  room  for  gam 
bling;  for  stock-jobbing;  for  the  interference  of  the  'bulls  and 
bears'  in  investments  of  this  character?  There  was  none  ;  and 
the  history  of  these  stocks  and  securities  in  the  market  would 
show  that  they  were  entirely  exempt  from  influences  of  the  dis 
ruption  indicated  by  the  objection. 

"  These  stocks  would  experience  fluctuations  in  the  market, 
but  they  were  not  the  fluctuations  produced  by  stock  gambling. 
When  money  was  plenty,  and  the  legitimate  calls  of  business  did 
not  require  all  the  means  at  the  command  of  capitalists  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  483 

money-dealers,  investments  would  be  sought  in  these  safe  stocks, 
and  they  would  rise  in  value.  When,  on  the  contrary,  money 
was  scarce,  and  capital  could  be  safely  invested  at  a  much  more 
advantageous  rate  than  the  usually  low  interest  paid  upon  these 
stocks,  the  stocks  would  seek  a  market  for  a  change  of  invest 
ment,  and  the  consequence  would  usually  be  a  depression  of  price. 
These,  and  these  alone,  were  the  causes  of  fluctuation  in  the  price 
of  the  State  stocks;  and  who  could  suppose  that  these  causes 
would  produce  fluctuations  so  great  as  to  deserve  the  appellation 
of  'stock-jobbing,'  ' stock  gambling,'  'an  association  with  the 
bulls  and  bears  of  the  stock  market  ?' 

"  What,  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  again  ask,  were  gambling 
stocks  ?  They  were  stocks  dependent  upon  future  and  uncertain 
results.  They  were  stocks  as  to  the  value  of  which  the  judgment 
and  the  imagination  were  the  guides  of  the  purchaser.  A  bank 
is  chartered,  a  railroad  company  is  incorporated,  or  a  canal  is 
authorized  to  be  constructed;  a  stock  is  created,  and  becomes 
the  subject  of  purchase  and  sale  in  the  market;  but  there  is  no 
bank,  no  railroad,  no  canal,  in  actual  operation.  The  value  of 
the  stock  is  matter  of  calculation,  conjecture,  imagination.  There 
are  no  dividends,  and  therefore  the  rate  of  dividend  is  unknown; 
and  estimate,  calculation,  judgment  or  imagination,  excitement, 
enthusiasm,  as  the  case  may  be,  direct  the  standard  of  value  of 
the  stocks,  and  govern  the  sales.  These  are  the  stocks  which 
give  rise  to  stock-jobbing;  these  are  the  gambling  stocks;  these 
are  the  stocks  upon  which  '  the  bulls  and  bears  of  the  stock 
market '  act;  these  are  what  have  been  denominated  '  the  fancy 
stocks '  of  Wall  and  Chestnut  streets,  and  the  other  great  stock 
markets  of  the  country.  Would  any  Senator,  or  any  citizen  of 
intelligence  and  observation,  attempt  to  class  these  stocks  with 
the  certain  and  specified  securities  issued  by  the  independent 
States  of  this  Union,  and.  guaranteed  by  their  faith  and  credit  ? 
He  was  certain  he  might  answer,  no;  and  that  answer  must  put 
at  rest  forever  this  frightful  '  stock-jobbing  '  objection. 

"Another  advantage,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  .be  derived  from  the 
propositions  he  had  submitted,  and  which  ought  to  commend 
them  to  the  favor  of  some  portion  of  the  Senate,  was  that  they 
were  antagonistic  to  no  measure  of  appropriation  or  distribution 


484  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

which  had  been  or  which  could  be  presented  to  Congress.  If 
adopted,  they  would  merely  act  upon  any  surplus  moneys  which 
might,  from  time  to  time,  be  in  deposit ;  they  would,  at  all  times, 
regulate  the  amount  of  money  in  the  banks,  and  prevent  the  mis 
chiefs  experienced  and  apprehended  from  an  overaccumulation 
of  funds  there;  they  would  remedy  the  evil  which  constituted 
the  principal  subject  of  present  complaint,  and  would,  at  the 
same  time,  preserve  the  funds  within  the  entire  control  of  the 
treasury,  in  a  shape  to  be  converted  into  money  whenever  appro 
priations  made  by  Congress  should  require  their  use. 

"  It  was  objected  that  there  would  be  a  want  of  these  stocks 
to  absorb  the  millions  which  the  condition  of  the  treasury  would 
present  for  investment  under  the  terms  of  the  propositions.  His 
answer  to  this  objection  was  double.  In  the  first  place  he  could 
assure  the  gentleman  who  urged  it,  and  the  country,  that  the 
vivid  and  fruitful  anticipations  of  the  financiers  who  had  pre 
dicted  upon  the  amounts  of  surplus  revenue,  would  be  sadly 
and  greatly  disappointed.  If  Congress  performed  its  duty,  dur 
ing  its  present  session,  and  made  such  provision  for  the  immedi 
ate  and  permanent  defenses  of  the  country  as  its  condition  and 
wants  imperiously  demanded,  the  amount  of  our  surplus  money 
would  not  be  such  as  to  alarm  the  statesman  and  patriot,  or  to 
compel  the  fiscal  officers  of  the  government  to  go  abroad  for 
stocks  in  which  they  could  invest  it.  There  might  be  a  small 
surplus ;  but  he  thought  it  would  mostly  consist  of  unexpended 
balances  of  outstanding  appropriations.  Existing  in  this  shape, 
it  might  be  found  wise  to  make  temporary  investments  in  the 
manner  proposed,  but  not  in  amounts  which  would  exceed  the 
amounts  of  State  stocks  in  the  market.  In  the  second  place,  the 
present  amount  of  those  securities,  existing  in  the  shape  of  stocks 
or  bonds,  must  be  some  fifty  or  sixty  millions  of  dollars ;  and  it 
was  a  fact,  known  to  all  who  had  paid  the  least  attention  to  the 
legislation  of  the  States  for  the  past  year,  that  a  very  large  pro 
portion  of  them  were  authorizing  further  loans,  and  the  issue  of 
new  stocks  or  securities,  to  enable  them  to  prosecute  additional 
works  of  internal  improvement.  He  did  not  propose  to  be  spe 
cific  in  any  statement  upon  this  point,  but  he  would  refer  to  the 
State  he  had  the  honor  in  part  to  represent,  to  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  485 

Maryland,  Louisiana,  and  many  others,  as  having  outstanding 
securities  in  considerable  amounts;  and  the  same  States,  with 
perhaps  the  exception  of  Ohio,  together  with  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  he  believed  several  other  States,  had, 
at  the  last  sessions  of  their  respective  Legislatures,  authorized 
heavy  additions  to  their  State  debts.  How,  then,  could  gentle 
men  entertain  apprehensions  that  there  would  be  a  want  of  State 
stocks  in  which  to  make  these  investments  ?  Even  should  the 
amounts  to  be  invested  far  exceed  their  most  flattering  calcula 
tions,  the  amount  of  these  stocks  would  much  more  than  equal 
the  sum  total  of  surplus;  and  he  hoped  to  quiet  their  apprehen 
sions  for  the  future  by  the  confident  assurance,  which  the  history 
of  the  times  would  fully  warrant,  that,  unless  a  radical  change 
in  the  policy  of  the  States  should  be  produced,  the  increase  of 
State  loans,  and  consequently  of  State  stocks  and  other  State 
securities,  would  far  outstrip  the  accumulations  of  surplus  revenue 
in  the  national  treasury. 

"  But  another  formidable  objection  had  presented  itself  to  the 
minds  of  some,  in  the  supposition  that  any  attempt  on  the  part 
of  this  government  to  invest  the  surplus  moneys  of  the  treasury 
in  these  stocks  would  at  once  raise  the  price  of  stocks  in  the 
market  to  an  extent  so  extravagant  as  to  make  the  investments 
matter  of  important  loss.  He  would  beg  gentlemen,  who  urged 
this  objection,  to  remember  against  what  description  of  invest 
ments  they  were  using  the  argument.  Take  an  example  :  You 
propose  to  purchase  a  five  per  cent  stock  of  one  of  the  States, 
upon  which  the  interest  is  payable  quarter-yearly,  and  the  prin 
cipal  redeemable  at  the  expiration  of  twenty  years.  The  only 
consideration  which  can  make  such  a  stock  par  in  this  country, 
where  money  is  almost  always  worth  more  than  five  per  cent  for 
ordinary  uses,  is  that  of  perfect  security,  and  perfect  punctuality 
in  the  payments  of  interest  and  principal.  If  you  pay  a  premium 
upon  such  a  stock,  and  retain  it  until  the  principal  become  due, 
the  premium  paid  is  so  much  deducted  in  advance  from  the  accru 
ing  interests,  while,  if  the  stock  be  not  retained  for  the  whole, 
but  a  portion  only,  of  the  time  it  has  to  run,  its  market  value  is 
diminishing  in  precise  proportion  to  the  lapse  of  time;  and,  of 
course,  the  prospect  of  recovering  the  premium  paid,  by  a  resale, 


486  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

diminishes  constantly.  All  these  are  matters  of  precise  and  per 
fect  calculations;  and  if  every  doubt  as  to  the  prompt  and 
punctual  payments  of  interest  and  principal  be  removed,  as  in 
reference  to  State  stocks  and  securities  they  might  be  supposed 
to  be,  they  were  all  the  elements,  Mr.  W.  said,  which  entered 
into  the  value  of  the  given  stock.  How  much  premium,  then,  he 
would  ask,  could  be  paid  ?  Five  per  cent  premium  would  be  the 
whole  interest  for  one  year,  or  the  twentieth  part  of  all  the  inter 
est  to  be  paid  upon  the  stock;  and  this  ratio  would  exhibit  the 
effect  upon  the  interest  of  the  purchase  at  any  rate  of  premium. 
How  was  it  possible,  then,  that  these  stocks  could  experience 
great  fluctuations  beyond  those  occasioned  by  the  different  value 
of  money  at  different  periods?  They  could  not;  and  their  his 
tory  in  the  market,  as  he  had  previously  had  occasion  to  notice, 
had  proved  that  they  had  not  fluctuated  materially  after  public 
confidence  had  become  established  in  their  entire  security  as 
investments.  Indeed,  he  could  go  further,  and  say  that  the  State 
stocks  had  experienced  no  extensive  fluctuations  at  any  period; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  their  usual  history  had  been  a  gradual  rise, 
within  certain  limits,  regulated  by  the  value  of  money  and  the 
desire  for  permanent  investments,  in  proportion  as  the  stocks 
became  known  and  their  perfect  safety  ascertained. 

"  Some  gentlemen,  Mr.  W.  said,  seemed  to  suppose  that  the 
fact  that  the  government  was  to  become  a  purchaser,  would,  of 
necessity,  affect  the  price  of  these  stocks  in  the  market.  This  he 
did  not  believe.  He  had  had  some  experience  in  transactions  of 
this  sort,  while  in  charge  of  an  important  fiscal  office  in  his  own 
State,  and  acting  for  the  State;  and  that  experience  had  taught 
him  to  believe  that  a  public  officer,  acting  with  discretion, 
could  purchase  stocks  of  this  character  upon  as  favorable  terms 
as  any  other  individual.  If  the  officer  were  to  give  public 
notice,  in  advance,  that,  upon  a  given  day,  he  would  present 
himself  in  the  market  and  purchase  a  given  amount  of  specified 
stock,  he  would,  most  undoubtedly,  have  the  price  of  that  stock 
raised  upon  him,  and  would  either  defeat  his  intended  purchase 
altogether,  or  compel  himself  to  pay  an  exorbitant  price.  So 
with  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  under  the  provisions 
of  this  act ;  but  did  any  one  suppose  those  officers  would  take 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  487 

that  course  in  making  the  investments  they  are  required  to 
make  ?  No,  Mr.  President ;  no  officers  or  agents  of  intelligence 
and  integrity  will  thus  discharge  such  a  trust.  They  will  first 
ascertain,  at  the  times  specified,  the  amount  of  money  to  be 
invested,  and  will  then  give  their  instructions  to  trustworthy 
and  confidential  agents,  stock-brokers  or  others,  at  the  points 
where  the  desired  stocks  are  to  be  found,  to  make  the  necessary 
purchases  for  them.  Their  agents  go  into  the  market  as  other 
private  individuals  go  there;  not  proclaiming  themselves  as  the 
representatives  of  the  United  States,  but  as  purchasers  of  State 
stocks  for  investment,  and  proffering  the  money,  at  the  market 
value,  to  those  who  wish  to  sell.  Their  purchases,  like  all  others, 
will  be  regulated  by  the  relative  value  of  money,  and  of  the 
stocks  purchased;  and,  so  far  from  the  price  being  affected  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  government  is  in  fact  the  purchaser, 
the  seller  may  never  know  that  fact.  He  makes  his  transfer  to 
the  nominal  purchaser,  and  that  purchaser  to  the  United  States ; 
and  it  is  only  by  following  the  transfers  upon  the  books  kept  in 
the  transfer  office,  that  it  will  become  known  that  the  govern 
ment  has  purchased  the  stocks.  This  fact  may  not  be  made 
known  until  the  investments  are  completed,  and  the  purchases 
for  the  government  have  closed.  So  with  the  sales,  when  the 
government  may  find  it  necessary  to  sell ;  and  no  apprehension, 
therefore,  can  be  justly  entertained  by  reason  of  the  connection 
of  the  public  treasury  with  these  operations. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  it  was  undoubtedly  true,  in  case  large  amounts 
were  to  be  invested  at  one  time,  that  an  appreciation  of  the 
stocks  might  be  the  consequence.  It  was  a  law  of  trade,  of  uni 
versal  application,  that  an  unusual  demand  for  any  article  in  the 
market  had  a  tendency  to  raise  the  price  of  that  article  in  a  ratio 
governed  by  the  demand  and  supply;  and,  in  reference  to  the 
investments  provided  for,  this  rule  would  operate  in  the  same 
manner  that  it  would  upon  mercantile,  or  any  other  transactions 
of  trade.  As,  however,  he  had  shown  (he  hoped  satisfactorily 
to  the  Senate)  that  the  amounts  to  be  invested,  as  surplus  beyond 
the  appropriations  made  by  Congress,  could  not  be  large,  and 
that  the  amount  of  stocks  in  the  market,  of  the  description  to 
which  the  investments  were  confined,  was  ample  at  present,  and 


488  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS 

would  increase  much  more  rapidly  than  any  possible  increase  of 
our  surplus  revenues,  he  thought  he  had  answered  the  last  two 
objections  named,  so  effectually  as  to  prevent  their  repetition. 

"  Another  objection  had  been  made  to  the  propositions  he  had 
submitted,  of  a  personal  character.  It  had  been  said  that  the 
Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  were  not  the  persons  to  whom 
the  trust  of  making  these  investments  ought  to  be  confided. 
Mr.  W.  said  he  had  named  these  commissioners,  not  because  he 
had  any  especial  preference  for  those  particular  officers,  as  the 
trustees  of  the  treasury,  upon  this  particular  occasion.  Indeed, 
he  did  not  know  that  he  could  tell  who  the  commissioners  were 
at  the  present  moment;  but  he  believed  the  Vice-President,  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Secretaries  of  State 
and  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Attorney-General,  were  of  the 
number,  if  not  the  whole  board.  He  must  be  permitted  to 
say  he  had  full  and  entire  confidence  in  the  individuals  who 
now  held  these  important  offices,  and,  for  himself,  he  would 
most  cheerfully  confide  to  their  intelligence  and  integrity  any 
trust,  pecuniary  or  political ;  but  he  had  designated  the  Com 
missioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  for  the  reason  that  our  fathers 
had  designated  those  high  officers,  whoever  the  individuals  might 
chance  to  be,  to  discharge  much  more  important  duties  in  refer 
ence  to  the  great  and  vital  interests  of  the  treasury — the  pay 
ment  of  the  national  debt,  and  not  from  any  personal  or  political 
attachment  to  the  gentlemen  who  now  filled  the  places.  If 
objection  was  to  be  seriously  made  on  account  of  this  feature  of 
the  propositions,  and  any  Senator  would  name  other  public  officers, 
whose  duties  would  permit  the  requisite  attention  to  the  trust, 
and  who  could  be  less  exceptionably  charged  with  it,  he  would 
most  cheerfully  consent  to  the  change.  He  was  sure  he  did  not 
mistake  the  feelings  of  any  one  of  the  officers  he  had  named, 
when  he  said  he  could  not  render  to  them  a  more  acceptable  ser 
vice  than  by  discharging  them  from  the  unpleasant  responsibili 
ties  which  a  faithful  execution  of  the  proposed  trust  might 
impose.  He  had  been  unable,  however,  after  the  most  mature 
reflection  upon  the  subject,  to  change  the  selection  of  trustees, 
and  must,  therefore,  wait  to  hear  the  suggestions  of  those  who 
found  objection  in  this  part  of  his  propositions.  He  had  heard 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  489 

the  objections  with  patience,  and  he  would  endeavor  to  receive 
and  consider  any  amendments  with  impartiality  and  candor. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  when  he  had  originally  offered  the  sections  of 
the  bill  upon  which  he  was  now  remarking,  seven  millions  of  dol 
lars  was  named  as  the  sum  to  be  left  in  the  treasury  to  meet  the 
disbursements  of  each  quarter.  Before  he  commenced  his  present 
observations,  he  had  modified  the  proposition  by  striking  out  the 
word  '  seven,'  and  thus  leaving  the  sum  blank.  He  had  done 
this  because  he  wished  the  vote  might  indicate  the  sense  of  the 
Senate  upon  the  principle  contained  in  the  section,  without  involv 
ing  objections  of  detail,  which,  it  was  most  manifest,  the  fixing 
of  this  sum  would  involve.  The  counter-proposition  already 
offered  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  CalhounJ,  with 
a  much  less  sum  (three  millions)  inserted,  afforded  conclusive  evi 
dence  of  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  upon  this  point,  and  proved 
satisfactorily  to  his  mind  that  the  question  between  the  two 
propositions  ought  to  be  presented  to  the  Senate  without  refer 
ence  to  this  amount  :  that  the  principle  of  each  might  be  disem 
barrassed  from  this  mere  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  amount 
to  be  left  in  the  treasury,  whether  the  one  proposition  or  the 
other  should  be  adopted.  He  thanked  the  honorable  Senator  for 
his  agreement  with  him  in  this  opinion,  and  for  having  modified 
his  propositions  in  conformity  with  it,  by  leaving  the  sum  blank 
in  them  also.  Indeed,  Mr.  W.  said,  the  fixing  of  this  sum,  in  any 
event,  ought  to  be  the  act  of  the  Senate,  and  not  of  any  mem 
ber  of  the  Senate  who  might  choose  to  submit  propositions  as  to 
the  disposition  of  any  surplus  revenue  which  might  be  found  in 
the  treasury.  This  position  would  be  sound,  under  any  circum 
stances;  and  more  especially  so  at  this  time,  when  appropriations 
to  a  greater  extent  than  usual  were  not  only  proposed  to  be  made, 
but  conceded  on  all  hands  to  be  proper,  and  when,  therefore,  the 
amount  to  be  retained  for  the  uses  of  each  quarter  would  be,  to 
an  unusual  extent,  dependent  upon  the  appropriations  actually 
made. 

"There  was,  however,  Mr.  W.  said,  a  manifest  difference  as 
to  the  sum  which  ought  to  supply  the  blank  in  the  section  he 
had  offered  from  that  which  had  been  offered  by  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun],  because  the  rule  of  action 


490  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WXIGHT. 

of  the  two  propositions  upon  the  funds  in  the  treasury  was 
wholly  different.  That  offered  by  him  directed  the  Commission 
ers  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  at  the  commencement  of  each  quarter 
of  the  year,  to  estimate  not  only  the  payments,  but  the  receipts 
for  the  coming  quarter;  and  from  that  estimate  to  determine 
the  average  of  moneys  to  be  found  in  the  treasury  for  the  quar 
ter,  and  to  invest  all,  above  the  amount  which  was  to  fill  the 
blank  in  question,  in  the  manner  pointed  out  in  the  provisions. 
The  antagonistic  propositions  of  the  Senator  provided  for  annual 
distributions,  leaving  in  the  treasury,  regardless  of  future  receipts, 
a  specified  amount  to  meet  outstanding  appropriations. 

"  The  rule  of  calculation  was,  therefore,  entirely  different,  and 
the  blank  in  each  should  be  filled  with  reference  to  that  rule.  In 
the  former  case,  the  calculation  was  to  be  made  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  quarter,  and  the  receipts  as  well  as  the  expenditures 
of  the  quarter  were  to  be  brought  into  the  estimate;  while,  in 
the  latter  case,  a  gross  sum  was  to  be  left  in  the  treasury,  at  the 
commencement  of  each  year,  which,  together  with  the  receipts 
of  the  year  not  estimated,  was  to  constitute  its  means  for  the 
coining  year.  In  the  one  case,  the  blank  should  be  filled  by  a 
sum  which  would  meet  the  entire  payments  of  the  quarter;  while, 
in  the  other,  it  should  be  such  a  sum  as,  when  added  to  the 
whole  receipts  of  the  future  year,  would  meet  the  whole  pay 
ments  of  that  year.  It  was,  therefore,  most  apparent  that,  in 
acting  upon  the  different  principles  proposed,  this  sum  should  be 
left  blank,  and  that  the  blank  should  be  filled  with  reference  to 
the  proposition  adopted.  It  was  equally  apparent  to  his  mind, 
Mr.  W.  said,  that  the  sum  to  be  inserted  in  either  case  must 
depend  mainly  upon  the  appropriations  made,  and  to  be  made, 
by  Congress,  during  its  present  session.  The  quarterly  payments 
must  surely  depend  upon  that  legislation;  and  the  question 
whether  the  receipts  of  the  next  year  will  be  equal  to  the  expend 
itures  of  that  year  must  also  depend,  in  a  great  degree,  upon  the 
amount  of  outstanding  appropriations  at  the  close  of  this  year. 
The  appropriation  bills  for  the  present  year  are  very  late.  Few 
of  them  have  yet  passed  and  become  laws,  although  the  one-half 
of  the  year  has  nearly  expired.  If,  then,  they  be  greater  than 
usual,  there  is  the  more  reason  to  expect  that  the  amount  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  49 J 

outstanding  appropriations,  at  the  close  of  the  year,  will  be 
unusually  large.  This  amount,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  to  be 
added  to  the  current  calls  upon  the  treasury  of  the  next  year ; 
and,  therefore,  in  fixing  upon  a  sum  to  be  left  in  the  treasury  on 
the  first  day  of  the  year,  the  amount  of  outstanding  appropria 
tions  should  be  especially  regarded. 

"  In  this  view  of  the  subject,  Mr.  W.  said  he  had  no  hesita 
tion  in  saying  that  the  blank  in  the  propositions  of  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  could  only  be  filled  safely  by 
deduction  of  the  outstanding  appropriations,  separate  from  the 
sum  which  it  might  be  necessary  to  retain  in  the  treasury  at  the 
commencement  of  each  year,  to  render  it  safe  against  all  current 
calls.  In  reference  to  the  propositions  he  had  submitted,  entirely 
different  considerations  might  govern  our  legislation.  In  the 
first  place,  an  estimate  was  to  be  made  of  the  receipts  and  expend 
itures  of  each  quarter,  and  the  sum  to  be  invested  was  to  be 
regulated  by  that  estimate,  by  deducting  from  the  moneys  in  the 
treasury,  and  the  estimated  receipts  for  the  quarter,  the  estimated 
payments  for  the  same  quarter.  That  estimate,  however,  might 
be  erroneous  upon  the  one  side  or  the  other;  but  the  consequence 
of  error,  in  either  case,  could  not  be  materially  injurious  to  the 
public  interests.  If  the  estimate  should  be  too  favorable  to  the 
treasury,  the  only  consequence  would  be  that  the  amount  of  the 
error  would  remain  in  the  treasury  uninvested  during  the  quarter. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  estimate  should  be  too  short,  and  leave 
the  treasury  without  means,  the  propositions  not  only  authorize, 
but  direct,  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  immediately  to 
sell  so  much  of  the  stocks  in  which  the  investments  have  been 
made  as  may  be  necessary  to  supply  the  treasury  with  means 
equal  to  its  wants.  At  no  time,  under  these  propositions,  are  the 
means  placed  beyond  the  reach  and  control  of  the  fiscal  affairs  of 
this  government,  or  in  a  situation  in  which  they  cannot  be  com 
manded  by  the  action  of  the  officers  and  agents  of  this  govern 
ment,  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  national  treasury.  The  filling 
of  the  blank,  therefore,  in  this  section,  is  much  less  important 
than  in  that  offered  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr. 
Calhoun].  In  this  case,  the  propositions,  of  themselves,  provide 
a  correction  for  any  error  which  may  arise.  In  the  other  case, 


492  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  money  is  placed  in  the  keeping  of  the  States;  is  put  beyond 
the  reach  of  this  government  or  its  officers,  upon  the  mere  secu 
rity  of  a  legislative  pledge  for  the  repayment  of  the  principal, 
without  interest ;  and  cannot  be  reclaimed,  whatever  may  be  the 
wants  of  the  national  treasury,  but  upon  the  voluntary,  separate, 
and  independent  action  of  the  Legislatures  of  all  those  States 
which  shall  receive  their  respective  dividends.  Hence,  the  far 
greater  importance  that  the  Senate  should  direct  in  this  matter ; 
and  that  these  blanks,  and  especially  that  in  the  proposition  of 
the  Senator,  should  be  filled  with  great  caution,  and  with  partic 
ular  reference  not  only  to  the  outstanding  appropriations,  but  to 
such  future  appropriations  as  any  measures  of  national  policy 
now  to  be  adopted  may  require.  He  had  felt  it  to  be  his  duty, 
Mr.  W.  said,  to  throw  out  these  suggestions ;  and  he  would 
content  himself  with  their  expression,  until  some  specific  motion 
to  fill  the  blank  in  the  one  or  the  other  proposition  should  bring 
the  question  more  directly  before  the  Senate. 

"Mr,  W.  said  he  had  two  insuperable  objections  to  prefer 
against  the  propositions  offered  by  the  Senator  from  South  Caro 
lina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  for  a  disposition  of  the  surplus  revenue. 
The  first  was,  that  he  considered  them,  in  substance  and  in  effect, 
propositions  to  make  a  general  distribution  to  the  States  of  all 
the  revenues  in  the  national  treasury,  from  whatever  source 
derived,  and,  in  that  sense,  to  embrace  the  adoption  of  a  prin 
ciple  which  he  considered  more  dangerous  to  our  civil  institutions, 
State  and  national,  than  any  other  which  could  be  presented  for 
the  sanction  of  Congress.  The  taxing  powers  of  this  government 
were  to  be  used  to  accumulate  money  for  distribution  to  the 
sovereign  and  independent  States  of  the  confederacy.  Those 
States  were  to  be  taught  to  look  to  this  government  for  the  means 
to  supply  their  wants;  for  the  money  to  sustain  their  institutions; 
for  the  funds  to  meet  their  legislative  appropriations.  Can  rela 
tions  of  this  sort  be  established,  and  the  independence  of  the 
States  be  preserved  ?  Can  the  government  of  a  State  feel  or 
exercise  an  independence  of  the  power  which  feeds  and  sustains 
it  by  direct  and  gratuitous  contributions  from  its  treasury  ? 
What  step  can  be  so  eminently  calculated  as  this  to  produce 
speedy  and  perfect  consolidation  ? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  493 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  knew  he  should  be  answered  that  it  was  not 
proposed  to  give,  but  to  loan,  this  money  to  the  States;  to  lake 
their  bonds  or  securities  for  its  repayment,  upon  the  call  of  Con 
gress.  It  would  bj  further  said  that  the  omission  to  charge 
interest  was  a  matter  of  entire  discretion  with  Congress  and  of 
justice  to  the  States,  inasmuch  as  the  money  had  been  collected 
from  the  people  of  the  States,  and,  if  not  wanted  for  the  uses  of 
this  government,  ought  to  be  submitted  to  the  States  for  their 
use,  without  charge.  These  were  specious  answers,  to  which  the 
form  of  the  propositions  gave  countenance;  but  what  would  be 
their  practical  effect  ?  The  money  was  to  go  to  the  States  upon  a 
rule  of  distribution  prescribed,  and  claimed  to  be  equal  and  just; 
it  was  to  go  to  them  for  any  uses  they  may  choose  to  make  of  it,  and 
without  interest.  In  return  for  the  money,  the  several  State  Legis 
latures  are  to  pass  laws  declaring  that  the  State  will  repay  the  prin 
cipal  when  Congress  shall,  by  law,  call  for  the  payment.  Does 
any  one  believe  that  the  national  treasury  will  ever  receive  back 
one. dollar  of  the  money  distributed  upon  these  terms?  What  is 
the  course  ?  The  immediate  relation  of  debtor  and  creditor  is 
established  between  each  of  the  States  and  the  federal  govern 
ment,  and  the  power  to  demand  payment  is  left  with  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  States,  and  of  the  people  of  the  States,  in  the 
two  Houses  of  Congress;  while  the  response  to  that  demand 
rests  with  the  States  themselves,  acting  through  their  respective 
Legislatures,  or  otherwise,  as  they  shall  choose.  The  treasury 
is  in  want.  Will  the  States,  through  their  agents  here,  make  a 
demand  upon  themselves  to  supply  that  want  ?  Never,  Mr. 
President.  They  may,  through  that  channel,  call  for  increased 
distributions,  but  never  for  the  repayment  of  moneys  which  have 
been  distributed  and  expended. 

"  It  must  not  be  alleged,  Mr.  W.  said,  that,  in  making  these 
remarks,  he  expressed  distrust  of  the  patriotism  or  faith  of  the 
States.  No  man  entertained  more  confidence  in  both  than  him 
self  ;  but  the  government  of  the  States  was  the  government  of 
the  people  of  the  States,  and  the  people  of  the  States  composed 
the  vast,  sagacious,  enterprising  business  community,  which  all 
here  in  common  represent,  and  of  whose  interests  they,  as  an 
aggregate  number,  are  quite  as  perfect  judges  as  their  represen- 


494  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tatives  anywhere.  He  should  never  express  a  doubt  of  their 
faith  or  patriotism ;  nor  did  he  doubt  that  they  would,  at  all 
times,  and  for  all  proper  purposes,  keep  the  national  treasury 
fully  and  richly  supplied.  If,  however,  want  should  come  upon 
that  treasury,  the  manner  of  answering  that  want  would  be  before 
the  people,  and  subject  to  their  interests  and  their  will.  If  an 
increase  of  the  duties  upon  imports,  an  increase  of  indirect  taxa 
tion,  shall  be  more  acceptable  to  the  majority  than  a  call  upon 
the  States  for  the  money  now  proposed  to  be  intrusted  to  them, 
that  mode  of  supplying  the  treasury  will,  of  course,  be  adopted. 
Which — he  would  ask  every  Senator  to  answer  to  himself  in  can 
dor  and  sincerity — which  would  be  the  most  probable  resort  ? 
In  case  of  a  call  upon  the  States,  all  would  be  equally  interested, 
and  all  would  be  likely  to  resist.  Such  a  call,  if  the  rule  of  dis 
tribution  should  be  a  proper  and  constitutional  rule,  would  be, 
in  effect,  precisely  equivalent  to  laying  a  direct  tax  to  the  amount, 
and  the  interests  of  no  State  or  section  of  the  country  could,  in 
any  event,  be  promoted  by  it;  but  an  increase  of  the  duties  upon 
foreign  importations,  and  the  consequent  increase  of  the  revenue 
from  customs,  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of  the  whole  Union, 
as  experience  has  shown,  may  easily  be  made  to  believe,  if  the 
fact  be  not  so,  that  their  interests  will  be  directly  and  essentially 
promoted.  Who,  then,  can  doubt  that  this  mode,  instead  of  a 
call  upon  the  States  for  the  money  parceled  out  to  them,  will 
be  the  mode  of  supplying  any  future  wants  of  the  treasury,  so 
long  as  a  resort  to  this  indirect  taxation  can  reach  that  object? 
If  a  calamitous  and  expensive  war  shall  come  upon  the  nation, 
and  our  commerce  shall  be  so  far  interrupted  or  destroyed  as  to 
render  any  rates  of  duty  upon  imports  an  inadequate  supply  to 
the  treasury,  then,  indeed,  Mr.  W.  said,  this  money  might  be 
called  for;  because  then  no  other  resort  but  to  such  a  call,  or  to 
a  direct  tax,  would  remain  to  Congress.  Still  an  important 
and  most  delicate  question  would,  even  then,  be  likely  to  govern 
the  action  of  the  national  Legislature.  Each  State  would  calcu 
late  the  relative  effect  upon  itself  of  a  call  for  the  money,  or  a 
direct  tax  to  raise  the  same  amount.  The  interests  of  the 
States  whose  population  shall  have  relatively  diminished  between 
the  time  of  the  receipt  of  the  money  and  the  time  when  a  call 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  495 

shall  be  proposed  will  dictate  to  it,  and  to  its  representatives 
here,  to  favor  a  direct  tax  in  preference  to  a  call ;  because 
its  proportion  of  the  tax  will  be  less  than  was  its  proportion 
of  the  money,  distributed  when  its  relative  position  among 
the  States  was  higher.  On  the  contrary,  the  relatively  increas 
ing  States,  those  whose  population  shall  bear  a  higher  pro 
portion  to  the  whole  when  the  call  comes  than  when  the  dis 
tribution  took  place,  will  favor  a  call  instead  of  a  tax,  because 
the  proportion  of  money  falling  to  their  share  will  have  been 
less  than  their  proportion  of  the  tax  when  they  shall  have 
become  relatively  more  populous.  The  preponderance  of  these 
interests  will,  of  course,  determine  the  action  of  Congress  when 
the  crisis  shall  have  arrived. 

"  If  this  view  of  the  subject  be  sound  and  practical,  will  any 
one  contend  that  the  disposition  of  the  surplus,  according  to 
these  propositions,  is,  in  effect,  anything  less  than  a  general 
and  unrestricted  distribution  of  it  to  the  States?  The  repay 
ment  submitted  to  their  action,  and  is  subject  to  their  pleasure  ; 
and  all  the  constitutional  means  for  a  supply  of  money  to  the* 
treasury,  separate  from  a  call  for  this  money,  will  be  con 
stantly  as  open  to  them  and  to  their  representatives  here  as 
they  now  are,  and  will  remain,  if  this  distribution  be  not  made. 
Is,  then,  the  position  sound,  that  Congress  will  never  make  the 
call  until  a  necessity  either  of  levying  a  direct  tax,  or  of  making 
it,  shall  exist  ?  And  if  it  be,  is  the  position  of  the  general  gov 
ernment  made  in  any  respect  better,  by  having  required  the 
promise  of  payment  as  a  condition  precedent  to  dividing  out  the 
moneys  of  the  treasury  to  the  States  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  could 
not  see  that  it  was;  while  he  could  see  the  most  fearful  evils 
which  might  arise  from  this  debtor  and  creditor  relation  between 
the  States  and  this  government.  He  could  foresee  incalculable 
evils  which  might  grow  out  of  the  conflicting  and  contrary 
interests  of  the  different  States,  whenever  it  should  be  proposed 
by  the  federal  government  to  make  the  call  for  this  money,  and 
thus  attempt  to  render  the  promises  to  pay  operative.  He  was 
compelled  further  to  apprehend,  in  consequence  of  these  propo 
sitions,  should  they  be  adopted,  an  early  agitation  of  the  tariff 
controversy,  and  the  revival  of  local  questions  which  have  so 


496  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

recently  tried  the  strength  of  this  Union  more  severely  than  it 
had  ever  before  been  tried,  and  given  to  our  institutions  a  shock 
which  every  patriot  would  long  remember,  and  labor  to  the 
utmost  of  his  power  to  avoid  in  future. 

"  His  second  objection,  Mr.  W.  said,  was  against  the  rule  of 
distribution  adopted.  It  was  directed  to  be  made  according  to 
the  representation  of  each  State  in  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives.  He  must  suppose,  if  Congress  possess  the 
power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  divide  out  the  moneys  in  the 
public  treasury  to  the  States,  or  to  the  people  of  the  States, 
that  the  rule  of  distribution  must  follow  that  which  governs  the 
collection  of  the  same  money.  That  rule  is  the  rule  of  repre 
sentation  and  taxation ;  is  the  rule  of  federal  numbers ;  is  the 
rate  of  representation,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  by  which  the  States 
are  represented  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  has  never 
before  been  proposed  to  include  the  Senate  in  any  calculation  of 
equality  between  the  States.  The  Constitution  has  in  no  instance 
included  it;  and  he  must  think  that  its  inclusion  here  was  against 
the  spirit  and  against  the  express  provisions  of  that  instrument. 
How  had  this  money  been  accumulated  ?  By  taxation,  direct  or 
indirect.  From  whom  had  it  been  collected  ?  From  the  people 
of  the  States.  The  Constitution  prescribed  the  rule  by  which, 
and  by  which  only,  Congress  might  tax  them;  and  that  was  in 
proportion  to  their  federal  numbers.  If  the  money  is  not  wanted 
for  the  uses  of  the  federal  government,  to  whom  does  it  belong  ? 
and  to  whom  should  it  be  returned  ?  Most  certainly  the  people 
from  whom  it  has  been  collected,  and  in  the  same  proportions 
which  governed  its  collection  from  them.  It  should  be  distrib 
uted,  then,  upon  the  federal  numbers  of  the  States,  or  upon  their 
representation  in  the  House  of  Representatives  alone;  and  the 
representation  in  the  Senate,  which  has  no  relation  to  the  popu 
lation  of  tax-paying  liabilities  of  the  States,  should  not  be 
included. 

"Another  argument  against  the  adoption  of  this  rule  of  distri 
bution,  of  the  strongest  character,  was  to  be  found  in  the  certainty 
it  would  create  that  the  money  would  never  be  called  for,  even 
to  avoid  direct  taxation.  By  this  rule  all  the  small  States  would 
obtain  a  large  amount  of  the  money  to  be  distributed,  beyond 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  497 

the  proportion  to  which  their  federal  numbers  would  entitle  them. 
Sixteen  of  the  twenty-four  States  would  gain,  and  eight  onlv 
would  lose.  Present,  then,  in  this  body,  where  the  States  are 
represented  equally,  the  alternative  of  a  direct  tax  or  a  call  upon 
the  States  for  this  money,  and  which  do  you  think,  Mr.  President, 
would  be  adopted  ?  Would  the  sixteen  States  prevail,  or  the 
eight  ?  and  if  the  sixteen,  which  alternative  would  they  choose  ? 
That,  of  course,  which  the  interests  of  the  States  represented 
here,  and  holding  the  majority,  should  dictate.  What  would  be 
that  interest  ?  In  the  distribution  of  the  money  to  be  repaid 
they  will  have  received  a  proportion  much  greater  than  their 
proportion  of  federal  population,  because  the  rule  of  distribution 
included  their  representation  in  the  Senate.  If,  then,  they  con 
sent  to  the  call  for  repayment,  they  must  return  the  money 
received.  On  the  contrary,  if  these  States  adopt  a  direct  tax, 
they  have  only  to  raise  a  sum  equal  to  their  exact  proportions  in 
the  scale  of  federal  numbers,  and  therefore  will  be  direct  gainers 
by  preferring  the  tax  and  rejecting  a  call  for  the  money. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  must,  in  justice  to  himself,  state  that  the  fact 
that  the  rule  proposed  to  be  adopted  would  work  the  greatest 
injustice  to  his  own  State  had  very  little  influence  with  him  in 
urging  this  objection.  If  a  distribution  was  to  be  made,  and 
New  York  was  to  be  a  recipient,  it  was  his  duty  to  contend  for 
her  rights;  but,  in  debt  as  she  was,  if  all  her  citizens  entertained 
his  feelings  and  opinions  upon  this  subject,  they  would  look,  as 
they  most  safely  might,  to  her  wealth,  to  her  enterprise,  to  her 
immense  advantages  and  resources,  to  pay  her  debts  and  carry 
her  on  to  her  high  destiny,  and  would  not  prostrate  her  before 
the  national  treasury,  for  the  miserable  boon  of  a  few  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Were  he  permitted  to  advise,  his  State  would 
never  accept. the  money  proposed  to  be  intrusted  to  her  upon  the 
terms  prescribed. 

"Another  objection,  Mr.  W.  said,  remained  to  be  answered, 
which  had  been  very  generally  urged  against  the  propositions  he 
had  offered  upon  this  subject.  It  was,  that  an  investment  of  the 
surplus  in  the  manner  he  had  proposed  would  be  unequal,  as 
between  the  different  States;  and  that  those  States  which  had  no 
debt,  which  had  issued  no  stock  or  securities  of  any  description, 
32 


498  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

would  obtain  no  part  of  the  moneys  to  be  invested.  A  perfect  and 
conclusive  answer  to  this  objection  might  be,  that  it  was  at  the 
option  of  the  States  to  issue  stocks  or  not;  and  therefore  it  was 
at  their  option  to  participate  or  not  in  these  investments,  as  any 
State  which  would  issue  stocks,  and  offer  them  in  the  market 
upon  the  most  favorable  terms,  would,  of  course,  be  most  likely 
to  obtain  investments.  This,  however,  was  not  the  answer  upon 
which  he  chose  to  rest  his  defense  to  the  objection.  The  objec 
tion  had  arisen  from  the  fact  that  gentlemen  had  yielded  all  their 
reflections  to  the  various  plans  for  an  equal  distribution  of  these 
moneys  to  the  States;  and  they  had  connected,  in  their  minds, 
the  propositions  he  had  made  with  reflections  of  this  character. 
There  was  no  connection  between  the  two  subjects,  and  he  hoped 
to  be  able  to  convince  every  Senator  that  the  objection  was 
wholly  inapplicable  in  practice  to  the  plan  of  investment  he  had 
suggested.  There  was  nothing  in  the  nature  of  a  distribution 
among  the  States  connected  with  the  plan.  No  transaction  with 
the  States,  of  any  sort,  was  proposed.  The  adoption  of  the  pro 
positions  could  not  benefit  or  injure  any  State,  or  give  any  one 
State  any  possible  advantage  over  any  other  State.  The  invest 
ments  were  to  be  made  by  a  purchase  of  the  stocks  in  the  market, 
at  the  market  value;  and  before  they  could  come  there  they  must 
have  been  sold  by  the  State  issuing  them.  That  State,  therefore, 
must  have  received  its  money,  and  could  have  no  interest  what 
ever  in  the  sale  to  the  United  States,  and  the  purchase  by  them. 
It  must  have  taken  upon  itself  the  obligation  to  pay  the  interest 
upon  the  stock  at  a  given  time  and  place,  and  to  redeem  the 
principal  at  a  specified  day.  No  change  could  be  made  in  these 
obligations  by  a  transfer  of  the  stocks  to  the  United  States,  any 
more  than  by  a  similar  transfer  to  any  private  individual;  and 
whatever  premium  the  government  may  pay  does  not  go  to  the 
benefit  of  the  State  issuing  the  stock,  but  to  the  holder  of  whom 
the  purchase  is  made.  So,  also,  if  the  government  sell  the  stock 
of  any  State  which  it  may  have  purchased,  the  State  or  its  inter 
ests  are  in  no  way  affected  by  the  sale;  its  obligations  and  respon 
sibilities  are  unchanged.  Mr.  W.  said,  the  better  to  illustrate 
his  meaning,  the  Senate  must  permit  him  to  take  a  simple  busi 
ness  example.  I  give  my  note  to  you,  Mr.  President,  for  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  499 

sum  of  $100,  payable  at  the  expiration  of  twenty  years  from  its 
date,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent  per  annum;  the 
interest  to  be  paid  annually  at  a  specified  place,  and  the  principal 
to  be  paid  at  the  same  place  when  it  falls  due;  and  I  make  the 
note  negotiable.  Can  it,  by  any  possibility,  interest  me  whether 
you  hold  that  note  or  sell  it,  or  whether  it  be  negotiated  but  once 
in  the  whole  twenty  years  or  every  week  in  the  term;  whether  it 
be  held  by  individuals  or  bodies  politic,  by  a  pauper  or  by  the 
United  States  ?  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  unable  to  comprehend  how 
his  interests  could  be  affected  in  the  supposed  case,  and  he  was 
equally  unable  to  discover  how  the  interests  of  the  States  were 
to  be  affected,  either  beneficially  or  injuriously,  by  permitting 
the  United  States  to  purchase  their  stocks  in  the  market,  as  a 
mere  investment  of  money  in  the  treasury.  He  was  sure  gentle 
men  must  see  that  the  objection  was  groundless,  and  had  pro 
ceeded  from  the  mistaken  idea  that  the  States  whose  stocks 
should  be  purchased  were  to  be  materially  benefited,  and  that, 
therefore,  there  ought  to  be  some  provision  to  make  the  pur 
chases  equal  among  the  States;  whereas,  neither  the  purchase 
nor  sale  could  affect  in  any  way  the  interests  of  the  State  issuing 
the  stocks. 

"  So  far  from  desiring  this  equality,  Mr.  W.  said,  the  very 
certain  inequality  was,  to  his  mind,  one  of  the  highest  merits  of 
the  propositions.  It  was  not  likely  that  the  United  States  would 
hold  the  stocks  of  a  large  number  of  States  at  the  same  time, 
and  those  would  be  held  in  very  unequal  quantities.  This  fact 
would  cause  the  representatives  of  the  States  against  which  no 
securities  were  held  to  attend  vigilantly  to  the  collection  or 
disposition  of  those  held  against  other  States,  and,  in  an  equal 
degree,  would  induce  the  representatives  from  those  States 
against  which  small  amounts  were  held  to  see  that  those  against 
which  the  amounts  were  large  were  made  punctually,  to  meet 
their  payments.  One  of  his  most  important  objections  to  any 
plan  of  distribution,  with  a  view  to  repayment,  was  predicated 
upon  the  fact  that  all  would  be  equally  interested  against  a 
repayment;  that  there  would  be  none  to  exercise  vigilance, 
because  all  would  resist  collection ;  that  repayment  would  never 
be  made,  because  there  would  be  no  one  to  demand  it.  Invest- 


500  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ments  in  the  manner  he  proposed  would  be  free  from  these  objec 
tions,  and  would  stimulate  the  majority  to  watchfulness  and  care 
that  collections  were  promptly  made. 

"Mr.  W.  said  he  had  but  one  single  further  suggestion  to 
make,  and  he  would  resume  his  seat.  He  wished  to  inquire,  of 
those  gentlemen  who  had  voted  for  the  land  bill,  and  who  now 
proposed  to  support  the  propositions  offered  by  the  Senator  from 
South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  to  distribute  the  surplus  revenue 
among  the  States,  whether  the  two  measures  would,  or  would 
not,  conflict  with  each  other?  whether  they  were,  or  were  not, 
intended  as  antagonistic  measures  ?  That  bill  provides  for  the 
distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  on 
specified  days,  and  extends  through  the  year  1837.  These  propo 
sitions  make  the  same  disposition  of  all  the  revenues  in  the  trea 
sury,  over  a  given  sum  to  be  named,  upon  specified  days,  with 
out  regard  to  the  sources  from  which  the  moneys  may  have  been 
derived,  and  extends  its  action  through  the  year  1841.  If  he 
was  not  mistaken,  the  distributions  under  the  two  bills  were  to 
take  place,  in  some  instances  at  least,  on  the  same  day.  What 
he  wished  gentlemen  to  inform  him  was,  which  bill  would  take 
the  money;  for  he  supposed  either  would  take  all  which  could 
be  called  surplus.  The  rule  of  distribution  was  very  different  in 
the  two  cases,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  learn  whether  it  was 
intended,  by  this  measure,  to  repeal  in  effect  the  land  bill.  His 
inquiries  were  particularly  directed  to  the  author  of  this  scheme 
for  distribution,  and  he  should  await  his  answer. 

"  When  Mr.  W.  had  concluded— 

"  Mr.  Leigh  called  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  a  provision 
of  the  substitute,  by  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
though  he  cannot  change  the  places  of  deposit  during  the  ses 
sion  of  Congress  without  its  consent,  yet,  during  the  recess  of 
Congress,  absolute  power  of  such  change  is  given  him  beyond 
the  remedy  of  Congress,  the  Secretary  being  only  required  to 
make  a  fruitless  report  of  his  reasons  for  the  change. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  acknowledged  this  to  be  a  feature  of  his  sub 
stitute  for  the  bill." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  501 

Before  the  final  passage  of  the  bill,  after  it  had  been 
ordered  to  be  engrossed,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  on  the  7th  of 

June,  1836,  again  addressed  the  Senate  as  follows  : 

^ 
"Mr.  WRIGHT  said  his  connection  with  the  subject  generally, 

and  with  the  bill  under  consideration  more  especially,  had  com 
pelled  him  to  take  a  more  active  part  in  the  discussion  than  had 
been  pleasant  to  him,  or  agreeable  to  the  Senate ;  that  he  had 
refrained  from  any  interference  with  this  important  matter  until 
any  further  movement  upon  it  had  been  expressly  abandoned  by 
the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun],  who 
had  first,  and  upon  oue  of  the  first  days  of  the  session,  intro 
duced  a  bill  to  regulate  the  deposits  in  the  banks;  that,  after 
that  abandonment,  lie  had  called  up  the  bill  and  proposed  a  sub 
stitute  ;  that  he  had  connected  with  that  substitute  propositions 
for  the  temporary  investment  of  any  surplus,  beyond  the  proba 
ble  wants  of  the  treasury,  which  should  be  found  in  the  banks  at 
the  commencement  of  each  quarter  of  each  year;  that,  subse 
quently  to  the  offer  of  these  propositions,  he  had  concluded  that 
the  terms  of  investment  were  not  sufficiently  restricted,  and  he 
had  modified  his  provisions  so  as  to  allow  investments  in  the 
stocks  issued  by  the  States  only,  and  not  in  any  other  descrip 
tion  of  stocks  whatsoever;  that,  subsequently  to  this  time,  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  had  seemed  to 
resume  his  interest  in  his  original  bill,  and  had  offered  modifica 
tions  of  a  character  calculated  and  intended  to  distribute  among 
the  several  States,  in  a  proportion  regulated  by  their  respective 
representations,  not  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  in  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  all  the  moneys  which  might  remain  in  the  treas 
ury  upon  a  given  day  beyond  a  sum  to  be  fixed  as  the  amount  in 
the  treasury  for  that  day. 

"  Subsequently  to  that  time,  various  propositions  were  laid 
before  the  Senate,  by  different  members  of  the  body,  some  of 
them  containing  new  provisions,  and  others  amendments  of  those 
which  had  been  previously  submitted.  The  question  was  one  of 
the  first  importance  to  the  public  and  to  the  treasury,  as  well  as 
to  the  general  interests  of  the  whole  community.  The  currency 


502  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  country,  the  accommodations  from  the  local  banks,  and 
consequently  the  prosperity  of  the  commercial  interests,  were 
directly  involved  in  our  action. 

"Under  these  circumstances,  the  discussion  upon  the  great 
question  of  a  regulation  of  the  deposits  of  the  public  money  by 
law  commenced.  At  the  opening  of  that  discussion,  Mr.  W.  said, 
he  had  given  his  general  views  upon  the  whole  subject.  His 
subsequent  duties  in  the  Senate,  and  as  a  member  of  one  of  its 
important  committees,  together  with  the  accumulated  duties 
devolved  upon  him,  connected  with  this  bill,  had  prevented  him 
from  being  yet  able  to  present  those  views  to  the  public ;  but  he 
was  now  conscious  that  relief  was  at  hand,  and  he  should  soon 
find  it  in  his  power  to  discharge  that  labor.  Upon  the  views 
then  expressed  by  him  he  should  rest  himself  for  his  general  jus 
tification  in  the  course  he  had  taken. 

"  It  had  been  found,  however,  that  a  great  diversity  of  opin 
ion  prevailed  in  the  Senate  as  to  the  details  of  any  bill,  and  that 
a  recommittal  would  be  indispensable,  to  so  far  incorporate  the 
various  propositions  that  the  whole  body  could  act  upon  them  with 
any  facility.  After  two  days'  discussion,  that  course  had  been 
suggested  by  himself,  and  concurred  in  upon  all  sides  of  the  Senate. 
A  select  committee  was  therefore  appointed,  and  the  bill  and  all 
the  amendments  were  referred  to  it,  and  the  Senate  had  done 
him  the  distinguished  honor,  upon  an  election  by  ballot,  to  place 
his  name  at  the  head  of  the  committee  as  its  chairman.  The 
standing  and  character  and  talents  of  the  members  of  that  com 
mittee  had  caused  him  to  doubt,  at  every  step,  the  soundness  of 
his  views  and  the  propriety  of  his  course,  and  the  more  especially 
so,  as,  upon  every  question  of  difference  of  opinion  in  the  com 
mittee,  he  had  found  himself  in  the  minority,  and,  upon  some  of 
the  most  important  questions  of  difference,  in  a  small  minority. 

"  He  was  most  happy,  however,  to  be  able  to  say,  that  every 
question  had  been  decided  without  passion  or  personal  feeling, 
and  that,  so  far  as  he  could  judge,  all  were  disposed  to  frame  a 
bill  which  would  meet  the  approbation  of  the  Senate. 

"A  single  question  had  excited  peculiar  interest  with  him.  He 
had  been  most  anxious  to  agree  upon  a  bill  to  regulate  the  depos 
its  of  the  public  money  in  the  banks  ;  and  when  he  found  that 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  503 

no  proposition  for  the  disposition  of  any  surplus,  if  surplus  there 
should  be,  to  which  he  could  give  his  assent,  could  command  the 
support  of  the  majority  of  the  committee,  he  had  urged  the  sep 
aration  of  the  two  subjects,  and  the  report  of  two  separate  bills  ; 
the  one  to  regulate  the  deposits  in  the  banks,  and  the  other  to 
provide  for  a  more  permanent  disposition  of  the  surplus.  In  this 
he  was  unsuccessful,  as  the  majority  of  the  committee  preferred 
that  the  two  subjects  should  be  connected  in  the  same  bill. 

"Since  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  Senate,  he  had 
made  every  proper  effort  in  his  power  to  produce  that  separa 
tion,  and  he  could  not  but  congratulate  himself  upon  the  fact 
that  his  first  effort  was  successful ;  that  the  first  vote  of  the  Sen 
ate  sustained  the  propriety  of  his  views,  and  directed  the  separa 
tion  of  the  two  subjects  (which  he  must  say  he  considered  in 
their  nature  and  character  entirely  separate),  and  the  report  of 
independent  bills  for  each. 

"A  reconsideration,  however,  had  been  proposed,  and,  after  a 
night's  deliberation,  it  was  carried.  The  motion  to  recommit  was 
then  lost  ;  and  the  determination  of  the  Senate  thus  expressed 
that  the  two  subjects  should  be  coupled  in  the  same  bill,  and 
should  stand  or  fall  together.  From  that  time,  Mr.  W.  said,  he 
had  felt  himself  relieved  from  all  responsibility  as  to  a  deposit 
bill  proper.  He  had  found  that  no  such  bill  could  be  passed  in 
the  Senate  without  incorporating  with  it  a  perfectly  separate  and 
most  important  provision  for  giving  the  moneys  in  the  treasury 
to  the  States,  under  the  name  of  a  deposit.  Such  a  provision 
contained  principles  to  which  he  could  not,  for  any  consideration, 
give  his  assent ;  and  after  that  vote,  therefore,  the  bill  to  him 
had  lost  its  value. 

"  He  had  been  still  disposed,  however,  to  adhere  to  it,  and  to 
make  further  trial  to  so  modify  its  provisions  as  to  enable  him  to 
give  it  his  support.  With  this  view  he  had  again  offered  his 
propositions,  which  directed  an  investment  of  the  surplus  in  the 
treasury  in  State  stocks,  bearing  an  interest,  and  transferable  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  holder,  with  authority  in  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  transfer  them,  when  the  wants  of  the  treasury  should 
require  money  for  the  stocks.  As  against  a  proposition  to  loan 
the  money  to  the  States  without  interest,  this  proposition  had 


504  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

met  with  little  favor.  He  believed  it  had  received  but  four  votes 
in  a  full  Senate.  The  reasons  for  a  different  disposition  had 
appeared  to  him  to  be  that  the  money  was  the  property  of  the 
people  of  the  States,  and,  if  not  wanted  for  the  uses  of  this  gov 
ernment,  ought  to  be  given  to  them,  without  interest,  instead  of 
being  invested  upon  interest.  He  was  willing  to  admit  that  some 
force  attached  to  this  argument ;  but  his  mind  had  embraced  the 
argument  as  relating  to,  and  growing  out  of,  the  representative 
rights  of  the  people  of  the  States,  and  as  referable  to  their  taxa 
ble  liabilities.  If  the  money  belonged  to  the  people  of  the 
States,  and  they  had  the  right  to  use  it  without  interest,  it  was 
because  it  had  been  accumulated  by  taxations  upon  them,  as  drawn 
from  a  common  fund,  in  which  they  possessed  a  common  interest. 
This  he  believed  was  the  position  assumed  by  the  friends  of  the 
bill. 

"Would  any  member  of  the  body,  then,  blame  him  for  the 
surprise  he  had  experienced  when  he  found  a  principle  of  distri 
bution  incorporated  in  the  bill  entirely  at  variance  with  the 
rights  of  the  people  of'  the  States,  as  resulting  from  the  rate  of 
representation  or  taxation  established  by  our  common  constitu 
tion  of  government,  when  he  found  this  body  made  an  element 
in  the  rule  of  distribution  of  that  money  which  had  been  drawn 
from  the  people  of  the  States,  to  be  returned  to  them,  as  the  pre 
tense  was,  because  it  was  not  wanted  for  the  purposes  of  this 
government  ?  What  was  the  rule  of  representation  of  the  States 
here  ?  A  perfect  equality.  What  was  the  representation  of  the 
people  of  the  States,  and  the  liabilities  for  taxation,  in  the  other 
branch  of  this  Legislature  ?  There  were  sixteen  States  which 
would  gain  by  the  rule  of  distribution  in  the  bill,  which  sixteen 
States  were  represented  in  the  popular  branch  of  Congress  by 
eighty-one  members ;  while  there  were  eight  States  which  would 
lose  by  the  incorporation  of  the  Senate  as  an  element  in  the  rule 
of  distribution;  which  eight  States  were  represented  in  the  same 
branch  of  Congress  by  159  members.  The  constitutional  rules 
of  taxation  and  representation  were  the  same;  were  both  based 
upon  the  federal  members  ;  and  in  neither  was  the  representation 
in  the  Senate  an  element. 

"  Would  it  be  said  that  this  was  not  a  proposed  distribution 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  505 

of  this  money  to  the  people  of  the  States,  but  a  mere  investment 
of  it?  Why  then  any  reference  to  the  representation  of  the 
States  in  either  branch  of  Congress  ?  And  much  more  emphati 
cally,  why  this  reference  to  both,  while  a  simple  investment  in 
securities  of  the  same  character,  without  reference  to  the  princi 
ple  of  distribution,  receives  but  four  votes  in  the  whole  body  ? 
Surely  no  one  will  have  the  hardihood  to  say,  in  answer  to  these 
inquiries,  that  the  disposition  intended  is  not  a  distribution  to  the 
States  according  to  a  rule  which  is  intended  to  be  defended  as 
just  and  equal.  In  this  sense,  could  the  rule  of  distribution  be 
defended  as  just,  as  equal,  as  constitutional?  He  would  leave 
the  answers  to  these  questions  to  those  who  supported  the  bill 
with  this  provision  contained  in  it.  For  himself,  he  was  ready 
and  willing  to  say  that,  in  his  judgment,  if  a  power  existed  to 
return  the  money  to  the  people  at  all,  the  exercise  of  that  power 
must  follow  the  rule  which  raised  the  money  from  the  people 
by  taxation,  or  from  that  fund  which  they  held  in  common, 
and  in  the  same  proportions  which  govern  their  liability  to  taxa 
tion. 

"  Having  thus  explained  himself  as  to  the  provisions  and  pro 
gress  of  the  bill,  he  was  content  to  rest  upon  the  record  of  the 
proceedings  upon  the  bill,  which  the  journal  of  the  Senate  would 
show.  If,  in  resisting  this  division  of  the  moneys  of  the  nation, 
he  had  misrepresented  his  immediate  constituents,  he  desired 
that  they  should  know  the  fact,  and  especially  at  this  time,  when 
it  would  so  soon  be  in  their  power,  without  his  consent,  to  fill 
the  place  he  occupied  with  a  better  man.  If,  in  refusing  to  yield 
to  a  rule  of  distribution  that  does  them  great  injustice,  he  had 
been  less  liberal  of  their  strict  rights  than  they  would  wish  him 
to  be,  he  was  equally  anxious  that  they  should  be  advised  of  his 
action,  and  thus  have  it  in  their  power  to  redress  themselves  if 
they  have  been  aggrieved. 

"Mr.  W.  said  there  was  yet  a  question  which  he  had  not  con 
sidered,  but  which  must  claim  his  principal  attention.  He  had 
hitherto  spoken  of  the  progress  of  this  bill,  and  of  the  rule  of 
distribution  adopted  by  it.  He  had  not  spoken,  nor  did  he 
intend  even  yet  to  speak,  of  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress 
to  use  its  taxing  power  to  collect  money  from  the  people  of  the 


506  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

States,  not  to  give  back  to  the  people  who  pay  the  taxes,  but  to 
'  place  in  the  treasuries  of  the  States  without  interest.  This  was 
a  great  question,  which  he  hoped  the  people  of  the  States  would 
decide  without  argument  from  him,  and  to  their  decision  he 
would  most  cheerfully  submit.  He  was  aware  he  might  be 
answered  that  Congress  could  not  use  its  taxing  power  under 
the  Constitution  to  raise  moneys  for  distribution  to  the  States, 
and  that  the  fact  that  the  money  was  in  the  treasury  had  raised 
a  necessity  from  which  this  power  of  distribution  was  assumed. 
When  those  who  should  use  the  argument  would  show  him  how 
it  was  to  be  ascertained  that  the  money  now  in  the  treasury  was 
not  raised  for  distribution,  and  how  it  was  hereafter  to  be  shown 
that  any  money  in  the  treasury  was  not  raised  for  distribution, 
he  would  enter  upon  a  further  argument  of  the  points;  until 
then  he  would  content  himself  with  saying  that  Congress  could 
possess  no  greater  and  no  less  powers  for  raising  revenue  than  it 
had  possessed  from  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  to  the  pres 
ent  time,  unless  the  provisions  of  that  instrument,  upon  that  sub 
ject,  should  be  contracted  or  enlarged.  The  question  to  which 
he  referred,  and  to  the  examination  of  which  he  asked  the  candid 
and  unprejudiced  attention  of  the  Senate,  was,  how  much  money 
would  remain  in  the  treasury  on  the  first  of  January  next,  which 
could  properly  be  termed  '  surplus,'  not  required  to  answer  the 
wants  of  this  government,  and,  therefore,  to  be  given  away  to 
the  States  ?  He  had  taken  some  pains  to  inform  himself  upon 
this  point,  and  the  best  information  he  could  obtain  should  be 
given  to  the  Senate. 

"  By  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  made  to  the 
Senate  on  the  sixth  day  of  June  instant,  the  amount  of  money  in 
the  treasury  on  that  day,  subject  to  draft,  was  $33,563,654 ;  and 
in  consequence  of  the  late  passage  of  the  appropriation  bills,  and 
the  rapid  payments  from  the  treasury  under  them,  that  amount, 
over  and  above  the  current  receipts,  is  now  reduced  to  less  than 
$33,000,000. 

"  For  the  present,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  would  examine  the  charges 
now  existing,  and  likely  to  be  made,  upon  this  sum  ;  and  what 
were  they  ? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  507 

1.  Balance  of  outstanding  appropriations  of  the  last  year $5,170,000 

2.  Permanent  appropriations  chargeable  upon  183G,  viz.  : 
Pensions  under  the  act  of  7th  June,  1832,  about  $1,300,000 
Pensions  to  revolutionary  officers,  per  act  of 

15th  May,  1828,  about 160,000 

Virginia  claims,  per  act  of  5th  July,  1832,  about  52,000 

Gradual  improvement  of  the  navy 500,000 

Arming  and  equipping  the  militia 200,000 

Civilization  of  the  Indians 10,000 

Unclaimed  dividends  and  interest  of  debt 50,000 

Library  of  Congress 1 ,000 

Three  per  cent  to  new  States  from  sales  of  lands,  500,000 
Proportion  of  French  indemnity  payable  by  the 

United  States,  being  part  of  the  amount  to  be 

paid  by  us  by  the  treaty 225,000 

—      2,998,000 

8.  Appropriations  already  made  at  the  present  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  viz. : 

Navy  bill,  about $6,276,312 

Civil  list 2 , 767 , 981 

Supplement  to  civil  list,  about 71 ,770 

Army  bill 4,010,485 

Seminole  war 2,120,000 

District  of  Columbia  debt 1 ,570,000 

Pensions 455 , 454 

Payment  of  members  of  Congress,  etc 843 , 880 

Volunteer  army  bill 300,000 

Creek  war 500,000 

Concurrent  resolutions  as  to  claims  of  States 

against  the  general  government,  say 200,000 

Private  bills  and  miscellaneous  appropriations 

already  made,  not  less  than 100,000 

19,215,882 


508  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  We  then,  Mr.  W.  said,  had  certainty  so  far ;  and  how  did  the 

account  stand  ? 

The  money  in  the  treasury  at  our  last  accounts,  on  the  sixth 

day  of  June  instant,  was $33 , 563 , 654 

There  were  then  appropriations  charged  upon  it  as  follows : 

Outstanding  appropriations  of  1835 $5 ,170,000 

Permanent  appropriations  for  the  service  of  1836. .     2,998,000 

Appropriations  already  made   during  the  present 

session  of  Congress  toward  the  service  of  1836. .  19,215,882 

27,383,882 


Thus  leaving  a  balance  in  the  treasury,  unappropriated  on  the 

sixth  day  of  the  present  month,  amounting  to $6,179,772 

Since  that  time  the  Indian  annuity  bill  has  passed,  and  become 
a  law,  and,  including  the  sums  for  the  removal  of  Indians, 

appropriates  about 1 , 800,000 

Which,  taken  from  the  above  balance  in  the  treasury,  will  leave  $4 , 379 , 772 


"Mr.  W.  said  he  would  now  inquire,  as  briefly  as  was  possible, 
what  further  appropriations  remained  to  be  made  for  the  present 
year,  and  which  he  thought  all  would  admit  must  be  made. 
And  here  the  first  subject  which  had  demanded  his  notice  was 
the  Indian  treaties  which  have  been  ratified  by  the  Senate  during 
its  present  session.  He  would  enumerate  but  two,  the  treaty 
with  the  Cherokees  and  with  the  Chippewas  and  Ottawas.  These 
treaties  required  appropriations,  at  the  least,  to  the  following 
extents: 

The  Cherokee  treaty  to  the  amount  of $5,600,000 

The  Chippewa  and  Ottawa  treaty  to  the  amount  of 1 ,500,000 

The  fortifications  had  occupied  much  of  the  attention  of  the 
present  Congress,  but,  as  yet,  nothing  had  been  appropriated 
toward  them.  The  Senate  had  sent  a  bill  to  the  House,  pro 
viding  for  the  purchase  of  sites,  and  the  commencement  of 

new  works,  and  appropriating  for  that  object  about 1,100,000 

A  bill  was  pending  before  the  House  to  provide  for  continuing 
the  work  upon  the  existing  fortifications,  and  proposing  to 

appropriate  for  that  object  about 2,250,000 

A  bill  for  the  continuation  of  the  Cumberland  road  had  been 
sent  from  the  Senate  to  the  House,  proposing  appropriations 
for  that  object  to  the  amount  of 600,000 

Carried  forward $10,850,000 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  509 

Brought  forward $10,850,000 

Bills  were  before  the  two  Houses,  and  most  of  them  had 
passed  the  one  House  or  the  other,  for  the  improvement  of 
roads  in  the  territories,  amounting  to  about 150,000 

A  bill  had  come  from  the  House  to  the  Senate  to  provide  for 
constructing  a  frontier  road  along  the  western  frontier  of  the 
United  States,  and  appropriating  for  that  object 100,000 

Two  bills,  which  usually  met  the  favorable  action  of  Congress 
at  every  session,  and  more  especially  at  the  long  session,  the 
one  for  the  improvement  of  harbors  and  rivers,  and  the  other 
for  the  erection  of  light-houses,  light-boats,  beacons,  buoys, 
etc.,  are  before  the  House,  proposing  to  appropriate  for  these 
objects 1 ,500,000 

Provision  has  been  made  annually,  and  it  is  presumed  will  be 
made  this  year,  for  the  compensation  of  custom-house  officers, 
which  calls  for  an  expenditure  of  about 200,000 

A  bill  is  now  before  the  House  to  provide  for  the  increased 
expenditures  at  the  mints,  and  proposes  to  appropriate 50,000 

Further  appropriations  must  be  made  for  the  Seminole  and 
Creek  wars,  and  the  least  sum  estimated  to  be  necessary  is. .  3,000,000 

The  estimated  amount  of  appropriations  by  private  and  local 
bills,  not  enumerated  above,  and  beyond  the  $100,000  in 
cluded  in  the  first  statement,  is 1 ,450,000 

This  presents  an  aggregate  of  appropriations  to  be  made,  all  of 
which  are  supposed  to  be  to  some  extent  necessary,  and  even 
indispensable  to  the  public  interests,  equal  to $17,500,000 

Take  from  this  amount  the  above  balance  in  the  treasury,  after 

deducting  the  outstanding  appropriations,  to  wit 4,379,772 

And  there  will  remain,  to  be  charged  upon  the  moneys  to  be 
received  into  the  treasury  after  the  sixth  day  of  June  instant, 
the  sum  of $13,120,228 

There  was  another  class  of  appropriations  of  a  public  charac 
ter,  which  he  thought  ought  to  pass,  and  he  hoped  might 
pass  before  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  One  of  these 
measures  was  the  filling  up  of  the  ranks  of  the  army,  and 
which,  if  successful,  he  supposed  would  incur  an  annual 
expenditure  of  at  least $1 ,000,000 

Several  bills  were  before  Congress  for  the  erection  of  new  cus 
tom-houses,  some  of  which,  and  especially .  one  at  New 
Orleans,  and  at  one  or  two  other  points,  he  hoped  would 
pass,  and  they  would  appropriate  about ....  300 , 000 

Carried  forward. .  $1 ,300,000 


510  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

Brought  forward $1 ,300,000 

Bills  were  before  Congress,  and  surely  ought  to  pass,  for  re 
building  the  treasury  buildings,  and  there  was  asked  for  that 
object,  for  the  present  year 250 , 000 

A  bill  was  also  now  before  the  Senate  recommending  the  erec 
tion  of  a  fire-proof  building  for  the  Patent  Office,  and  pro 
posing  to  appropriate  for  that  object  something  more  than. .  100,000 

Several  bills  were  before  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  to  pro 
vide  for  the  erection  of  new  marine  hospitals,  and  he  sup 
posed  some  of  them  would  meet  our  favorable  action.  He  had 
estimated  that  the  appropriations  for  these  objects  would  be . .  50 , 000 

Bills  were  before  Congress  to  remit  the  duties  upon  goods 
destroyed  by  fire  in  the  original  packages,  many  of  which  he 
thought  ought  to  pass,  and  would  appropriate,  if  they  did 
pass,  at  the  least 1 , 100,000 

A  bill  is  now  before  Congress  proposing  to  advance  the  unpaid 
indemnities  under  the  treaties  with  France  and  Naples.  This 
bill  would  be  eminently  calculated,  to  its  extent,  to  relieve 
the  present  mercantile  pressure,  and  ought  to  pass.  It 
would  appropriate  about 4 1 000 , 000 

A  bill  has  passed  the  Senate,  and  been  sent  to  the  House,  to 
purchase  the  remaining  stock  held  by  private  stockholders  in 
the  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal  Company,  and  appropri 
ating  for  that  object 500,000 

Here,  then,  is  a  further  amount,  unprovided  for,  except  by 
future  receipts  into  the  treasury,  of $7,550,000 

Add  to  this  the  balance  unprovided  for  except  by  future  receipts 
into  the  treasury,  as  shown  by  the  result  of  the  last  preceding 
calculation 13,120,228 


And  we  have  an  amount  of  existing  and  probable  appropria 
tions,  beyond  any  means  now  in  the  treasury,  equal  to $20,670,228 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  did  not  say  that  these  appropriations  would 
all  be  made.  He  did  not  believe  they  would  all  be  made  ;  but 
he  had  intended  to  select,  with  care  and  caution,  such  only  as 
were  presented  to  Congress  with  strong  claims ;  of  many  of  them 
he  could  say  with  claims  which  seemed  to  him  almost,  if  not 
altogether,  irresistible.  He  would  then  ask  gentlemen  who  dis 
puted  his  conclusions  to  point  out  the  important  bills  he  had 
enumerated,  which  would  not  and  ought  not  to  pass.  He  had 
given  particular  reference  to  the  measures,  and  he  hoped  they 
would  put  their  finger  upon  those  which  they  would  oppose." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  5U 

CHAPTER  LX 

RECHARTERING  THE  BANKS  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

For  the  business  of  the  District,  it  had  a  large  number 
of  banks  in  1836.  They  all  sought  extensions  or  renew 
als  of  their  charters  by  Congress.  Temporary  extensions 
were  granted  them,  and  a  portion  received  renewals  for 
considerable  periods  of  time.  One  of  them  had  become 
a  deposit  bank,  and  it  had  been  alleged,  at  a  previous 
session,  that  the  deposits  were  improperly  loaned  out  to 
politicians.  Thereupon  the  House  appointed  a  committee 
to  examine  that  bank.  On  their  arrival,  the  books  of  the 
bank  were  withheld  from  their  examination.  Gen.  Jack 
son,  on  hearing  this,  sent  for  its  president  and  informed 
him  that,  if  he  wished  to  have  his  bank  continued  a 
deposit  bank  until  sundown,  he  must  invite  the  commit 
tee  to  return  and  throw  its  books  and  papers  open  to  their 
inspection.  Of  course  this  was  done,  for  the  bank  knew 
full  well  that  the  President  would  not  be  trifled  with  and 
would  keep  his  word. 

The  committee  returned  and  found  that  the  bank  held 
numerous  notes  of  democratic  members  of  Congress, 
indorsed  by  whig  members,  and  notes  made  by  whig  and 
indorsed  by  democratic  members.  Very  many  of  the 
makers  and  indorsers  were  engaged  in  speculations  in 
public  lands.  The  exhibit  was  of  that  character  that  it 
was  not  deemed  wise  to  display  it  in  a  formal  written 
report.  But  bills  for  rechartering  several  of  the  banks 
were  reported  and  warmly  discussed.  In  the  Senate,  Col. 
Benton  took  the  lead  in  opposition  to  the  banks.  A  bill 
was  passed  in  the  Senate,  on  the  seventh  of  June,  for 
renewing  these  charters.  Mr.  WEIGHT  made  no  speech 
against  them,  but  contented  himself  on  this  occasion  with 
voting  against  the  bill.  The  vote  stood  26  ayes  and  14  noes. 


512  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXL 

REDUCTION  OF  THE  DUTIES  ON  IMPORTS. 

When  Mr.  WEIGHT  entered  the  Senate,  in  January, 
1833,  the  committees  in  that  body  had  been  appointed,  for 
the  second  session  of  the  twenty-second  Congress,  at 
the  meeting  in  the  previous  December.  At  both  sessions 
of  the  twenty-third  Congress  he  served  on  the  Committee 
on  Commerce.  In  the  twenty-fourth  Congress  he  served 
during  the  first  session  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Finance,  and  at  the  second  as  its  chairman,  which  posi 
tion  he  long  held.  This  committee  has  charge  of  most 
revenue  subjects.  The  revenues  in  1836  had  become 
excessive,  and  statesmen  turned  their  attention  to  the 
subject  of  their  reduction.  To  aid  in  accomplishing  this 
purpose,  Mr.  WEIGHT,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Finance,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1837,  introduced  a  bill 
having  that  object  in  view.  Not  being  accompanied  with 
a  written  report,  he  made  the  following  explanation  of  it : 

"Mr.  WEIGHT  said  it  was  his  duty  here  to  say  that,  in  con 
sequence  partly  of  ill  health,  and  partly  of  other  and  para 
mount  engagements,  the  committee  had  been  deprived,  during 
all  its  deliberations  upon  this  bill,  of  the  valuable  advice  and 
aid  of  one  of  its  members;  and  that,  therefore,  nothing  con 
tained  in  the  bill,  and  nothing  which  he  should  say,  was  to 
be  considered  as  committing  that  member  of  the  committee,  or 
as  expressing  his  views  upon  the  important  and  interesting 
questions  involved.  The  very  late  arrival  in  the  city  of  another 
member  of  the  committee  had  prevented  him  from  partaking 
fully  in  their  deliberations.  The  bill,  therefore,  is  to  be  received 
rather  as  the  conclusions  and  recommendations  of  a  bare  major 
ity  of  the  committee  than  of  the  whole  committee ;  and  it  was 
his  duty  further  to  add,  that  what  he  should  now  sav  would  be 


LIFE  AND  TIM  us  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  513 

more  the  expression  of  his  private  views,  and  the  motives  and 
opinions  which  had  governed  his  action,  than  anything  he  had 
been  either  authorized  or  directed  by  the  committee  to  say. 

"  The  reference  was  general,  and  applied  to  the  whole  revenue 
of  the  country.  This  revenue  (or,  more  properly  speaking,  the 
receipts  into  the  treasury)  consists  of  two  parts  :  the  money 
derived  from  the  duties  imposed  upon  importations,  which  is 
revenue  proper,  and  the  receipts  from  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands,  which  is,  in  fact,  capital,  and  not  revenue.  The  commit 
tee,  upon  their  first  view  of  the  reference,  considered  this  last 
branch  of  the  subject,  the  receipts  from  lands,  more  properly  to 
belong  to  another  standing  committee  of  the  Senate — the  Com 
mittee  on  Public  Lands.  Indeed,  at  the  very  time  of  the  refer 
ence,  they  knew  that  the  subject  of  the  reduction  of  the  amount 
of  money  flowing  into  the  public  treasury  from  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands  was  under  consideration  before  that  committee; 
and  very  soon  after  this  reference  to  the  Committee  on  Finance, 
and  before  that  committee  had  made  it  a  subject  of  deliberation, 
the  Committee  on  Public  Lands  reported  to  the  Senate  a  bill, 
having  for  its  object  the  reduction  of  this  branch  of  the  receipts 
into  the  public  treasury.  That  bill  was,  long  since,  taken  up  for 
action  in  the  Senate,  and  has,  for  many  days  now  last  past,  occu 
pied  the  principal  time  and  attention  of  the  body. 

"  The  Committee  on  Finance,  therefore,  have  not,  at  any  time, 
considered  that  branch  of  the  reference  before  them  for  their 
action,  or  that  they  have  been,  at  any  period  since  the  reference, 
at  liberty  to  consider  and  act  upon  it. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  another  conclusion  of  his  own  mind,  and  one  he 
believed  existed  also  in  the  minds  of  his  colleagues  upon  the 
committee  who  were  present  and  acting,  was,  that  if  Congress, 
by  any  legislative  action,  at  its  present  session,  could  reduce  the 
receipts  into  the  treasury  to  the  wants  of  the  government,  the 
most  important  measures  to  reach  that  object  must  relate  to  the 
lands,  and  go  to  reduce  the  receipts  from  that  source.  This  con 
clusion  was  founded  upon  the  amount  of  receipts  from  that 
source  for  the  last  two  years.  These  receipts,  for  the  years  1835 
and  1836,  counted  together,  had  amounted  to  between  thirty- 
eight  and  thirty-nine  millions  of  dollars,  he  did  not  know  but 
33 


514  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

full  thirty-nine  millions;  a  sum  which  exceeded  the  usual  esti 
mate  of  the  wants  of  the  treasury  for  the  two  years  mentioned. 
If,  then,  every  dollar  of  the  revenue  from  customs  were  instantly 
repealed,  and  the  receipts  from  the  lands  were  to  continue  at  the 
rates  of  the  last  year,  there  would  still  be  a  surplus  in  the  trea 
sury,  or  the  expenses  of  the  government  must  be  swollen  beyond 
the  amount  which  is  considered  economical  and  desirable.  It 
was,  therefore,  impossible  to  apply  an  efficient  and  adequate 
remedy  for  the  existing  evil  of  a  redundant  revenue  by  any 
reduction  of  the  revenue  from  customs.  The  receipts  from  the 
lands  was  the  seat  of  the  evil,  and  to  that  quarter  the  great  and 
commanding  remedies  must  be  directed.  The  committee  hoped 
and  believed,  during  the  whole  of  their  deliberations,  that  Con 
gress  would  pass  the  necessary  laws,  during  its  present  session, 
to  lop  this  branch  of  our  public  receipts,  and  to  relieve  the 
national  treasury  from  the  dangerous  plethora  now  weighing 
upon  it  from  that  source.  Mr.  W.  said  he  yet  entertained  that 
hope,  and  his  action  upon  the  interesting  and  important  subject 
of  a  reduction  of  our  revenue  from  the  customs  had  been  influ 
enced  by  that  hope  and  belief. 

"Thus  confined,  as  the  committee  believed  they  were,  to  a 
consideration  of  the  reduction  of  the  duties  upon  customs, 
another  principle  which  actuated  himself,  and  which  he  believed 
actuated  every  member  of  the  committee  who  participated  in 
their  deliberations,  was  to  move  cautiously  and  safely  ;  not  to 
shock  the  public  sense  by  any  hasty  and  rash  movement  ;  not, 
if  that  could  possibly  be  prevented,  to  disturb  any  permanent 
and  important  domestic  interest  of  the  country,  which  had  grown 
up,  or  was  now  growing  up,  under  the  protection  of  our  revenue 
laws;  but  to  go  as  far  as  the  existing  laws  would  permit,  to 
reduce  this  branch  of  the  revenue  without  incurring  any  of  these 
evils.  Acting  upon  this  principle,  the  committee  had,  in  the  bill 
which  he  was  directed  to  report,  and  which  he  was  about  to  send 
to  the  Secretary's  table,  added  to  the  list  of  free  articles  every 
thing  which  had  appeared  to  them  to  admit  of  being  made  free, 
without  injury  to  the  interests  to  which  he  had  referred.  Every 
article  proposed  to  be  made  free  was  distinctly  named  in  the  bill ; 
and  the  committee  had  caused  a  statement  to  be  prepared,  from 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  515 

the  tables  of  commerce  and  navigation  for  the  year  ending  on 
the  30th  of  September,  1835  (the  last  table  of  that  description 
which  is  yet  completed),  showing  the  name  or  designation  of  the 
article,  the  present  rate  of  duty,  the  amount  of  importations  for 
the  year  1835,  the  amount  of  duty  paid  upon  the  article  as  calcu 
lated  upon  those  importations,  and  the  amount  of  duty  proposed 
to  be  reduced,  as  estimated  upon  the  importations  of  that  year. 
Many  of  the  articles  named  in  the  bill  are  not  enumerated  sepa 
rately  in  the  tables  of  commerce  and  navigation,  but  are  given 
as  non-enumerated  articles,  and  so  grouped  as  not  to  show,  with 
precision,  the  importance  of  each;  but  the  committee  believe 
that  the  statement  will  present,  with  satisfactory  clearness  to  the 
mind  of  every  Senator,  the  effect  of  the  action  they  recommend 
by  this  part  of  their  bill.  This  statement  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  committee  to  ask  the  Senate  to  order  to  be  printed  to  accom 
pany  the  bill;  and  they  felt  confident  it  would  afford  greater  aid 
to  the  action  of  the  body  upon  the  bill  than  any  form  of  written 
report  they  could  have  presented. 

"Among  the  articles  proposed  to  be  made  free  would  be  found 
'common  salt; '  and  Mr.  W.  said,  while  it  was  not  his  object  at 
this  time  to  discuss  any  of  the  merits  or  provisions  of  the  bill, 
he  hoped  he  should  be  pardoned  for  the  remark,  that  he  knew 
this  was,  by  far,  the  most  important  article  inserted  in  the  free 
list,  and  an  article  much  more  likely  than  any  other  to  excite  a 
deep  feeling  in  the  country,  and  to  meet  with  firm  and  spirited 
opposition.  He  also  knew  that  this  was,  in  certain  portions  of 
the  Union,  a  protected  article,  and  would,  in  that  sense,  be  con 
sidered  as  inserted  in  violation  of  the  general  principle  by  which 
the  committee  had  proposed  to  govern  their  action.  Under  these 
convictions,  he  was  consoled  by  the  reflection  that  no  State  in  the 
Union  held  so  deep  a  stake  in  this  article,  as  a  domestic  article, 
and  one  of  domestic  manufacture,  as  the  State  he  had  the  honor 
in  part  to  represent  here.  It  was  an  important  article  to  a  large 
and  most  respectable  class  of  the  citizens  of  his  State,  as  one  of 
production  and  manufacture;  and  it  was  important  to  the  State 
itself,  as  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  State  treasury.  In  these 
aspects  he  was  fully  aware  of  the  delicacy  of  his  position  in 
having  consented,  as  a  member  of  the  committee,  to  the  insertion 


516  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  salt  as  a  free  article,  and  in  standing  here  to  urge  the  Senate 
to  repeal  the  duty  upon  it.  He  did,  however,  believe  that  the 
universal  wish  of  his  constituents  was  that  the  revenues  of  this 
government  should  be  reduced  to  the  economical  wants  of  its 
treasury,  and  that  they  did  not  expect  to  reach  that  desirable 
result  without  themselves  making  their  full  share  of  sacrifices  to 
the  common  object.  He  therefore  relied  upon  their  liberality  and 
patriotism  to  justify  him  in  the  course  he  had  pursued  ;  and  he 
did  not  doubt  that  they  would  justify  their  representatives  upon 
this  floor,  and  in  the  other  House  of  Congress,  in  consenting  to 
this  reduction  of  more  than  half  a  million  of  tax  upon  one  of 
the  most  prominent  and  universal  necessaries  of  life,  when  the 
money  raised  upon  it  was  not  only  not  wanted  for  public  expendi 
ture,  but  was  producing  dangers  to  our  institutions  greater  than 
any  which  those  institutions  have  heretofore  encountered  —  the 
dangers  of  an  overfilled  treasury  and  a  surplus  revenue.  He 
could  not  be  mistaken  in  the  opinion  that,  if  the  country  could 
be  effectually  discharged  from  these  startling  dangers,  his  con 
stituents,  patriotic  and  intelligent  as  they  ever  had  been,  and 
still  are,  would  not  only  justify,  but  applaud,  their  representa 
tives  here,  for  coming  forward  and  offering  this  sacrifice  on  their 
behalf  to  reach  so  important  a  national  good. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  the  article  of  '  wines '  was  another  important 
article  which  had  presented  itself  to  the  notice  of  the  committee, 
and  which  they  would  have  been  inclined  to  make  free,  had  it 
not  been  their  duty  also  to  notice  and  regard  the  stipulations  in 
relation  to  wines  in  our  late  treaty  with  France.  Those  stipula 
tions  must  be  preserved  with  all  the  national  faith  which  has 
throughout  the  whole  history  of  our  beloved  country  so  signally 
distinguished  her  policy  toward  other  nations;  and  in  the  opinion 
of  the  committee  they  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  Congress  to 
make  any  wines  free  until  after  the  expiration  of  the  term  men 
tioned  in  the  treaty,  during  which  the  wines  of  France  were  to 
have  extended  to  them  certain  advantages,  in  our  revenue  laws, 
over  the  wines  of  other  countries.  Under  this  impression,  the 
committee  have  recommended  a  further  reduction  to  the  extent 
of  one-half  of  the  existing  duties  upon  all  wines,  from  whatever 
country  imported,  thus  preserving  the  proportions  between 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  517 

French  and  other  wines,  stipulated  by  the  treaty  to  be  preserved 
in  our  future  legislation  upon  this  subject,  and  pursuing  the  same 
course  of  legislation  which  Congress  has,  upon  two  former  occa 
sions,  since  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  pursued  in  regulating 
the  duties  upon  wines. 

"As  intimately  connected  with  this  branch  of  the  revenue  from 
customs,  the  article  of  '  spirits  made  from  vinous  materials ' 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  committee.  They  found  the  exist 
ing  duties  upon  this  description  of  spirits  very  high,  ranging 
from  fifty-three  to  eighty-five  cents  per  gallon,  according  to  the 
rates  of  proof  at  which  the  spirits  may  be  imported,  and  that,  by 
applying  the  same  reduction  to  this  class  of  duties  which  the 
committee  propose  to  apply  to  wines  themselves,  they  would  be 
able  to  re'duce  the  current  revenue  by  a  sum  not  less  than  from 
$275,000  to  $300,000  per  annum.  It  was  not  without  much  hesi 
tancy  and  doubt  that  the  committee  adopted  this  recommenda 
tion.  They  were,  and  are,  fully  sensible  that  a  proposition  for 
the  reduction  of  the  duties  upon  any  description  of  ardent  spirits 
will  not  meet  with  favor  in  the  minds  of  a  very  large  portion  of 
our  citizens.  They  feel  no  certainty  that  it  will  receive  the 
approbation  of  the  Senate  ;  but  so  deep  was  the  conviction  in  the 
minds  of  a  majority  of  the  committee  of  the  necessity  of  a 
reduction  of  every  duty  not  protective  in  its  character,  to  secure 
the  preservation  of  those  which  are  so,  that  they  felt  bound  to 
make  the  proposition  and  present  it  to  Congress.  The  reduction 
in  the  revenue,  which  will  be  effected  by  its  adoption,  is  so 
important  in  amount,  that  the  committee  hope  it  will  receive  the 
calm  and  candid  consideration  of  Senators  before  a  determination 
shall  be  made  to  diminish  so  extensively  the  beneficial  action  of 
the  bill  they  present.  To  relieve  the  country  from  the  incalculable 
evils  growing  out  of  a  surplus  revenue  is  the  object  of  the  bill ; 
to  do  that  without  a  reduction  of  the  protecting  duties  has  been 
the  intention  of  the  committee.  They  have,  therefore,  not 
touched  the  duty  upon  '  spirits  from  grain,'  and  they  cannot  sup 
pose  that  the  reduction  they  propose  upon  one  single  other 
description  of  spirits  will  bring  them  at  all  into  injurious  compe 
tition  with  domestic  spirits  of  any  kind. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  extending  his  remarks  further  than  he 


518  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

had  designed,  as  discussion  now  was  not  his  object.  He  would 
not,  therefore,  refer  to  any  other  articles  affected  by  the  two  first 
sections  of  the  bill.  The  two  great  articles  of  salt  and  spirits 
were  the  only  ones  which  he  supposed  could  excite  much  interest, 
or  lead  to  much  discussion  or  opposition.  Hence  he  had  desired 
to  bring  them  more  particularly  to  the  notice  of  the  Senate.  It 
might  be  found  that  other  articles  had  been  unwisely  inserted. 
It  would  be  strange  if,  in  so  extensive  a  list,  it  should  not  be  so; 
but  they  would  not  be  important,  and  might  be  stricken  out.  It 
would  also,  no  doubt,  be  found  that  some  articles  had  been  omit 
ted  which  ought  to  be  made  free;  and  it  might  be  the  pleasure 
of  the  Senate,  when  acting  upon  the  bill,  to  extend  reduction  to 
articles  not  now  included.  The  examinations  of  the  committee 
had  been  careful  and  diligent,  but  they  had  not  been  as  extensive 
and  perfect  as  they  themselves  could  have  wished,  though  as 
perfect  as  the  time  allowed  them  had  permitted. 

"  He  would  now,  Mr.  W.  said,  offer,  very  briefly,  the  apology 
which  the  committee  had  to  oifer  for  presenting  the  bill  unac 
companied  by  any  written  report.  If  he  had  been  fortunate 
enough  to  make  himself  understood  by  the  Senate,  in  the 
remarks  he  had  already  made,  it  would  be  seen  that  no  report 
could  make  the  provisions  of  the  bill  more  clear,  or  show  more 
accurately  its  influence  upon  the  revenue  and  upon  the  articles 
embraced  in  it,  than  the  statement  prepared  by  the  committee  to 
accompany  the  bill  would  accomplish  those  purposes.  The  only 
object,  therefore,  of  a  report  from  the  committee  would  be  to 
give  to  the  Senate  their  views,  he  would  say  their  conjectures,  as 
to  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  government  for  the  pre 
sent  and  future  years.  After  the  most  mature  examination  and 
reflection,  it  was  the  unanimous  opinion  of  those  members  of  the 
committee  who  were  present,  and  acting  in  the  matter,  that  they 
could  make  no  report  upon  these  points  which  would  communi 
cate  to  the  Senate  any  new  information,  not  already  in  the  pos 
session  of  every  member  of  the  body,  or  which  would  furnish 
any  valuable  or  useful  guides  to  the  action  of  Congress  upon  the 
bill.  Were  it  not  proposed,  by  legislative  action,  during  the 
present  session  of  Congress,  to  make  great  and  important 
changes,  affecting  all  branches  of  the  revenue,  and  all  the  sources 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  519 

from  which  money  comes  into  the  public  treasury,  calculations, 
estimates,  conjectures,  might  be  made  as  to  the  revenues  of  the 
present  year ;  but  all  such  calculations,  even  in  that  case,  would 
be  most  vague  and  uncertain  at  best.  The  experience  of  the 
last  two  years  has  demonstrated  the  impossibility,  with  all  the 
information  which  can  be  reached  by  those  officers  of  the  gov 
ernment  whose  sole  duty  and  business  it  is  to  manage  our  fiscal 
affairs,  of  so  perfecting  estimates  upon  this  point  that  they  may 
not  disappoint  us  many  millions.  Distinguished  and  experienced 
legislators,  too,  have  frequently  attempted  estimates  with  no 
better  success,  and  no  member  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  can 
pretend  to  information,  or  judgment,  superior  to  those  who  have 
thus  erred  in  their  conjectures  as  to  the  receipts  into  our  public 
treasury  for  a  given  future  period. 

"  Add,  then,  the  consideration  that  both  branches  of  Congress 
are,  at  this  moment,  considering  bills  designed  to  diminish,  for 
the  future,  the  receipts  into  the  treasury  from  the  sales  of  public 
lands ;  the  impossibility  that  the  committee  should  know  whether 
any  bill  on  that  subject  will  finally  pass,  and  become  a  law; 
what  may  be  the  provisions  of  the  bill  which  shall  pass,  in  case 
any  bill  do  pass;  and  what  may  be  the  effect,  in  practice,  upon 
the  receipts  of  money  for  land  sales,  of  any  given  provisions 
which  may  be  incorporated  in  any  bill,  and  Mr.  W.  said  he  could 
not  suppose  it  would  be  expected  by  the  Senate  that  the  Com 
mittee  on  Finance  would  have  attempted  any  estimate  of  the 
amount  to  be  reduced  from  the  revenue  from  customs,  in  order 
to  reduce  the  whole  receipts  in  the  treasury  to  the  standard  of 
the  economical  wants  of  the  government.  Against  a  body  of 
contingencies  and  uncertainties  of  the  magnitude  and  character 
specified,  added  to  those  which  must  always  attend  estimates  of 
future  revenue  from  uncertain  sources,  estimates  in  name  would 
be  more  loose  than  ordinary  conjectures;  and  so  loose  as  to  be 
of  no  other  value  than  the  mere  conjectures  of  so  many  members 
of  the  body  to  which  their  report  would  be  submitted.  So 
much  for  the  reasons  which  have  led  the  committee  to  come 
to  the  conclusion  not  to  attempt  estimates,  or  calculations, 
or  conjectures,  as  to  the  amount  of  money  to  come  into  the 
national  treasury  during  the  present  or  any  future  year.  They 


520  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

have  satisfied  themselves  that  the  reductions  from  the  revenue 
from  customs  proposed  by  the  bill  they  recommend  can  be  spared 
by  the  national  treasury,  and  leave  it  able  to  meet  the  necessary 
calls  upon  it.  They  do  not  petend  to  say  that  further  reductions 
will  not  be  required  to  bring  the  revenue  to  the  point  so  much 
desired  —  that  of  the  economical  wants  of  the  government.  The 
receipts  into  the  public  treasury  are  now  greatly  above  that  point. 
The  committee  have  already  said  their  examinations  have  con 
vinced  them  that  the  great  measures  of  reduction  must  be  directed 
to  that  branch  of  the  receipts  arising  from  the  sales  of  lands. 
They  feel  strongly  the  soundness  of  the  principle  that  reduction 
should  be  proceeded  in  cautiously  and  carefully,  and,  so  far  as 
that  can  be  done,  with  a  certainty  that  while  we  are  remedying 
one  evil  we  do  not  fall  into  another;  that  while  we  omit  nothing 
which  can  properly  be  done  to  reduce  the  revenue  to  the  wants 
of  the  government,  we  do  nothing  calculated  to  carry  us  so  far 
below  that  point  as  immediately  to  produce  the  necessity  of  again 
raising  revenue  by  an  increased  rate  of  duties  upon  imports. 
These  constant  fluctuations,  sudden  and  excessive  changes  in  our 
revenue  laws  and  consequent  agitations  of  the  public  mind,  and 
uncertainties  in  the  operations  of  mercantile  and  commercial  men, 
Mr.  W.  said,  he  thought  it  most  important,  in  any  legislation,  to 
avoid.  Hence  he,  as  a  member  of  the  committee,  had  determined 
to  pursue  what  he  considered  a  safe  course,  neither  endangering 
nor  disturbing  any  important  protected  interest  of  the  country, 
or  the  public  treasury  in  meeting  the  necessary  calls  upon  it. 
He  had  not  attempted  to  determine  that  the  bill  would  do  all 
that  a  full  remedy  for  the  existing  evil  demanded,  but  merely 
that,  in  the  present  state  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  other  important 
branch  of  the  public  receipts  and  the  influences  upon  it  of  the 
instant  legislation  of  Congress,  it  was  all  the  committee  had  con 
cluded,  at  present,  to  recommend,  and  that  so  much  might  be 
done  safely. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  there  was  no  less  difficulty  in  making  calculations 
and  estimates  upon  the  other  side  of  this  great  account,  the  public 
expenditures.  The  ordinary  expenditures  of  the  government  — 
that  portion  of  the  expenses  required  to  keep  all  the  departments 
of  the  government  in  organization  and  operation  —  were  laid 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  521 

before  us  by  the  proper  fiscal  officer  of  the  government,  and 
appropriations  to  that  extent  might  be  very  safely  calculated 
upon.  All  the  information  within  the  power  of  the  committee 
upon  this  class  of  appropriations  had  been  equally  fully  in  the 
hands  of  every  member  of  Congress  from  the  commencement  of 
the  session.  No  benefit  here,  then,  could  be  derived  from  any 
report  the  committee  could  have  made.  All  beyond  this  was 
within  the  pleasure  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  and  the  Presi 
dent.  What  extraordinary  appropriations  they  might  see  fit  to 
make  for  fortifications,  for  the  navy,  for  public  defense  generally, 
or  for  any  other  of  the  great  objects  calling  for  expenditures  of 
money,  it  was  not  only  out  of  the  power  of  the  committee  to  say, 
but  would  be  in  vain  for  them  to  attempt  to  conjecture,  They 
could  not,  therefore,  with  any  certainty,  estimate  the  expenses  of 
the  year.  Mr.  W.  said  he  felt  conscious  that  the  appropriations 
of  Congress  would,  as  he  thought  those  appropriations  should, 
be  graduated  by  a  due  regard  to  the  ability  of  the  treasury  to 
pay,  and  the  public  and  national  wants  to  be  supplied;  but  he 
also  further  believed  that  a  redundant  treasury  always  promoted 
not  large  merely,  but  extravagant  appropriations;  and  one  of 
his  greatest  anxieties  to  reduce  the  national  revenues  to  the 
national  wants  arose  from  the  conviction  that  in  that  way  only 
can  we  preserve  a  system  of  economical  expenditures.  He  would 
add  no  more  upon  this  branch  of  the  subject,  hoping  the  Senate 
would  find  in  these  suggestions  sufficient  apology  for  the  action 
of  the  committee  in  submitting  the  bill  without  any  attempt  at 
a  report  upon  these  vague  uncertainties. 

"A  single  other  remark,  Mr.  W.  said,  and  he  would  relieve  the 
Senate  from  listening  to  him  further.  He  had  not  forgotten  that 
another  bill  had  been  introduced  elsewhere  upon  this  same  subject, 
and  proposing  to  accomplish  the  same  great  purpose.  He  hoped 
he  should  not  be  considered  as  infringing,  unpardonably,  upon 
the  rules  of  order,  in  making  this  reference  to  that  measure.  It 
might  be  supposed  by  some  member  of  this  body,  it  might  be 
supposed  by  some  member  of  the  other  House  of  Congress,  or  it 
might  be  supposed  by  some  portion  of  oar  common  constituents, 
that  this  bill  coming  from  the  Committee  on  Finance  was 
designed  to  conflict  with  the  measure  referred  to.  For  himself, 


522  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Mr.  W.  said,  he  could  say,  with  perfect  truth,  that  no  such 
motive  or  feeling  had  entered  into  his  action.  He  was  sure  he 
could  say  the  same  for  his  colleagues  upon  the  committee. 
They  had  considered  the  reference  of  the  Senate,  in  the  special 
manner  in  which  it  had  been  made,  positive  and  mandatory  upon 
them.  A  report  of  some  sort  was  their  duty,  and  the  report 
which  they  believed  most  conformable  to  their  duty,  under  the 
reference,  was  the  bill  he  was  about  to  present.  The  time  for 
making  their  report  was  not  a  matter  of  their  pleasure.  If  made 
in  the  shape  of  a  bill,  they  were  bound  to  make  it  in  time  to  per 
mit  the  possibility  of  action  upon  it;  and  they  had  not  been 
unfrequently  reminded  of  the  impatience  of  some  members  of 
the  body  for  the  conclusions  to  which  they  should  come.  Their 
delay  had  been  unintentional  and  compulsory,  and  the  advance 
ment  of  the  session  had  urgently  admonished  them  that  further 
delay  would  be  equal  to  a  failure  to  discharge  the  important  and 
delicate  duty  intrusted  to  them.  He,  Mr.  W.,  thought  that  an 
examination  of  the  two  bills  would  satisfy  every  one  that  they 
could,  in  no  sense,  be  antagonist  to  each  other.  The  one  pro 
poses  to  add  largely  to  the  list  of  free  articles,  and  to  make 
material  reductions  upon  two  classes  of  articles  not  considered 
as  belonging  to  the  protected  products  or  manufactures  of  the 
country.  The  other  proposes  to  hasten,  with  very  great  rapid 
ity,  the  reductions  proposed  to  be  made  by  the  compromise  act. 
It  cannot,  then,  escape  attention  that  there  is  no  contradiction, 
in  principle  or  action,  between  the  two  measures.  Both  may 
make  too  large,  or  too  rapid,  a  reduction;  but  should  the  bill 
now  presented  fall  short  of  its  object,  a  sufficient  reduction  of 
the  revenue  from  customs,  it  was  his  duty  to  say  that  no  other 
mode  of  further  material  reductions  had  suggested  itself  to  his 
mind,  in  the  course  of  his  examinations  and  reflections  upon  the 
subject,  than  to  adopt  the  principle  of  that  bill,  moderated  as  to 
time  so  as  to  suit  the  exigency.  He  would  further  say,  that  he 
wished  those  most  interested  in  the  great  and  important  provi 
sions  of  the  compromise  act  could  see,  as  he  thought  he  could 
see,  that  it  was  their  peculiar  interest  to  consent  to  a  modifica 
tion  of  that  act,  which  should  make  its  reductions  of  the  revenue 
gradual  and  uniform  from  the  present  period  to  the  year  1842;  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  523 

little  more  rapid  from  this  time  to  1841,  and  much  less  precipi 
tous  and  shocking  to  those  interests  from  1841  to  1842.  As, 
however,  the  committee  had  no  evidence  before  them  of  the 
feeling  of  the  citizens  most  deeply  interested  in  this  policy,  and 
as  they  had  determined,  if  possible,  to  digest  a  bill  which  would 
meet  with  favor,  and  be  passed  into  a  law,  they  refrained  from 
affixing  any  such  condition  to  the  bill  they  now  report. 

"As  to  the  instant  effect  of  the  two  measures,  Mr.  W.  said,  he 
believed  there  would  be  little  difference.  The  bill  he  held  in  his 
hand  proposed  to  reduce  a  fraction  over  $2,400,000,  from  and 
after  the  thirtieth  June  next.  The  other  measure  to  which  he 
had  referred,  as  he  understood  it,  proposed  to  reduce  about 
$7,000,000,  at  three  periods  stated,  the  first  of  which  was  the 
thirtieth  of  September  next,  and  the  only  one  of  the  three  peri 
ods  falling  within  the  present  year.  That  measure,  however, 
was  prospective,  and  this  was  not ;  but  Congress  would  be  again 
in  session  before  that  bill  would  have  effected  but  one  reduction, 
and  the  accounts  of  the  treasury  for  another  year  would  have 
been  laid  before  us  as  our  guide  to  future  and  further  action. 
He  would  detain  the  Senate  no  longer. 

"The  bill  and  accompanying  report  was  then  read." 


524  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXIL 

THE  SUSPENSION  OF  THE  BANK3,  AND  HARD  TIMES  OF  1837. 

The  year  1837  will  ever  be  memorable  as  a  time  when 
the  whole  country,  in  almost  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  was 
plunged  from  what,  on  the  surface,  appeared  to  be  high, 
swimming  prosperity,  to  deep  gloom  and  fearful  financial 
distress.  Contrasted  with  1836,  it  was  appalling.  The 
business  of  banking  was  a  monopoly  conferred  by  legis 
lation.  Numerous  selected  banks  were  the  authorized 
depositories  of  the  public  moneys  of  the  United  States. 
The  more  these  accumulated,  whether  from  the  customs 
or  sales  of  the  public  lands,  the  greater  their  ability  to 
lend.  In  proportion  to  the  ease  with  which  they  could 
borrow  money,  men  contracted  debts.  The  mania  for 
speculation  commenced  in  1834,  continued  through  1835, 
and  was  at  its  height  in  1836,  constituting  a  mammoth 
bubble  which  exploded  in  1837,  bringing  ruin  upon  most 
of  those  engaged  in  or  connected  with  it. 

Men  of  all  classes  and  pursuits  neglected  or  abandoned 
their  ordinary  avocations,  and  plunged  into  the  whirlpool 
of  speculation.  Many  left  the  beaten  road  to  prosperity 
and  wealth,  and  eventually  sank,  with  all  their  high 
expectations,  in  the  treacherous  quicksands  of  over 
excited  hopes.  Fortunes  were  made  with  bewildering 
suddenness,  but  mainly  by  marking  up  the  prices  of 
speculation  property.  Debts  were  contracted  with 
thoughtless  ease,  and,  if  paid  at  all,  it  was  done  by  repe 
titions  of  borrowing.  Men  assumed  a  style  of  living 
which  would  soon  prove  ruinous,  even  to  the  rich.  The 
maxim,  that  men  contract  debts  when  money  is  plenty 
and  times  easy,  and  pay  them  when  cash  is  scarce  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  525 

times  hard,  was  strikingly  illustrated.  They  got  into 
debt  by  purchasing  property  at  high  prices,  and  were 
compelled  to  pay  them  by  selling  it  when  low.  Creditors 
seldom  complain  of  such  fluctuations  in  prices,  as  they 
usually  protit  largely  by  them. 

The  year  1 837  presented  to  the  world  the  sad  spectacle  of 
communities  hopelessly  in  debt,  some  to  vendors  of  over 
valued  speculative  property,  others  to  the  banks  which 
had  encouraged  thoughtless  speculators,  while  the  impro 
vident  banks  owed  the  government  for  its  deposits,  which 
they  were  unable  to  pay.  The  banks,  so  willing  to  lend 
when  money  was  plenty  and  easily  obtained,  ceased  their 
accommodations,  called  in  all  they  could,  and  struggled 
to  sustain  themselves ;  their  debtors  having,  to  a  large 
extent,  little  or  nothing  to  pay  with  other  than  speculation 
property,  consisting  mostly  of  western  lands,  recently 
bought  of  the  government,  and  city  and  village  lots,  con 
spicuous  principally  on  lithographed  plats.  With  the 
exception  of  a  small  number,  all  the  banks  in  the  United 
States,  through  policy  or  necessity,  refused  to  pay  their 
debts  in  lawful  money — blandly  called  ' '  suspending  specie 
payments,"  thereby  doing  what,  if  done  by  a  citizen,  would 
be  called  defying  their  creditors,  and  throwing  upon  them 
the  consequences  of  their  own  mismanagement.  Bank 
paper  fell  everywhere  ten  or  more  cents  on  the  dollar,  while 
all  the  property  in  the  Union  tumbled  down  to  a  far  greater 
extent.  Suits,  judgments  and  executions  were  more 
plenty  than  money.  The  financial  crash  was  tremendous, 
and  its  effects  extended  to  everybody.  The  number  of 
those  who  had  treasured  up  their  means,  to  profit  by  the 
low  prices  of  forced  sales,  was  not  great.  But  instances 
were  known  where  sagacious  and  cautious  men  had,  in 
this  way,  doubled  and  some  quadrupled  their  property. 

The  financial  storm  came,  made  its  wrecks,  and  caused 
countless  ruins.  Whose  fault  caused  it  and  its  conse 
quences  ?  Upon  this  point  expressions  differed  more  than 


526  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

real  opinions,  while  the  victims  who  suffered  never 
charged  any  portion  of  it  upon  themselves  or  their  own 
follies.  There  are  few,  indeed,  who  so  far  undervalue 
their  own  skill  and  capacity  in  the  transaction  of  busi 
ness,  and  to  such  an  extent  as  to  charge  their  want  of 
success  upon  their  own  mistakes.  It  is  far  easier  and 
much  more  common  to  impute  it  to  the  government,  or 
to  a  whole  community,  or  absent  individuals,  from  neither 
of  whom  denials  or  replies  of  any  kind  are  ever  expected. 
Some  imputed  the  blame  to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  had 
been  President  but  a  few  weeks  ;  others,  to  Gen.  Jackson, 
who  had  retired  to  the  Hermitage  on  the  previous  fourth 
of  March  ;  but  more  charged  it  upon  the  democratic  party, 
while  the  democracy  insisted  that  it  was  the  bitter  fruit 
of  overtrading,  living  expensively  upon  unrealized 
means,  and  generally  "to  the  malign  influence  of  wild 
and  unregulated  speculation." 

It  was  during  the  existence  of  this  state  of  things  that 
Mr.  WEIGHT  used  the  columns  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
Republican,  then  the  organ  of  the  democratic  party  in 
the  county  of  his  residence,  to  address  reflecting  men  of 
all  parties  on  these  subjects.  His  articles,  seven  in  num 
ber,  published  editorially,  were  under  the  caption  of  "  The 
Times."  After  the  introductory  article  published  on  the 
20th  of  June,  1837,  one  appeared  every  week  in  the 
successive  numbers  of  that  paper,  which  were  extensively 
copied  as  the  recognized  productions  of  his  pen.  They 
trace  the  evils  which  afflicted  the  country  to  their  true 
source.  They  produced  a  profound  sensation  on  the 
public  mind,  and  satisfied  reflecting  men  concerning  the 
origin  of  the  evils  they  felt,  although  they  failed  to  con 
vince  all  who  had  been  victims  of  their  own  inexperience, 
or  want  of  judgment  or  business  capacity,  that  they  were 
at  all  in  fault.  These  articles  are  full  of  wisdom  and 
profound  thought.  But  their  great  length  forbids  our 
copying  them  entire.  We  give  copious  extracts : 


AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  527 

"TnE  TIMES.— No.   1. 

"  Tlie    Causes  of  the  Present  Deranged  /State  of  the  Commercial 
Business  of  the  Country. 

"  When  evils  surround  us,  and  we  are  afflicted  with  misfortunes 
of  whatever  character,  there  is  no  rule  of  conduct  more  sound, 
more  practical  or  more  honest  than  that  we  should  first  seek  for 
the  causes  of  our  calamities  at  home ;  that  we  should  look  to 
ourselves,  our  families,  our  possessions,  our  friends  and  neigh 
bors,  for  the  causes  of  our  suffering.  If  we  cannot  find  them 
there,  then  we  may  look  abroad  to  strangers,  to  politicians,  to 
governments,  State  and  national,  to  the  world  at  large,  to  see 
whether  those  who  have  not  been  consciously  benefited  or  injured 
by  us — those  who  know  us  not,  and  have  not  heard  of  us — have 
made  themselves  the  instruments  of  affliction  and  injury,  acute 
in  character,  serious  in  extent  and  immeasurable  in  consequences, 
without  the  common  inducements  of  friendship  to  work  favor,  or 
of  enmity  to  inflict  injury,  which  are  the  common  and  ordinary 
motives  for  extraordinary  human  action,  whether  good  or  evil. 

"  First,  then,  for  the  home  view  of  the  deranged  state  of  our 
commercial  affairs.  And  among  the  causes  which  have  presented 
themselves  to  us,  as  plain,  practicable  men,  are  the  following  : 

"  1.  Overtrading  in  that  department  of  business  purely  com 
mercial.  That  this  cause  exists  to  an  extent  beyond  any  former 
example,  in  this  our  young  and  hitherto  prosperous  country,  will 
not  be  denied  by  any  man  of  any  employment  in  business,  or  any 
party  in  politics,  when  he  sees,  as  reported  in  every  department 
of  the  public  press,  confirmed  by  official  documents  from  the 
Treasury  department  of  the  nation,  that  the  cost  of  our  imports 
into  the  United  States,  for  the  last  current  year,  have  exceeded 
the  avails  of  our  exports  by  the  sum  of  more  than  860,000,000. 

"  2.  To  the  speculations  in  lands,  in  stocks,  in  mines  and  min 
erals,  in  the  produce  of  the  country,  and  to  speculations  gener 
ally.  In  our  village,  for  a  time,  our  cautious  men  of  business 
were  reserved  and  prudent.  Severe  experience  had  taught  them 
that  the  process  of  amassing  wealth  was  gradual ;  that  the  legiti 
mate  profits  of  business  bear  some  proportion  to  the  capital 
invested,  the  skill  employed  in  its  management,  and  the  labor  and 
risk  of  the  adventurer.  Their  judgments,  for  a  time,  rejected 


528  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  Win  GUT. 

the  rumors  of  fortunes  made  in  a  day,  without  capital,  without 
skill,  without  labor  and  without  risk,  because  the  fortunate 
recipient  of  the  favors  of  chance  had  nothing  to  risk.  Yet, 
incident  upon  incident,  and  fact  upon  fact,  appear  to  contradict 
their  long  and  dearly-earned  experience.  A.  and  B.  and  C.  made 
and  realized  their  hundreds  and  thousands,  and  tens  of  thousands, 
who  had  never  before  been  fortunate  in  the  accumulation  of 
property  or  the  management  of  business.  D.  and  E.  and  F.,  not 
particularly  distinguished  for  their  capital  or  business  talent, 
were  reported  to  have  made  their  fives,  and  tens,  and  hundreds 
of  thousands,  and  received  a  credit  with  the  business  men  of  the 
place,  with  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  county,  and  finally  with 
the  public,  commensurate  with  the  rumor  of  their  gains  and  for 
tunes.  The  natural  influence  of  this  state  of  things  began  to  be 
seen  upon  men  of  more  capital,  of  more  fixed  business  habits  and 
permanent  and  constant  occupations.  It  was  seen  that  these 
enormous  gains  sprang  from  the  soil  upon  which  they  had  long 
lived  and  toiled,  not  in  the  shape  of  productions  from  that  soil, 
not  from  the  profitable  use  of  those  village  lots  and  water- 
powers,  and  stores  and  wharves,  and  eligible  sites,  but  from  their 
purchase  and  sale  with  reference  to  some  future  and  incalculable 
value,  of  which  all  seemed  to  be  convinced  with  a  confidence 
equaling  the  strongest  self-interest,  but  the  foundation  for  which 
sanguine  confidence  no  one  could  or  would  explain.  Rumor  soon 
became  fact.  Fact  overpowered  experience  and  judgment,  and 
all — the  most  sagacious  and  the  most  wealthy,  as  well  as  the  most 
irresponsible  and  visionary  —  became  infected  with  the  speculating 
mania.  Few  purchased  to  use,  and  few  sold  who  did  not  pur 
chase  ;  but  all  bought  and  sold,  or  bought  to  sell.  House  lots, 
store  lots,  tavern  lots,  water  lots,  streets,  blocks,  and  village 
extensions  in  all  directions,  became  the  subject  of  conversation, 
of  contemplation,  of  trade  —  of  profit. 

"3.  The  inordinate  appetite  created  by  this  speculating  spirit 
to  acquire  wealth,  without  labor,  without  economy  and  without 
time. 

"  4.  The  unnatural  withdrawal  of  men  from  their  regular 
trades,  professions  and  callings,  to  devote  their  times  and  minds 
to  speculations  only,  or  to  some  employment  which  they  do  not 


LIIE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  529 

understand  and  for  which  they  are  not  fitted,  because  they  sup 
pose  it  may  open  a  shorter  way  to  wealth. 

"  5.  Too  great  a  subtraction  from  productive  labor  and  too 
great  an  addition  to  those  callings  which  add  nothing  to  the 
general  stock  of  wealth,  but  are  supported  by  the  labor  of  others. 

"  6.  The  expensiveness  and  extravagance  of  living  consequent 
upon  the  imaginary  accumulations  of  large  fortunes  speedily 
and  without  labor. 

"Are  not  these  causes  sufficient  for  the  evils  of  which  we  hear 
so  much  complaint  ?  And  do  they  not  conclusively  prove  that 
the  origin  of  these  evils  is  at  home,  is  with  ourselves,  and  not 
abroad  or  with  others  ? 

"  If  we  look  abroad  for  causes,  shall  we  find  them  ?  A  foreign 
war  might  derange  the  business  of  our  commercial  men  ;  we 
have  no  foreign  war.  Our  domestic  disturbances  with  the  Indians 
within  our  borders  are  ended,  and  no  one  supposes  they  have 
contributed  to  our  commercial  derangements.  We  are  at  peace 
with  all  the  world. 

"  The  causes  of  our  troubles,  then,  are  not  foreign,  but  domestic." 

"  THE  TIMES  —  No.  2. 

"  The  Causes  of  the  Present  Embarrassments  of  the  Banks  ^  and  the 
Necessity  (if  necessity  there  be)  for  their  Suspension  of  Specie 
Payments. 

"The  discussion  of  the  first  part  of  this  inquiry  might  be 
answered  by  a  single  short  sentence,  and  that  answer  would  be 
overbankiru/.  But  the  importance  of  the  inquiry  requires  an 
examination  of  facts  connected  with  our  banking  and  currency. 
In  the  winter  of  1833-34,  the  great  panic  effort  by  and  on  behalf 
of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States,  for  an  extension  of  its 
charter,  was  made  in  Congress  and  throughout  the  country.  The 
effort  was  made  in  the  midst  of  winter,  when  the  frosts  lock  up 
the  channels  of  communication  and  transportation  at  the  north, 
and  when  there  is  an  almost  entire  suspension  of  active  commer 
cial  business  at  the  south.  The  effort  was  to  alarm  the  public 
mind  for  the  safety  of  our  moneyed  institutions,  of  our  currency, 
and  consequently  of  our  trade  and  commerce.  It  was  especially 
directed  against  our  local  banks  and  commercial  men,  because  it 
34 


530  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

was  supposed  that  embarrassment  and  derangement  in  those 
quarters,  at  the  moment  of  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the 
national  bank,  would  most  conclusively  prove  the  indispensable 
necessity  for  such  a  giant  money  power.  The  season  was  well 
selected  and  the  points  of  attack  well  taken,  but  the  time  was 
not  one  of  pressure,  but  of  plenty;  not  one  of  scarcity,  but  of 
profusion  ;  not  one  of  depression,  but  of  prosperity.  The  public 
mind,  notwithstanding,  did  become  alarmed  and  excited.  The 
fears  of  many,  and  the  indignation  of  more,  were  aroused,  and 
the  contest,  for  a  time,  was  heated  and  violent  beyond  any  excite 
ment  of  a  purely  domestic  character  known  to  our  history.  Still 
that  was  a  mere  panic.  The  credit  and  business  of  some  were 
seriously  injured,  but  many  were  more  frightened  than  hurt, 
while  this  great  good  was  extracted  from  the  intended  evil. 

"  The  local  banks  were  compelled,  from  the  distrust  produced, 
to  examine  their  conditions,  to  contract  their  operations  and 
strengthen  their  defenses.  Their  issues  were  curtailed  to  an 
immense  amount  during  the  four  or  five  months  which  the  panic 
lasted ;  their  debtors  were  stimulated  to  payment,  their  means 
compacted  and  the  institutions  placed  in  a  sound  and  healthful 
condition. 

"The  spring  opened  and  the  business  season  returned.  The 
senses  of  every  man  proved  to  him  that  the  alarm  had  been 
groundless,  and  that,  instead  of  bankruptcy  and  ruin  and  soli 
tude  and  desert  waste  around  him,  the  whole  country  was  over 
flowing  with  every  production,  prices  were  fair,  the  markets 
quick,  the  seasons  prosperous,  the  moneyed  institutions  safe  and 
guarded,  and  the  currency  as  equable  and  retaining  as  strong 
confidence  as  any  paper  currency  which  had  ever  circulated 
among  the  people.  The  natural  consequence  of  this  sudden 
change  which  was  wrought  upon  the  minds  and  senses  of  the 
community,  even  while  Congress  were  daily  assembling  in  the 
capitol  to  mourn  over  the  national  calamities,  was  an  abandon 
ment  of  panic  memorials,  meetings  and  resolutions,  and  a  return 
to  business  with  renewed  energy  and  increased  enterprise.  Dur 
ing  the  twelve  months  immediately  succeeding,  wealth  was  accu 
mulated  by  our  citizens  with  a  rapidity  and  ease  never  known 
before  in  any  country.  The  banks  were  enabled  to  furnish  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  53  J 

trading  and  commercial  classes  all  the  aid  they  required,  and  to 
find  yet  a  large  surplus,  of  the  means  at  their  command,  uncalled 
for  and  unemployed.  Banking,  too,  was  prosperous  and  profit 
able,  and  those  who  were  not  interested  in  the  existing  institutions 
sought  for  arid  obtained  new  charters,  that  they  also  might  com 
pete  for  the  golden  harvest  of  bank  dividends.  In  this  way  the 
surplus  of  bank  means  and  bank  facilities,  beyond  the  wants  of 
trade  and  commerce,  were  indefinitely  increased,  while  public 
confidence  in  banks,  fresh  as  they  were  from  the  ordeal  of  the 
panic,  remained  almost  wholly  impaired.  *  *  *  Now  and 
then  a  statesman  of  thought  and  experience  would  dare  to  speak 
of  the  dangers  of  excessive  banking ;  of  the  necessity  of  a  more 
broad  and  permanent  specie  basis  for  our  large  and  rapidly 
increasing  paper  circulation;  but  such  exploded  opinions  brought 
down,  at  once,  upon  his  devoted  head,  the  formidable  charges  of 
loco-focoism,  visionary  theorizer,  silly  advocate  of  an  exclusive 
metallic  currency  in  a  commercial  country,  follower  of  the  ultra- 
isms  of  the  day. 

"  Money  was  cheap  and  credits  were  liberal.  The  banks  could 
answer  all  applicants  whose  business  authorized  their  applications, 
and  wanted  yet  more  customers.  This  impetus,  so  suddenly 
communicated  to  the  current  business  of  a  whole  country,  soon 
imparted  its  influence  to  those  descriptions  of  property  which,  in 
ordinary  times,  are  more  permanently  held  for  use  or  investment, 
and  a  general  appreciation  in  the  market  was  the  consequence. 
Stocks  took  the  lead,  *  *  *  in  the  operators  in  these  trans 
actions  the  banks  found  customers.  *  *  *  The  banks  had 
means  which  the  merchants  did  not  want,  and  those  means  were 
dispensed  liberally  in  discounts  and  loans  to  the  dealers  in  stocks. 

"Houses  and  lots  in  the  cities  and  villages  next  felt  the  influ 
ence  of  this  general  appreciation  of  property.  *  *  *  Pur 
chasers  for  the  market,  for  speculation,  for  an  advance  of  price, 
ruled  the  hour,  and  operators  were  as  regularly  patronized  by 
the  banks,  as  the  most  regular  dealers  in  merchandise  or  the 
stocks.  When  this  proved  to  be  true,  the.  banks  were  no  longer 
troubled  with  a  surplus  of  means,  but,  on  the  contrary,  found 
a  surplus  of  ciistomers.  Two  natural  and  Unavoidable  con 
sequences  followed.  The  banks  made  large  dividends,  and  the 


532  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

demand  for  money,  and  its  market  value,  constantly  increased. 
These  facts  were  made  to  prove  conclusively  the  want  of  more 
banks,  and  more  banks  were  regularly  granted  at  the  annual 
sessions  of  almost  all  of  the  State  Legislatures.  The  excitement 
became  a  perfect  mania,  and  diffused  itself  throughout  the  whole 
land.  Our  large  cities  were  extended,  in  imagination,  in  all 
directions,  until  their  dimensions  exceeded  those  of  any  town  in 
the  known  world ;  and  every  village  became  a  city,  upon  paper, 
both  in  extent  and  business  importance,  as  well  as  in  the  fancied 
value  of  lots.  Plots  were  purchased  for  new  cities. 

"  This  new  and  enlarged  scale  of  speculation  added  new 
strength  to  the  already  accepted  proof  of  the  necessity  of  more 
banks,  with  increased  capitals;  and  also  demonstrated,  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  the  interested,  that  the  capitals  of  the 
existing  country  banks  were  altogether  too  small,  and  ought  to 
be  increased. 

"The  whole  republican  party  was  charged,  from  day  to  day, 
with  hostility  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country;  with  opposi 
tion  to  their  own  best  interests,  in  blind  zeal  in  the  support  of 
Gen.  Jackson  and  his  measures,  against  friends,  and  home,  and 
country.  In  vain,  then,  we  predicted  the  dangers  to  flow  from 
overtrading,  overbanking,  and  mad  speculation. 

"  Our  evil  predictions  are  already  more  than  realized,  and  no 
man  can  now  be  found  who  regrets  that  we  liave  not  had  more 
banks;  while  the  great  mass  of  our  voters,  if  permitted  to  speak, 
w^ould  profoundly  regret  that  we  ever  had  any.  The  false  bub 
ble  of  speculation  has  now  burst,  and,  thanks  to  the  wisdom,  and 
foresight,  and  patriotism  of  the  republicans  of  our  country,  finds 
us  less  embarassed  than  those  who  have  reaped  more  industriously 
from  the  abundant  harvest  of  the  excesses  of  the  '  credit  system.' 

"  A  further  class  of  customers  to  the  banks,  who  have  contri 
buted  not  a  little  to  their  present  embarrassments,  are  the  direc 
tors  and  officers  of  the  banks  themselves,  many  of  whom  have 
entered  largely  into  the  stock  and  land  speculations,  and  all  the 
overtrading,  the  lumber  speculations  and  all  the  other  excesses 
of  the  times;  while  others,  and  we  fear  not  a  few,  have  diverted 
the  means  of  the  institutions  of  which  they  have  had  the  charge, 
since  the  present  pressure  commenced,  to  the  shaving  operations 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  533 

which  the  high  price  of  money  has  invited,  instead  of  regular 
discounts  to  their  customers,  which  the  necessities  of  the  times 
have  required. 

"From  this  history  of  the  times  we  conclude  that  the  causes 
of  the  present  embarrassment  of  the  banks  are: 

"  1.  Overbanking  to  legitimate  customers. 

"  2.  Unreasonable  loans  to  stock  brokers  and  stock  dealers. 

"  3.  Unrestrained  loans  to  speculators  in  city  and  village 
houses,  lots  and  other  real  property. 

"  4.  Unrestrained  loans  to  speculators  in  real  estate  generally, 
such  as  farms,  proprietary  rights  in  our  own  State,  government 
lands  in  the  western  States,  timber  lands  in  Maine  and  Canada, 
and  the  like. 

"  5.  Loans  to  their  own  directors  and  officers,  to  the  injury  of 
their  legitimate  customers,  the  commercial  community. 

"6.  An  excess  of  banks,  inviting  to  these  excesses;  and  banks 
granted  to  persons  who  had  no  money  to  invest,  but  wanted 
money  to  use,  or  the  stock  of  a  new  bank  to  sell  at  a  premium, 

"  It  remains  for  us  to  inquire  for  the  necessity  (if  necessity 
there  be)  for  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks. 

"  Every  bank  is  chartered  with  peculiar  and  invidious  privi 
leges,  privileges  not  granted  except  to  incorporated  banks,  and 
expressly  prohibited  to  the  citizens  of  the  State  by  a  highly  penal 
law.  In  exchange  for  these  privileges  they  are  subject  to  certain 
reasonable  and  mild  liabilities,  the  most  severe  of  which  is  that, 
when  they  exercise  the  high  and  sovereign  privilege  of  issuing 
their  notes  to  the  people  as  money,  as  currency,  they  shall,  at  all 
times,  be  ready  to  redeem  those  notes  on  demand  with  gold  and 
silver.  This  liability  is  enforced  by  their  charters,  upon  the 
pain  of  an  immediate  declaration  of  insolvency  and  forfeiture  of 
all  their  chartered  privileges.  All  banks,  therefore,  which  have 
refused  to  redeem  their  notes  in  specie  are,  prima  facie,  insol 
vent,  notwithstanding  the  Legislature  have  temporarily  relieved 
them  from  the  forfeiture  of  their  charters. 

"  Every  bank  in  the  State,  with  perhaps,  one  or  two  exceptions, 
has  refused  to  redeem  its  notes  in  specie. 

"  Whence,  then,  the  necessity  of  the  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ment  on  the  part  of  those  not  insolvent  ?  Is  there  any  other 


534  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

answer  than  that  their  customers  cannot  be  sustained  without 
further  accommodations ;  and  that  while  some  of  the  banks  must 
suspend  specie  payments,  or  stop  altogether,  they  cannot  continue 
specie  payments  and  afford  the  accommodation  these  customers 
require  ?  We  see  no  other  possible  answer  to  this  inquiry.  Who, 
then,  let  us  inquire,  are  these  customers  for  whose  benefit  the 
community  are  to  be  visited  for  a  day,  a  year,  or  any  longer 
period,  with  an  irredeemable  paper  currency  ?  They  are : 

"  1.  Merchants  who  have  overtraded. 

"  2.  Stock  brokers  and  stock  dealers  who  have  made  bad  bar 
gains  and  let  them  rest  upon  their  hands. 

"3.  Speculators  in  city  and  village  houses  and  lots,  and  other 
real  property,  who  have  purchased  and  failed  to  sell  while  prices 
were  up  and  markets  were  open. 

"4.  Speculators  in  real  estate,  generally,  who  have  gone 
beyond  their  capital,  and  depended  upon  bank  loans  to  bear 
them  out  against  the  hazards  of  purchasing  farms  and  wild 
lands  for  resale. 

"  5.  The  directors  and  officers  of  the  banks,  who  have  accom 
modated  themselves  with  the  means  of  the  institutions  in  their 
charge,  and  do  not  find  it  easy  to  pay. 

"  6.  The  managers  of  such  new  banks  as  have  found  it  conve 
nient  to  take  out,  in  the  shape  of  loans,  the  very  money  which 
the  charters  compelled  them  to  pay  in,  as  capital,  at  the  very 
earliest  meetings  of  the  board  of  directors,  for  discount,  and  who 
do  not  find  it  convenient  to  return  the  amounts. 

"  We  shall  leave  it  for  others  to  attempt  to  show,  if  they  choose, 
the  benefits  to  community,  or  to  any  possible  interest,  other  than 
that  of  the  stockholders,  directors  and  officers  of  a  bank,  which 
is,  in  fact,  insolvent,  suspending  specie  payment  for  a  year, 
whether  by  permission  of  law.  or  otherwise." 


LT'FE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  535 

"THE  TIMES.— No.  3. 

"  The  Agency ,  if  any,  of  the  late  Treasury  Circular,  demanding 
Gold  and  Silver  in  Payment  for  the  Public  Lands,  in  Pro 
ducing  the  Present  Commercial  Derangements  and  Sank 
Embarrassments. 

"In  two  former  articles  we  have  pointed  out  what  we  consider 
to  be  the  prominent  and  controlling  causes  of  the  present  derange 
ments  in  the  commercial  business  of  the  country,  the  causes  of 
the  present  embarrassment  of  our  banks,  and  of  the  necessity 
(if  necessity  it  can  be  called)  for  their  present  suspension  of  spe 
cie  payments.  Those  articles  contain  a  general  history  of  the 
overtrading,  overspeculating  and  overbanking  of  the  last  few 
years,  and  it  only  remains  for  us  now  to  show  the  connection 
between  those  dangerous  business  excesses  and  the  treasury 
circular  in  question,  and  then  to  point  out  the  influence  which 
that  measure  must  have  had,  so  far  as  it  can  have  any  influence, 
in  bringing  about  the  present  state  of  things  in  our  monetary 
affairs. 

"  First,  then,  for  the  connection  between  overtrading,  over- 
speculating  and  overbanking  and  the  order  in  question,  and  here 
we  must  give  a  brief  sketch,  as  our  limits  will  not  permit  us  to 
give  a  history. 

"Congress  adjourned  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1836,  having 
passed  an  act  regulating  the  public  moneys  in  the  State  banks, 
and  making  imperative  that  disposition  of  all  money  then  in  the 
treasury,  or  which  should  thereafter  be  received  into  it.  Pre 
vious  to  the  passage  of  that  act,  the  system  of  deposits  with  the 
State  banks  was  one  resting  upon  executive  order  only,  and, 
therefore,  subject  at  all  times  and  in  all  things  to  executive  dis 
cretion.  This  law,  we  do  not  say  improperly,  limited  and  res 
trained  that  discretion,  while  it  made  the  duty  of  depositing 
with  these  institutions  compulsory. 

"  During  the  two  years  prior  to  the  passage  of  this  law,  the 
public  revenue,  both  from  customs  and  lands,  had  been  under 
going  a  process  of  accelerated  accumulation  not  less  astonishing 
than  frightful.  Astonishing,  because  the  receipts  of  single  years 
more  than  doubled  the  estimates  of  the  most  faithful  and  com- 


536  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

petent  fiscal  officers,  as  well  as  the  most  experienced  and  saga 
cious  statesmen ;  and  frightful,  because  the  receipts  from  customs 
furnished  demonstrative  evidence  of  the  most  excessive  over 
trading,  while  the  receipts  from  lands  afforded  equally  clear 
evidence  of  a  state  of  speculation  in  the  public  domain  still 
more  excessive  and  dangerous. 

"  The  national  debt  had  been  finally  extinguished  by  the  sur 
plus  revenues  of  1834,  and  of  previous  years,  and  the  economical 
expenses  of  the  government  was  the  measure  of  the  wants  of  the 
treasury.  The  accumulation  of  money  in  the  banks,  not  wanted 
by  the  treasury  for  immediate  use,  had  become  alarming.  The 
amount  on  deposit  on  the  1st  of  January,  1836,  according  to 
our  present  recollection,  was  not  short  of  $40,000,000,  and  the 
receipts  from  both  customs  and  lands,  from  the  first  of  January 
to  the  first  of  July  of  that  year,  promised  an  addition  to  the 
former  accumulation  in  the  banks,  which  would  make  the  safety 
of  those  institutions,  consequently  their  management  and  opera 
tions,  matters  of  the  deepest  concern  to  the  treasury  of  the 
nation,  to  its  financial  movements,  and  to  the  vast  amount  of  the 
property  of  the  people  intrusted  to  their  safe-keeping. 

"  The  adjournment  of  Congress,  to  which  we  have  referred,  had 
taken  place  without  any  action  of  that  body  upon  the  repeated 
and  varied  recommendations  of  the  President  for  the  reduction 
of  the  public  revenue  from  both  customs  and  public  lands;  the 
adoption  of  a  system  for  the  distribution  to  the  States  of  the 
surplus,  over  five  millions  of  dollars,  which  should  be  found  on 
deposit  on  the  1st  of  January,  1837,  being  the  only  legislation 
touching  that  great  interest. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  such  had  been  the  fruits  of  overtrading  and 
speculation,  that  the  customs,  alone,  promised  to  yield  from 
twenty-four  to  twenty-five  millions  for  the  year  1836,  while  the 
speculations  in  the  public  domain  had  become  reduced  to  a  system, 
and,  added  to  the  sales  for  settlement,  and  to  the  enterprises  of 
individual  speculators,  associations  were  formed  and  forming  of 
every  imaginary  amount  of  capital,  counting  from  single  thou 
sands  to  millions,  and  extending  their  stock  interests  to  every 
considerable  town  and  village  in  the  country,  and  their  specula 
tions  to  every  point  where  public  lands  were  open  for  sale,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  537 

perhaps  we  might  say,  with  equal  truth,  to  every  point  where  the 
Indian  title  had  been  extinguished,  or  was  about  to  be  extin 
guished,  until,  from  an  ordinary  average  of  about  three  millions, 
as  the  avails  to  the  treasury  of  a  year's  sales  of  the  public  lands, 
the  receipts  of  1835  were  more  than  fifteen  millions,  and  those  of 
1836,  unless  restrained  by  governmental  action,  promised  to  be 
nearer  thirty  than  twenty-five  millions. 

"  Immediately  upon  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  the  President, 
justly  alarmed  at  the  rapid  and  fearful  progress  of  overtrading 
and  excessive  speculation,  examined  the  facts  in  relation  to  the 
payments  made  for  the  public  domain,  and  found  that  the  estab 
lished  process  was  a  mere  exchange  of  those  valuable  and  selected 
lands  for  bank  credits,  rendered  vastly  more  doubtful  and  hazard 
ous  by  the  immense  amounts  of  the  national  treasure  accumulat 
ing  in  the  deposit  banks.  An  ordinary  certificate  of  deposit  in 
favor  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  was  the  only  con 
sideration  appearing  at  the  treasury  for  millions  of  acres  monthly 
conveyed  to  purchasers.  The  examination  showed  that  these 
certificates  were  mere  indorsements  of  credits  from  individuals 
to  banks  and  from  one  bank  to  another.  No  real  capital  or  cur 
rency  of  intrinsic  value  was  found  to  enter  into  any  part  of  the 
operation,  but  the  speculator  executed  his  note  to  some  bank, 
with  indorsers  to  the  satisfaction  of  that  bank;  that  bank,  upon 
the  strength  of  the  note,  issued  its  certificate  of  deposit  in  favor 
of  the  properly  located  deposit  bank,  and,  upon  the  strength  of 
that  credit  with  another  banking  institution,  the  deposit  bank 
issued  to  the  receiver  of  the  proper  land  office  its  certificate  of 
deposit  in  favor  of  the  national  treasury.  This  certificate,  which 
entitled  the  holder  to  the  land  thus  paid  for,  was  of  precisely 
the  same,  and  no  greater,  validity  than  the  same  amount  of 
the  notes  of  the  bank  issuing  it;  and  this  was  the  payment 
to  the  nation  for  its  most  valuable  domain,  at  a  time  when  the 
public  treasury  was  not  in  want  of  means,  but  was  overburdened 
with  the  possession  and  safe-keeping  of  millions,  which,  during 
the  following  year,  were  to  be  distributed  to  the  States  to  get 
rid  of  them. 

"  In  the  absence  of  legislation,  and  during  the  recess  of  Con 
gress,  the  President  was  left  to  apply  to  this  great  and  alarming 


538  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

and  constantly  increasing  evil  such  remedy  as  the  executive 
power  of  the  government  could  apply,  which  was  partial  and 
limited.  The  law  declared  that  nothing  but  gold  and  silver 
should  be  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts  due  to  or  from  the  United 
States,  and  the  receipt  and  disbursement  of  bank  credits,  in  Uie 
shape  of  bank  notes,  in  any  department  of  the  public  service, 
was  mere  matter  of  sufferance  and  convenience,  and  not  of  law. 
To  compel  the  entry  of  real  capital,  or  its  equivalent  in  a  currency 
of  intrinsic  value,  to  enter,  at  some  stage,  into  these  land  specu 
lations,  the  President  directed  the  treasury  order  in  question, 
and  the  exception  in  the  order  in  favor  of  settlers  is  a  sufficient 
record  evidence  that  his  object  was  to  check  speculation,  and 
not  to  impede  the  settlement  and  improvement  of  the  lands. 
This  order  required  payments  in  constitutional  and  statute  cur 
rency,  for  lands,  after  an  early  day,  named  in  it,  from  all  except 
settlers,  and  from  them  after  the  15th  day  of  December,  1836. 

"  That  the  order  of  July  has  had  the  effect  to  arrest  and  almost 
put  a  stop  to  further  speculations  in  the  public  lands  we  most 
cheerfully  admit.  *  *  This  result  has  directly  benefited  com 
merce,  by  arresting  that  fearful  drain  of  capital,  which  was  so 
rapidly  commencing,  from  the  old  States,  and  especially  from 
the  commercial  cities,  to  seek  investment  in  the  immense  public 
domain  of  the  nation. 

"It  has  benefited  business  generally  in  the  same  way,  and 
also  by  drawing  back  the  attention  and  energies  of  a  vast  num 
ber  of  our  most  enterprising  citizens,  who  were  carried  away  by 
the  mania,  to  their  farms,  their  merchandise,  their  professions  and 
callings,  and  to  a  preparation,  so  far  as  the  means  may  be  left  to 
them,  to  meet  this  day  of  trouble. 

"  It  has  directly  benefited  the  banks,  by  stopping  their  loans 
to  speculators  in  real  estate,  and  thus  adding  to  what  is  now 
believed  to  be  no  inconsiderable  proportion  of  their  means 
locked  up  in  lands,  if  not  dependent  upon  the  success  of  a  doubt 
ful  speculation. 

"  Now  for  the  influence  of  this  order  upon  the  present  commer 
cial  embarrassments:  It  has  not  induced  the  merchants  to  con 
tract  debts  beyond  their  power  to  pay;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it 
should  have  been  a  timely  caution  to  them  against  incurring 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  539 

obligations  to  be  discharged  by  the  precious  metals  only,  when 
they  were  notified  by  it  of  this  increased  domestic  demand  about 
to  be  made.  Had  not  the  merchants  overtraded  to  the  amount 
of  over  sixty  millions  in  a  single  year,  their  necessities  for  gold 
and  silver  for  exportation  would  not  have  been  thus  severe  and 
ruinous,  nor  would  our  banking  at  home  have  produced  a  coun 
ter-necessity  for  the  precious  metals  much  more  imperious  than 
any  which  can  grow  out  of  transactions  between  merchant  and 
merchant, —  the  necessity  for  a  restoration  of  the  prostrate  cur 
rency  of  a  whole  country,  deranged,  distrusted,  depreciated,  by 
the  inability  of  the  banks  to  pay  specie  for  their  notes.  The 
order,  then,  has  been  a  positive  benefit,  in  so  far  as  its  influence 
has  gone  to  restrain  overtrading  and  overbanking,  two  of  the 
severest  evils  under  which  we  now  suffer.  We  have  already 
enumerated,  as  benefits  to  the  public  from  this  order: 

"  The  arrest  of  the  immense  drains  of  capital  from  the  commer 
cial  cities  and  old  States  to  the  west  and  south,  to  be  invested  in 
lands; 

"  The  breaking  up  of  the  speculations  in  government  lands;  and 

"  The  consequent  return  of  the  attentions  and  energies  of  the 
enterprising  speculators  to  regular,  productive  labor  in  their  sev 
eral  professions  and  callings. 

"  We  now  add  another  benefit  of  the  order,  which,  at  the  pres 
ent  time,  will  be  more  properly  estimated  by  the  community  in 
consequence  of  the  present  condition  of  the  currency.  We 
allude  to  the  direct  and  powerful  tendency  to  retain  the  gold 
and  silver  in  the  country,  and  prevent  their  exportation.  This 
influence  is  exerted  by  creating  a  demand  for  the  precious  metals 
as  strong  as  the  desire  of  our  emigrating  population  from  the  old 
States  to  establish  for  themselves  homes  upon  the  public  domain; 
and,  by  contracting,  not  the  laws  of  trade  and  commerce,  or  of  cur 
rency,  but  a  necessary  consequence  of  overtrading,  the  tendency 
of  all  the  gold  and  silver  of  the  country  to  the  great  seaports  for 
exportation,  to  pay  that  excess  of  foreign  debt  contracted  by  the 
merchants  which  the  productions  of  the  country  are  insufficient  to 
pay.  This  is  the  true  version  of  the  action  of  that  order,  about 
which  its  opponents  so  much  and  so  loudly  complain,  and  which 
they  term  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  commerce.  Before  the  suspen- 


540  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

sion  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks,  the  people  may  have  been 
confused  by  this  jargon  about  the  laws  of  commerce,  principles 
of  trade  and  natural  flow  of  currency;  but  now  that  the  banks 
themselves  have  declared  the  insufficiency  of  gold  and-  silver  in 
the  country  to  form  a  safe  basis  for  our  paper  currency,  and  have 
been  compelled  to  let  that  currency  sink  for  the  want  of  this 
vital,  sustaining  principle,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  convince  the 
plain  common  sense  of  our  freemen,  that  the  measure  which  has 
been  more  instrumental  in  retaining  with  us  the  little  specie  we 
have  than  all  the  other  acts  and  measures  of  the  government  — 
State  or  national  —  of  banks,  or  of  individuals,  is  the  greatest 
cause  of  our  want  of  specie  to  enable  the  merchants  to  pay  their 
debts,  or  the  banks  to  fulfill  their  promises  and  redeem  their 
notes.  The  day  is  too  late  for  such  contradictions  and  gross 
absurdities  to  gain  credit  with  the  people;  and,  as  in  many  former 
instances,  the  wisdom,  policy  and  justice  of  this  measure  of  the 
venerable  statesman  who  was  its  author  are  demonstrated,  vin 
dicated  and  exalted  by  the  mad  perseverence  of  its  opponents  in 
their  measures  persisted  in  to  prove  him  wrong.  The  laws  of 
trade  draw  our  gold  and  silver  to  foreign  countries  to  pay  the 
unwisely  contracted  debts  of  our  merchants;  this  execution  of  the 
laws  of  our  country  by  Gen.  Jackson  draws  these  precious 
metals  to  and  retains  them  within  our  own  limits  to  purchase 
farms  and  houses  for  our  citizens. 

"  The  time  was  when  it  might  have  been  very  difficult  to  cause 
the  correct  conclusions  upon  this  part  of  the  subject  to  be  received 
by  the  public,  because  the  merchants,  speculators  and  the  bankers, 
the  only  classes  of  persons  whose  business  brought  them  to  a 
necessary  acquaintance  with  the  true  action  of  the  order  upon 
the  banks,  were  interested  in  producing  erroneous  impressions, 
that  they  might  charge  to  the  order  whatever  evil  consequences 
should  flow  from  their  own  monstrous  excesses.  That  time  has 
passed,  and  the  whole  people  can  now  see  what  has  been  done 
and  to  what  condition  we  are  brought. 

"  Have  the  banks  been  influenced  by  this  most  healthful  and 
proper  caution,  constantly  given  by  the  action  of  this  order,  and 
curtailed  their  business  ?  If  they  have  not,  the  merchants  and 
borrowers  from  the  banks  have  had  no  cause  of  complaint  in 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  541 

consequence  of  this  tendency  of  the  order,  because  they  have 
h;id  constantly  all  the  loans  the  banks  were  disposed  to  let  them 
have  without  reference  to  it.  If  the  banks  have  curtailed  their 
accommodations  in  consequence  of  the  safe  and  salutary  tenden 
cies  of  the  order  in  this  respect,  have  they  done  so  to  an  extent 
beyond  what  prudence  and  safety  required  ?  If  they  have  not, 
then  again  the  merchants  and  borrowers  from  them  have  no  right 
to  complain,  because,  notwithstanding  the  curtailment,  they  have 
continued  to  enjoy  a  greater  amount  of  accommodations  than 
the  banks  could  extend  with  prudence  and  safety.  Let,  then, 
the  present  condition  of  the  banks  answer  our  inquiry.  The 
doors  of  all,  comparatively  speaking,  in  all  quarters  of  the  coun 
try,  are  closed  against  the  redemption  of  their  bills.  To  this 
extent  they  have  declared  their  own  insolvency.  And  why  have 
they  done  it  ?  Is  it  not  because  they  have  loaned  beyond  their 
means  and  relied  upon  their  debtors  for  aid  when  aid  should  be 
required,  and  that  those  debtors  cannot  or  do  not  pay?  Can 
any  other  reason  be  assigned  for  their  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ment?  Most  certainly  not.  Then  they  have  overbanked.  They 
have  extended  accommodations  beyond  their  own  means,  and 
upon  responsibilities  which  do  not  answer  them  in  their  time  of 
need. 

"  And  let  us  recollect  again,  here,  that  every  dollar  of  specie 
paid  under  the  order,  by  positive  operation  of  law,  goes  imme 
diately  into  the  vaults  of  some  bank,  and  that  the  necessary 
action  of  the  order,  therefore,  is,  the  collection  of  gold  and  silver 
from  the  purchasers  of  lands  for  deposit  in  the  banks ;  and  then, 
when  we  all  know  that  all  the  banks,  deposit  banks  as  well  as 
others,  even  with  direct  aid  from  the  order  itself,  cannot  redeem 
their  notes  with  specie,  can  we  listen  to  the  complaints  that  the 
tendency  of  this  order  has  been  injuriously  to  restrict  banking? 
Let  the  farmers,  the  mechanics,  the  laboring  classes  of  the  coun 
try,  who  have  the  avails  of  this  labor  in  irredeemable  and  incon 
vertible  bank  paper  in  their  pockets,  answer." 


542  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

"THE  TIMES.— No.  4. 

"  The   Probable    Continuance  of  the   Suspension  of  Specie. 
Payments. 

"  The  discussion  of  this  question  involves  points  of  delicacy 
of  which,  we  trust,  we  are  not  insensible.  We  can  say  with 
perfect  trust,  however,  that  no  hostility  to  any  banking  institu 
tion  in  the  State  or  country,  and  no  prejudice  against  banks  gen 
erally,  leads  us  to  the  discussion;  but  a. strong  sense  of  the  duty 
we  owe  to  our  readers,  as  the  conductor  of  a  public  journal, 
requires  this  notice  at  our  hands. 

"  Three  distinct  interests  will  be  found  to  be  involved  in  the 
decision  of  the  question. 

"  1.  The  interests  of  the  banks  themselves. 

"  Under  this  head  we  trust  that  we  may  assume  one  position, 
without  the  apprehension  of  contradiction  or  question  from  any 
quarter  whatsoever,  and  that  position  is,  that  it  is  the  interest  of 
every  bank  to  continue  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  so 
long  as  they  can  keep  their  credit  so  as  to  make  their  notes  cur 
rent  with  the  community  as  money.  The  incorporated  banks 
have  vast  privileges,  and  still  more  important  exemptions.  Their 
privilege  of  issuing,  by  express  authority  of  law,  their  paper 
promises  to  pay  gold  and  silver  on  demand  as  currency,  to  take 
the  place  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  hands  and  pockets  of  the 
people,  is  nothing  less  than  the  delegation  to  them  of  one  of  the 
most  delicate,  important  and  responsible  prerogatives  of  the 
sovereignty  of  any  civil  government.  Their  exemption  from 
liability  to  pay  any  description  of  their  debts,  beyond  the  mere 
amount  of  stock  paid  into  the  bank,  is  an  invidious  privilege  to 
these  artificial  corporations  over  those  extended  to  natural  per 
sons,  the  citizens  arid  freemen  of  our  country,  which  would 
startle  every  honest  mind,  not  familiarized,  by  custom  and  use, 
to  this  legislative  preference  for  soulless  paper  existences  over 
the  persons  of  God's  creation,  with  hearts  and  souls  and  con 
sciences,  and  at  least  some  sense  of  moral  obligation.  The  only 
real  consideration  to  the  community  for  this  privilege  of  creating 
a  currency  on  the  one  hand,  and  an  exemption  from  liability  for 
the  most  just  debts  on  the  other,  is  the  simple  and  most  just 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  543 

obligation  to  pay  on  demand  at  the  banking-house  the  gold 
and  silver  for  their  promissory  currency,  their  bank  notes,  which 
are  mere  promises  to  pay  gold  and  silver.  When  this  obligation 
is  discharged  by  legislation,  or  the  voluntary  action  of  the  banks, 
the  people  lose  wholly  their  slender  equivalent  for  one  of  the 
most  important  rights  surrendered  to  these  corporations;  the  insti 
tutions  are  discharged  from  their  only  onerous  responsibility,  and 
what  is  called  currency  is  the  mere  form  of  a  promise  to  pay, 
most  tastefully  executed,  without  any  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  promisor  to  pay,  and  with  the  knowledge  on  the  part  of  him 
who  receives  the  promise  as  money  that  it  will  not  be  paid. 

"  The  bank  which  issues  notes  which  it  cannot  redeem  in 
specie,  while  the  obligation  to  pay  specie  imposed  by  its  charter 
remains  annulled  by  legislation  and  unrevoked  by  the  bank, 
practices  a  fraud  upon  the  public,  for  which  a  natural  person 
would  be  eonvicted  of  the  crime  of  swindling,  and  have  a  cell 
assigned  him  in  some  one  of  the  public  prisons  provided  for  the 
punishment  of  high  crimes  against  the  peace  and  safety  of  civil 
society;  but  the  bank  which  issues  bills,  after  its  obligation  to 
redeem  them  in  specie  has  been  revoked  by  itself,  in  a  public 
declaration,  persisted  in  by  its  practice,  or  annulled  by  legisla 
tion,  is  guilty  of  no  fraud  against  the  public  or  individuals.  It 
is  true  the  bank  promises  to  pay ;  but  it  declares  before  the  pro 
mise,  and  that  declaration  is  made  known  to  him  who  receives 
the  promise,  that  it  will  not  pay.  He,  therefore,  cannot  com 
plain  that  the  promise  is  not  fulfilled,  who  was  told,  before  it 
was  given,  that  it  would  not  be  fulfilled. 

"  Such  is  the  present  relation  between  the  banks  of  this  State 
and  the  people,  produced  by  the  published  declarations  of  the 
banks  that  they  would  not  redeem  their  notes  with  gold  and 
silver,  and  the  law  of  the  Legislature  exempting  them  from  the 
severe  penalties  imposed  by  their  charters  for  this  act  of  faithless 
ness  to  the  community. 

"Who  can,  then,  doubt  the  soundness  of  the  position  with 
which  we  set  out,  that  it  is  the  interest  of  every  bank  to  continue 
the  suspension  of  specie  payments-  to  the  latest  hour  at  which 
they  can  sustain  their  present  credit  and  the  present  circulation 
of  their  notes  without  these  payments? 


544  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Are  we  not,  then,  safe  in  the  conclusion  that,  so  long  as  the 
banks  are  actuated  by  their  own  interests,  a  return  to  specie 
payments  is  not  to  be  looked  for  from  them  as  a  voluntary 
movement,  while  they  can  continue  to  furnish  the  circulating 
medium  for  the  people,  without  the  redemption  of  their  notes  in 
specie  ?  We  confess  the  conclusion  appears  to  us  to  be  perfect 
demonstration. 

"  We  next  propose  to  consider 

"2.  The  interests  of  the  customers  of  the  banks. 

"  These  are  three  classes,  viz. :  Men  engaged  in  commercial 
and  mercantile  pursuits,  manufacturers,  mechanics,  and  all  other 
classes  of  citizens,  whose  regular  callings  make  them  legitimate 
borrowers  from  banks  to  carry  on  their  business;  men  engaged 
in  speculations  of  every,  description ;  and  what  may,  perhaps,  pro 
perly  be  termed  miscellaneous  borrowers.  To  whatever  extent 
either  of  these  classes  of  citizens  may  now  be  indebted  to  the  banks, 
and  require  an  extension  of  their  credits,  to  that  extent  they  must 
be  interested  in  the  postponement  of  the  day  for  the  resumption 
of  specie  payments,  inasmuch  as  curtailment  of  accommodations 
and  collection  of  debts  must  precede  resumption.  The  men 
engaged  in  commercial  and  mercantile  pursuits  have  overtraded 
to  an  enormous  extent.  The  foreign  debt  against  them  is,  there 
fore,  large ;  millions  upon  millions  beyond  the  value  of  the  pro 
ductions  of  the  country  seeking  a  foreign  market.  This  balance 
must  be  paid  in  a  currency  of  intrinsic  value,  or  must  be  post 
poned  until  an  excess  of  productions  over  importations  shall 
meet  and  cancel  it.  Under  these  circumstances,  what  is  the 
strength  of  the  claim  of  this  class  of  creditors  of  the  banks  to 
that  indulgence  from  the  people  which  shall  impose  upon  them 
a  discredited  and  depreciated  currency  for  a  length  of  time,  that 
this  balance  of  an  excessive  foreign  trade  may  be  wiped  off,  by 
the  exportation  of  the  balance  of  gold  and  silver  yet  remaining 
in  the  country  ? 

"  We  know  that  the  derangement  of  the  times,  occasioned  by 
the  mad  speculations,  must,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  extend 
its  influence  to  regular  dealers  and  business  men,  who  have  kept 
themselves  aloof  from  the  passions  of  the  day  ;  but  the  law  of 
the  Legislature  gives  to  such  twelve  months  to  separate  them- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  545 

selves  from  the  speculations,  to  contract  their  business,  to  con* 
centrate  their  means,  and  pay  or  arrange  their  liabilities  to  banks 
and  others ;  and,  during  the  time,  taxes  the  whole  community 
with  the  derangements,  obstructions  and  losses,  to  be  experienced 
in  every  branch  of  industry  and  every  department  of  business, 
from  an  inconvertible  and  depreciated  currency.  Is  this  a  libe 
ral  time  for  the  whole  people  to  suffer  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  ? 
And  when  the  present  depreciation  of  the  paper  currency,  from 
ten  to  twelve  and  a  half  cents  upon  every  dollar,  is  estimated,  is 
it  not  a  sufficiently  liberal  tax  for  the  people  to  pay  to  relieve 
the  commercial  and  mercantile  classes  ? 

"  The  same  remarks,  substantially,  are  applicable  to  manufac 
turers,  mechanics  and  all  others,  who  are  legitimate  borrowers 
from  banks  to  carry  on  their  business,  and  the  same  conclusion 
must  therefore  be  applied  to  them  also. 

"  If  such  are  the  claims  upon  the  community  of  commercial 
men,  merchants,  manufacturers,  mechanics  and  other  useful 
classes  of  citizens,  what  must  be  said  of  simliar  claims  when 
pressed  by  mere  speculators ;  men  who  substitute  cunning  for 
capital,  and  deception  for  skill  in  any  trade  or  profession;  persons 
whose  object  as  well  as  occupation  it  is  to  unsettle  the  regular 
order  of  business,  the  established  value  of  property  and  the  set 
tled  judgment  of  men?  Have  they  claims  to  sympathy  or  for 
bearance?  Have  they  a  right  to  ask  the  whole  people  to  endure 
a  deranged  and  depreciated  currency,  for  a  protracted  period, 
that  they  may  realize  the  golden  harvest  they  have  anticipated 
from  their  bold  progress  in  mischief?  We  do  not  see  the  merits 
of  such  a  claim  from  such  a  source. 

"  3.  The  interest  of  the  people  in  this  question. 

"  For  the  last  six  or  seven  years,  the  people  of  this  State, 
through  the-ir  representatives  in  the  Legislature,  have  been  much 
too  indulgent  in  yielding  to  the  cupidity  of  individuals,  and  the 
personal  and  unwearied  solicitation  of  the  interested  local  bank 
charters,  and  the  mischiefs  resulting  from  that  mistaken  lenity 
are  now  visiting  themselves  upon  us  with  a  severity  which  usually 
pursues  any  criminal  laxity  of  vigilance  in  a  popular  government. 
Almost  from  the  commencement  of  our  governments,  State  and 
national,  banks  have  been-  incorporated  by  legislative  authority, 
35 


546  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and,  by  the  powers  and  privileges  granted  to  them,  have  been 
made  the  practical  trustees  of  the  currency  of  the  people.  As 
we  have  receded  from  the  days  of  the  Revolution,  the  sufferings 
of  that  period,  and  one  of  the  most  severe  among  them  was 
depreciated  paper  currency,  have  become  dim  in  the  recollection, 
and  in  just  about  this  proportion  we  have  increased  our  banks 
and  our  paper  circulation.  But  one  revulsion  of  a  general  char 
acter,  anterior  to  the  present  time,  has  overtaken  us  in  this  career 
of  substituting  credit  for  money.  That  revulsion,  much  less 
general  and  severe  than  the  present,  was  occasioned  by  the  worst 
of  all  calamities,  a  foreign  war  and  a  barren  treasury  ;  and  was 
made  imperative,  much  more  by  the  wants  of  the  national  trea 
sury  and  its  calls  upon  the  banks  for  support,  than  from  any 
exigencies  growing  out  of  the  private  and  ordinary  transactions 
of  the  banks  themselves.  In  consequence  of  this  the  banks  were 
countenanced  and  sustained  by  the  people  in  their  suspensions 
of  specie  payment.  Then  the  choice  for  the  people  to  make  was 
between  the  preservation  of  their  soil  and  their  liberties,  assailed 
by  a  most  formidable  foe,  and  the  preservation  of  their  currency, 
impaired  to  support  the  government  in  an  arduous  struggle. 

"  Now  we  have  a  revulsion,  entirely  universal,  and  that  imme 
diately  succeeding  a  period  of  prosperity  such  as  no  country  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  ever  before  experienced,  and  without  any 
national  calamity,  of  any  character  whatsoever,  preceding  or 
accompanying  it,  with  which  it  can  be  in  any  possible  way  con 
nected.  It  has  proceeded  wholly  from  overtrading,  exces 
sive  speculations,  and  all  sorts  of  extravagance,  consequent 
upon  excessive  banking  and  the  cheapening  of  credits  in  every 
department  of  business.  All  banks  have  suspended  specie  pay 
ments,  and  we  have  an  inconvertible  paper  currency,  depreciated, 
upon  an  average,  full  ten  per  cent  below  the  par  value  of  money. 

"  This  is  the  injury  under  which  the  people  now  suffer;  and  its 
necessary  consequences,  an  instability  in  the  prices  of  property, 
to  the  great  depression  in  value  of  property  generally,  and  the 
perfect  uncertainty  whether  that  which  is  currency,  is  money,  to 
the  citizen,  when  he  goes  to  his  rest  at  night,  may  not  be  value 
less  paper  when  he  arises  in  the  morning,  attend  this  derange 
ment  of  our  currency  much  more  closely  and  extensively  than 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  Win  GUT.  547 

upon  any  former  occasion,  because  the  causes  now  apparent  for 
this  suspension  by  the  banks  are  so  insufficient  to  excuse  the 
course  pursued. 

"  All  this  being  done  and  suffered,  we  say  the  people  should 
command  an  immediate  restoration  of  specie  payments.  Not  a 
day  more  should  the  continuance  of  the  suspension  be  suffered. 
Members  should  be  sent  to  the  next  Legislature  whose  principles 
and  opinions  are  with  the  people  upon  this  point. 

"  Let,  then,  the  banks  now  know  that  that  act  of  suspension  is 
the  last,  and  let  them  and  the  next  Legislature  be  prepared  for 
the  expiration  of  that  law." 

"THE  TIMES.— No.  5. 

"  The  Duties  and  Responsibilities  imposed  upon  the  National 
Government  by  the  Suspension  of  Specie  Payments  by  the  State 
Jlanks. 

"  The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  federal  government,  in 
this  as  well  as  in  other  respects,  must  be  measured  by  its  dele 
gated  powers,  and  it  will,  therefore,  be  proper  for  us  to  look  at 
the  extent  of  those  powers  before  we  attempt  to  prescribe  the 
duties  or  impress  the  responsibilities  upon  our  public  servants. 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  the  charter  of  the 
powers  and  privileges  conferred  upon  the  government  of  the 
United  States  ;  it  is  the  only  charter  of  powers  or  privileges 
which  has  ever  been  granted  by  the  people  or  the  States  to  that 
government.  To  that  instrument,  therefore,  alone,  we  have  to 
look  for  the  powers  after  which  we  seek,  to  determine  the  extent 
of  the  present  discussion. 

"  In  the  fifth  clause  of  the  eighth  section  of  the  first  article  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  among  the  powers  conferred 
upon  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  we  find  the  following: 
'To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin.' 
This  is  every  word  we  find  in  that  instrument  conferring  upon 
Congress  any  power  whatsoever  over  our  coin  or  currency.  The 
power  here  conferred  is  full  and  exclusive  to  make  the  coin  and 
declare  its  value,  and  to  declare  the  value  of  foreign  coins,  and 
here  it  ends.  Nothing  is  found  relative  to  the  regulation  of  the 


548  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

currency,  any  farther  than  that  currency  consists  of  coins,  and 
not  one  word  as  to  the  regulation  or  equalization  of  our  exchanges, 
foreign  or  domestic. 

"  We,  therefore,  repudiate  and  reject,  from  our  consideration 
of  this  topic,  all  the  modern  ideas  of  our  political  opponents,  and 
perhaps  of  some  of  our  political  friends,  as  to  the  duties  of  the 
federal  government  in  relation  to  our  currency,  and  of  the 
exchanges  between  the  States.  These  are  new  doctrines,  which 
have  grown  up  with  other  imagined  necessities  for  a  national 
bank,  and,  indeed,  constitute  the  essence  and  root  of  all  the  argu 
ments  out  of  which  such  an  institution,  under  our  system,  ever  has 
grown,  or  ever  will  be  produced  in  future.  All  the  reasoning,  here 
tofore,  in  favor  of  a  national  bank  has  been  drawn,  not  from  the 
Constitution,  but  from  expediency  ;  not  from  any  grant  of  power, 
but  from  supposed  implication  to  almost  every  important  power 
conferred  upon  Congress.  If  all  the  reasons  ever  urged  be  care 
fully  examined  and  traced  to  their  proper  source  and  bearing, 
they  will  be  found  to  result  in  the  position  that  it  is  necessary 
or  expedient,  or  both,  that  Congress  should  assume  upon  itself 
the  regulation  of  the  currency  of  the  States  generally,  and  also 
the  regulation  of  exchanges  between  them.  All  this  field  of  dis 
cussion  we  exclude  from  our  consideration  of  the  present  subject, 
with  the  declaration  that  Congress  has  no  power  to  do  these 
things  by  the  Constitution;  that  Congress  has  never  done  them, 
and  that  Congress  cannot  do  them. 

"  We  do  not  intend,  upon  the  present  occasion,  nor  is  it  neces 
sary  for  our  purpose,  to  express  an  opinion,  or  enter  into  any 
discussion,  as  to  the  extent  of  the  powers  of  the  State  Legisla 
tures  over  the  collection  of  debts  within  their  respective  limits, 
or  how  far  they  may  authorize,  establish  and  regulate,  either 
through  the  instrumentality  of  banks  or  otherwise,  a  practical 
currency  within  their  jurisdictions  and  for  their  citizens,  provided 
their  regulations  for  any  of  these  purposes  do  not  violate  the 
prohibitions  upon  the  States  to  be  found  in  the  tenth  section  of 
the  first  article  of  the  Constitution.*  It  is  sufficient  for  us  that 

*"No  State  shall  coin  money,  emit  bills  of  credit,  or  make  anything  but 
gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  549 

the  power  of  Congress  over  the  currency  of  its  own  creation 
and  regulation  is  confined  to  the  collection  and  disbursement 
of  the  public  revenues,  and  that  no  branch  of  the  federal  gov 
ernment  has  the  power  to  make  even  coin  a  currency  binding 
and  obligatory  upon  the  citizens  of  the  several  States  for  any 
other  purpose,  or  to  prescribe  to  them  a  currency  for  any  other 
uses. 

"  If  the  regulation  of  the  currency  within  and  between  the 
States  be  not  within  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress,  it  will 
scarcely  be  contended  that  the  regulation  of  the  exchanges 
between  the  commercial  cities,  a  mere  use  of  currency,  is  con 
ferred  by  the  power  c  to  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof, 
and  of  foreign  coin.' 

"  The  power  of  Congress,  then,  over  the  currency  and  domestic 
exchanges  of  the  country,  is  confined  to  the  collection  and  dis 
bursement  of  the  public  revenues,  and  consists  in  the  power  to 
prescribe  in  what  currency  those  revenues  shall  be  received  and 
paid  out. 

"That  the  only  currency  known  to  the  Constitution  is  a  cur 
rency  of  intrinsic  value,  a  metallic  currency,  a  currency  of  coin 
according  to  the  value  placed  upon  it  by  Congress,  is  a  fact  too 
plain  for  contradiction  or  question.  Congress  derives  no  power, 
from  that  instrument,  to  make,  to  establish  or  to  regulate  the 
value  of  any  other  currency,  nor  is  anything  else  recognized 
therein  as  money. 

"From  these  facts  it  results,  as  the  most  plain  and  obvious 
duty  of  Congress,  that  he  who  has  a  demand  against  the  federal 
government  in  *  money '  should  be  paid  that  demand  in  money; 
or,  if  in  any  other  medium  of  exchange,  that  that  medium,  what 
ever  it  may  be,  should  be  equivalent  to  i  money,'  equivalent  to 
coin,  as  the  value  thereof  is  regulated  by  Congress. 

"The  revenues  of  the  federal  government  are  derived  directly 
from  the  people.  They  pay  for  the  public  lands  which  are  pur 
chased,  and  they  purchase  and  consume  the  foreign  dutiable  goods 
which  are  imported.  From  these  sources  the  national  revenues 
are  received  into  the  treasury,  and  hence  arises  another  imperious 
duty  of  every  department  of  the  national  government,  viz. :  The 
duty  of  adopting  such  measures,  in  reference  to  the  national 


550  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

finances,  as  can  be  adopted  consistently  with  the  constitutional 
powers  conferred  upon  them,  and  are  best  calculated  to  furnish 
to  the  people  a  solvent,  equable  and  stable  currency  in  which  to 
pay  those  dues  and  taxes. 

"  Duties  to  the  government  constitute  an  ingredient  of  price  in 
the  demand  of  the  retailing  merchant  for  imported  dutiable  mer 
chandise,  and  upon  those  duties,  as  well  as  upon  the  original  cost 
of  the  goods,  the  consumer  has  to  pay  the  ordinary  mercantile 
profits  of  the  importer,  the  jobber  and  the  retailer.  If,  added  to 
the  duties,  there  is  a  discount  upon  currency,  that  too  must  con 
stitute  a  new  ingredient  of  price,  upon  which  the  same  series  of 
profits  must  be  added,  and  all  must  be  paid  by  the  consumer. 
This  addition  to  the  intrinsic  value  of  his  purchase  does  not 
confine  itself  to  a  single  ingredient  of  the  selling  price,  but 
covers  the  whole,  and  is  to  be  added,  to  that  extent,  upon  every 
and  all  charges  which  shall  enter  into  the  seller's  value.  Can 
there,  then,  be  a  stronger  or  more  palpable  duty  of  the  govern 
ment,  than  that,  so  far  as  this  influence  of  its  action  is  concerned, 
the  consumers  of  foreign  imported  merchandise,  who  are  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  of  the  country,  should  be  relieved 
from  a  most  formidable  tax,  in  the  shape  of  an  extensive  depre 
ciation  of  the  currency  first,  and  of  the  various  mercantile 
profits  upon  that  ingredient  next,  to  the  selling  prices  to  the 
consumers  ? 

"  This  view  of  the  subject  is  strictly  applicable  to  consumers 
of  imported  dutiable  goods,  because  they  must  be  paid  for  in  a 
medium  equivalent  to  specie,  and  because  the  consumer  is  the 
final  payer  of  all  costs  and  charges,  including  the  duties  to  the 
government  and  the  losses  consequent  upon  the  depreciation  of 
currency,  if  such  loss  is  sustained  by  any  one. 

"  The  same  duty,  upon  the  federal  government,  is  equally 
imperative  as  to  that  portion  of  the  public  revenue  derived  from 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  from  another  consideration.  The 
lands  are  the  property  of  the  whole  people.  In  the  cession  of 
them  to  the  United  States  by  the  several  States,  they  were 
pledged  to  meet  '  the  general  charge '  upon  the  people,  and  in 
their  sale,  therefore,  every  citizen  has  an  interest  in  the  direct 
proportion  to  hie,  liability  to  taxation,  direct  or  indirect,  to  sup- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  551 

port  the  government  and  pay  the  debts  and  expenses  of  the 
nation.  The  price  of  the  lands  is  fixed  by  law  at  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  and  every  acre  sold  should  relieve  the 
tax-payers  of  the  country  from  that  amount  of  charge.  But  if 
the  lands  be  sold  for  a  currency  depreciated  at  the  rate  of  ten 
per  cent,  the  people  lose  one-tenth  of  their  property  in  the  lands 
sold,  which  loss  they  must  make  up  to  the  national  treasury  by 
direct  or  indirect  taxation.  Hence  the  obligation  upon  Congress 
to  protect  the  currency,  so  far  as  it  may  be  within  its  constitu 
tional  power  to  do  so,  is  not  less,  arising  from  this  than  the  other 
great  branch  of  the  public  revenue. 

"Another  duty,  equally  imperative  upon  the  government  and 
much  more  interesting  and  important  to  the  people,  is  that  of  a 
paternal  guardianship  over  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  gov 
erned;  and  one  of  the  most  vital  among  those  rights  and  interests, 
the  protection  and  preservation,  by  all  the  ways  and  means  in  its 
power,  of  the  integrity,  stability  and  value  of  other  currency. 
The  duties  of  the  government  of  which  we  have  heretofore 
spoken  are  partial  and  limited,  and  extend  only  to  particular 
interests.  This  is  general,  and  covers  every  interest  of  every  citi 
zen  relating  to  property,  whether  public  or  private,  local  or  gen 
eral.  The  two  former  connect  themselves  immediately  with  the 
interests  and  action  of  the  federal  government,  and  the  appeal, 
as  to  them,  is  more  appropriately  made  under  this  head.  This  is 
universal,  and  therefore  addresses  itself  to  all  public  servants, 
however  constituted  and  under  whatever  government,  State  or 
national,  and  by  whatever  authority  they  may  hold  or  exercise 
their  trusts. 

"That  the  power  exists  to  require  that  the  currency  of  the 
national  treasury  shall  be  according  to  the  value  of  the  currency 
created  and  regulated  by  Congress,  under  the  express  grant  of 
power  contained  in  the  Constitution,  no  one,  we  trust,  does  or 
can  doubt.  It  is  the  constant  and  continued  and  unvaried  exer 
cise  of  that  power  which  we  ask,  and  nothing  more.  As  one  of 
the  people,  we  think  we  have  the  right  to  ask,  nay  demand,  this 
at  the  hands  of  our  public  servants,  and  we  do  demand  it.  The 
direct  benefits  will  be  to  save  us  from  loss  in  paying  our  exac 
tions  to  the  government  and  in  the  sales  of  our  public  lands;  and 


552  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  consequential  benefits,  in  the  influence  to  this  course  on  the 
part  of  Congress  will  exert  upon  the  legislation  of  the  States  and 
upon  those  who  now  control  our  currency  through  the  means  of 
the  local  banks,  will  be  all-sufficient,  at  an  early  day,  to  restore 
our  currency  to  what  it  has  so  lately  been  and  what  it  ought 
to  be. 

"  Among  the  responsibilities  of  the  federal  government,  that 
of  keeping  safely  the  moneys  collected  from  the  people,  so  that 
they  may  be  ready,  at  the  calls  of  the  public  treasury,  without 
subtraction  or  depreciation,  stands  prominent.  At  periods  when 
a  proper  relation  exists  between  the  revenues  collected  and  the 
wants  of  the  government  for  expenditures,  this  responsibility 
may  be  discharged  without  difficulty  or  danger;  but,  when  over 
trading  in  foreign  merchandise,  or  overspeculation  in  the  public 
lands,  swells  the  sources  of  revenue  greatly  beyond  the  wants  of 
the  government,  it  becomes  one  of  great  difficulty,  delicacy  and 
hazard.  The  evils  which  destroy  the  equilibrium  tend  necessarily 
to  impair  the  safety  of  the  ordinary  and  natural  depositories,  the 
banks  of  the  States,  and  offer  temptations  to  unfaithful  guardians, 
should  such  be  selected. 

"  Another  responsibility  resting  upon  the  national  government 
is  that  of  guarding  and  preserving,  even  beyond  the  reach  of 
just  suspicion  at  home  or  abroad,  the  credit  of  the  United  States 
as  a  body  politic.  This  high  trust  can  be  but  very  imperfectly 
discharged,  and  cannot  be  discharged  at  all  to  the  benefit  of  the 
people,  for  any  length  of  time,  with  a  disordered  and  depreciated 
currency  sanctioned  by  its  authority. 

"  It  is  important  for  us  to  notice  but  a  single  provision  of  the 
law  [the  Deposit  Law  of  1836],  and  that  provision  is,  that  no 
bank  note  shall  be  received  in  payment  of  dues  to  the  govern 
ment,  or  paid  out  in  discharge  of  debts  due  from  the  government, 
which  is  not  convertible  into  gold  and  silver  coin  at  the  will  and 
pleasure  of  the  holder. 

"  Under  this  law,  with  this  provision  incorporated  in  it,  all  the 
existing  banks  accepted  their  high  trusts  to  the  government  and 
people  of  the  country  and  received  some  forty  millions  of  the 
public  treasure;  and  yet,  strange  to  tell,  before  a  single  twelve 
month  had  passed  away,  they  all  refuse  to  pay  gold  and  silver 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  553 

for  their  notes.  Nay  more,  and  farther  and  worse,  they  even 
refuse  to  pay  the  government  anything  but  their  own  irredeem 
able  bank  notes,  which  the  law  above  mentioned  prohibits  the 
officers  of  government  from  either  receiving  or  paying  out,  for 
the  millions  intrusted  to  their  safe-keeping.  Still  farther:  the 
drafts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  drawn  upon  a  depo 
sit  bank  for  a  mere  trust  fund,  belonging  to  individual  citizens, 
which  fund  was,  by  the  government,  imported  from  abroad  in 
gold  and  silver,  and  in  gold  and  silver  placed  in  that  bank  for 
safe-keeping,  have  been  dishonored  and  returned  without  pay 
ment,  because  the  holder  of  the  drafts  would  not  receive  the 
irredeemable  bills  of  that  bank  in  satisfaction. 

"  What  ought  Congress  to  do,  is  the  great  question  ?  Can  a 
national  bank  be  resorted  to,  even  if  it  could  remedy  the  evils 
we  suffer?  Twice  such  an  institution  has  been  tried,  and  twice 
have  the  people  pronounced  their  verdict  that  it  shall  not  have 
existence  within  our  confederacy;  that  its  powers  to  produce 
expansions  and  contractions  in  the  currency,  and  overtradings, 
speculations,  panics  and  pressures,  are  much  superior  to  its  pow 
ers  to  regulate,  restrain  or  sustain  our  circulating  medium;  that 
the  political  dangers  arid  evils  arising  from  it,  to  the  purity  and 
stability  of  our  free  institutions,  far  outweigh  any  promise  of 
benefits;  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  not 
conferred  upon  Congress  any  power  to  charter  such  an  insti 
tution,  and  that  no  such  charter  shall  emanate  from  the  hands 
of  their  representatives.  The  voice  in  which  this  last  verdict 
was  so  distinctly  and  clearly  pronounced  yet  sounds  in  our 
ears,  and  warns  us  against  repeating  this  doubly  condemned 
experiment. 

"  Shall  State  banks  be  further  continued  as  public  depositories 
and  fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury?  Shall  millions  more  be 
intrusted  to  these  institutions  which  refuse  to  respond  for  what 
they  have  received  for  safe-keeping,  except  by  their  own  irre 
deemable  and  faithless  promises  to  pay  ?  Shall  Congress  recede 
from  the  ground  it  has  taken,  that  the  debts  of  the  nation  shall 
be  paid  in  a  currency  equivalent  to  specie,  at  the  will  of  the 
holder?  Shall  it  legalize  as  currency,  and  establish  as  the  cir 
culating  medium  of  the  national  treasury,  the  irredeemable  notes 


554  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  State  banks,  and  import  gold  and  silver  from  other  coun 
tries  to  be  exchanged  for  such  a  miserable  representative  of 
money  ? 

"What,  then,  can  Congress  do?  Try  the  yet  untried  expe 
dient.  Produce  a  perfect  and  entire  separation  between  the 
finances  of  the  nation  and  all  banks  of  issue  or  discount,  how 
ever  or  by  whatever  authority  existing;  between  the  national 
treasury  and  those  artificial  creations  of  legislation  upon  which 
we  have,  hitherto,  so  unfortunately  attempted  to  depend.  We 
have  tried  the  faith  of  these  soulless  existences,  in  all  their  forms 
of  being,  and  that  faith  has  always  failed  us  in  the  hour  of 
utmost  need.  Now  let  us  try  the  faith  of  natural  persons,  of 
moral,  accountable  agents,  of  freemen.  Let  Congress  trust  the 
safe-keeping  of  the  public  treasure  with  citizens,  as  such,  and  not 
as  bank  corporators;  with  men  responsible  to  itself,  and  not  to  a 
moneyed  institution.  Let  collections  into  the  national  treasury 
be  collections  of  money,  or  its  equivalent,  not  of  irredeemable 
paper ;  and  when  the  government  owes  a  citizen,  let  him,  for 
that  debt,  be  able  to  obtain  money  or  its  equivalent,  and  not 
i  convertible  bank  notes. 

"We  are  told,  and  no  doubt  truly,  that  the  connection 
between  the  public  treasury  and  the  banks  has  aided  to  pro 
duce  the  excesses  we  now  so  deeply  deplore.  Let  not  the  trea 
sury  again  contribute  its  agency  to  such  severe  afflictions  upon 
the  people.  When  duties  are  to  be  paid  to  the  government,  let 
them  be  paid  in  fact,  not  practically  credited  by  a  system  of 
deposit  in  banks  which  enables  the  merchant  to  withdraw  with 
one  hand  what  he  places  in  the  bank  with  the  other.  If  lands 
are  sold,  let  the  money  paid  for  them  be  retained  by  the  govern 
ment,  to  which  it  belongs,  until  its  wants  call  for  its  use. 
Explode  the  mischievous  doctrine,  now  so  generally  promul 
gated,  that  the  merchant,  or  the  speculator,  have  a  right  to  the 
use  of  every  dollar  of  money  in  the  national  treasury;  and,  when 
overtrading  shall  unduly  increase  the  revenue  from  customs,  or 
mad  speculations  swell  the  amounts  received  for  sales  of  lands, 
let  the  accumulations  of  cash  capital  in  the  treasury  check  these 
excesses,  before  their  bitter  fruits  are  realized,  as  now,  in  the 
destruction  of  credit,  the  derangement  and  depreciation  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  555 

currency,  the  depression  of  property,  and  the  prostration  of  busi 
ness  generally." 

NOTE.  —  In  this  last  paragraph,  Mr.  WEIGHT  first  develops  the  idea  of  an 
independent  treasury,  afterward  matured  and  adopted,  under  which  a  dol 
lar  has  never  been  lost,  as  well  as  a  philosophical  and  infallible  mode  of 
checking  and  restraining  most  effectually  overtradings  and  speculations  in 
the  public  lands. 

"THE  TIMES.  — No.  6. 

"  The  Duties  of  the  State  Governments  toward  the  jBanks,  being 
institutions  of  their  creation,  and  over  which  they  have  Gov 
ernmental  Control. 

"  We  hope  we  are  not  insensible  of  the  delicacy  of  the  discussion 
under  our  present  head.  The  State  Legislatures  have  chartered 
the  existing  banks  and  to  them  the  banks  are  responsible.  We, 
therefore,  address  bodies  where  power  follows  proof,  and  where 
we  hope  and  believe  evils  and  defects  require  only  to  be  shown 
to  command  the  remedy.  That  evils  exist  all  feel  and  know,  and 
that  defects  exist  in  the  banking  system  of  the  States  is  almost 
necessarily  inferable  from  the  present  deranged  state  of  the  banks 
existing  under  them.  But  when  an  individual  citizen  assumes  to 
speak  of  defects  in  existing  legislation,  or  to  recommend  for 
legislative  consideration  remedies  for  existing  evils,  he  should 
not  speak  without  reflection,  or  make  even  suggestions  without 
caution. 

"  That  our  banking  system  is  as  wise,  as  safe  and  as  valuable, 
in  every  sense,  as  that  of  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  we  do 
not  doubt.  That  it  is  far  superior  to  many,  we  verily  believe. 
Still,  when  brought  into  conflict  with  improvidence  and  cupidity, 
the  present  moment  shows  us  how  utterly  insufficient  it  is  to 
answer  the  hopes  of  its  wise  founders.  When  overloaded  and 
overworked,  it  turns  out  to  be,  like  the  banks  of  issue  chartered 
under  it,  a  paper  system  altogether.  The  limitations,  restrictions 
and  responsibilities,  upon  paper,  are  all-sufficient,  but  they  no 
more  secure  a  sound  and  stable  currency,  in  practice,  than  the 
notes  of  the  banks  secure  specie  payments. 

"  What  duties,  then,  are  devolved  upon  our  Legislature  in  con 
sequence  of  the  present  suspension  of  our  banks  and  the  present 
deranged  and  depressed  state  of  our  currency  ? 


556  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"The  first  and  most  essential,  in  our  judgment,  is  that  of 
securing  a  return  by  the  banks  to  specie  payment  at  the  earliest 
practicable  period.  Legislation  in  this  State  has  already  inter 
posed  itself  between  the  banks  and  their  liabilities,  by  granting 
those  institutions  a  respite  from  their  most  weighty  forfeitures 
for  a  term  of  one  year. 

"  Can  they,  then,  resume  specie  payments  in  May,  1838,  or 
before  that  time  ?  If  there  be  banks  which  were,  in  fact,  insol 
vent  at  the  time  of  their  suspension,  it  is  not  likely  that  any  such 
can  resume  and  sustain  specie  payments  within  a  twelvemonth 
from  that  period;  nor  is  it  likely  that  institutions  in  that  condi 
tion  ever  can  return  successfully  to  the  performance  of  this  pri 
mary  duty. 

"  Unless  other  interests  than  those  of  the  banks  and  their 
debtors  can  be  interposed,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  our  next  Legis 
lature,  wholly  unavoidable,  to  require  the  banks  to  return  to 
specie  payments  within  the  limitation  of  the  present  suspension 
law,  or  a  forfeiture  of  their  charters  in  pursuance  of  the  terms  of 
their  contract  with  the  public.  The  currency  must  be  restored 
to  a  sound  and  stable  state  as  soon  as  justice  will  permit,  and,  if 
we  have  not  labored  in  vain,  we  have  shown  that  neither  justice 
to  the  creditors  of  the  banks,  nor  to  the  whole  public,  will 
authorize  a  further  suspension. 

"  As  a  first  step,  to  give  greater  stability  and  security  to  our 
State  banks,  and  consequently  to  our  paper  currency,  the  securing 
a  much  broader  specie  basis  than  any  we  have  enjoyed,  will 
strike  all  as  indispensable.  This  can  only  be  done,  in  our  judg 
ment,  consistently  with  the  preservation  of  our  banking  system, 
by  a  prohibition  of  small  bank-notes  and  the  consequent  circula 
tion  of  the  precious  metals  as  the  currency  for  change  in  the 
small  transactions  of  the  community.  Our  present  law,  prohib 
iting  the  issue  and  circulation  by  our  banks  of  all  notes  of  a  less 
denomination  than  five  dollars,  is  a  first  step  in  this  policy. 

"  We  shall,  and  do  now,  call  upon  our  representatives  in  every 
situation  to  mark,  carefully  and  closely,  the  action  of  events,  and 
to  adopt  such  measures  as  shall  secure  the  great  result  —  a  basis 
of  gold  and  silver  in  circulation  among  the  people  upon  which 
the  broad  and  high  superstructure  of  our  paper  currency  can 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  557 

safely  rest.  Reverses,  such  as  that  under  which  we  now  suffer, 
cannot  and  ought  not  to  be  endured,  and  the  preventive,  for  the 
future,  must  and  should  be  certain  and  effectual. 

"And  we  further  say,  that  that  safety  cannot  be  given  to  our 
system  without  an  increased  specie  basis,  and  that  that  specie 
basis  cannot  be  secured  and  the  system  itself  preserved  without 
a  firm  and  constant  adherence  to  and  perseverance  in  the  policy 
of  suppressing  small  notes  for  circulation  and  the  substitution  of 
the  precious  metals  as  the  currency  for  the  common  and  ordinary 
transactions  of  business. 

"The  developments  of  the  last  year  authorize  the  apprehension 
that  the  capitals  of  some  of  our  banks,  most  recently  chartered, 
have  been  unreal  in  fact  and  little  better  as  security  to  the  public 
than  the  old  exploded  stock-note  system.  We  allude  to  the 
practice  of  hypothecating  the  stock  of  one  bank  as  security  for 
loans  made  from  another ;  thus,  in  effect,  so  far  as  the  security 
to  the  public  is  concerned,  sinking  so  much  of  the  capital  of  the 
one  institution  in  that  of  another.  The  annual  reports  of  our 
Bank  Commissioners  show  the  existence  and  extent  of  this  prac 
tice,  and  prove  that  millions  of  the  nominal  banking  capital  of 
the  State  are  swallowed  up  in  the  mere  ordinary  bank  credits. 
We  also  allude  to  a  practice,  said  to  prevail  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  the  former,  of  making  loans  to  stockholders  of  new 
banks,  at  a  very  early  day,  if  not  at  the  very  first  meeting  of  the 
board  of  directors,  for  discounts  in  sums  measured  exactly  by 
their  subscriptions  and  payments  for  the  stock  they  held  in  the 
bank.  So  far  as  this  practice  may  prevail,  no  one  can  fail  to  see 
that  the  capital  of  the  bank  is  gone  whence  it  came,  and  that  the 
note  of  the  stockholder  is  all  that  remains  as  a  basis  for  the  cir 
culation  of  the  bills  of  the  bank  loaned  to  him. 

"As  requirement  of  law,  that  each  bank  should  make  investments 
of  its  capital  stock  paid  in  in  public  stocks  issued  by  the  federal 
government,  or  some  one  of  the  States,  or  in  bonds  and  mort 
gages  upon  unincumbered  real  estate,  at  a  rate  of  valuation  which 
should  be  safe  against  any  contingency,  would  obviate  these  evil 
practices,  and  give  to  the  public  a  security  against  future  loss, 
which  is  the  promise,  but  not  the  operation,  of  the  present  laws 
to  give. 


558  LIFE  AND  TIMES  of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  In  connection  with  this  subject  we  suggest  an  entire  prohibi 
tion  against  loans  by  any  bank  to  its  directors,  and  a  very  guarded, 
if  not  entire  prohibition,  of  loans  by  a  bank  to  its  stockholders. 
The  legal  intendment  is  that  he  who  takes  bank  stock  has  money 
to  lend  and  prefers  this  mode  of  investment  ;  and  not  that  he  is 
a  money  borrower,  and  wishes  to  acquire  a  pawn  which  can  com 
pel  loans  to  such  an  extent,  beyond  his  cash  means,  as  his  neces 
sities  or  convenience  may  require.  Why  not,  then,  make  this 
intendment  law  and  practice,  and  thus  place  our  banks  in  hands 
which  shall  have  no  other  interest  in  their  management  than  that 
of  the  profits  to  be  derived  from  investments  in  their  stocks  ? 

"  Connected  with  these  suggestions  it  is  well  worthy  of  con 
sideration  of  our  legislators  whether  the  power  given  to  our 
banks  to  contract  debts  and  incur  liabilities  of  any  description,  is 
not,  as  a  whole,  more  extensive  than  can  be  consistent  with  the 
perfect  security  of  the  institutions  themselves,  and  consequently 
with  the  safety  of  the  public  and  the  currency.  That  the  banks 
have  incurred  liabilities  beyond  their  power  to  meet,  according 
to  the  terms  of  their  promises,  is  confessed  and  declared  by  them 
selves  ;  and  will  it  not  be  wise,  for  the  future,  more  narrowly  to 
limit  that  discretion  which  has  once  led  to  error  and  injury  and 
loss  ? 

"As  immediately  connected  with  this  branch  of  the  subject, 
we  have  a  word  to  say  as  to  the  duty  of  our  future  legislatures 
in  granting  new  banks.  That  grants  have  hitherto  been  too 
numerously  made  we  suppose  will  not  be  denied  by  any  indi 
vidual  or  any  interest.  That  banks  have  been,  heretofore,  granted 
for  objects  not  properly  calling  for  the  aid  of  banks  must  also  be 
admitted,  because  it  is  impossible  that  the  business  properly 
entitled  to  bank  accommodations  should  not  be  able  to  sustain 
the  banks  granting  these  accommodations,  during  a  period  of 
national  peace  and  unrivaled  prosperity.  Here,  then,  is  an  evil 
to  be  remedied  addressing  itself  peculiarly  and  exclusively  to  the 
Legislature.  Let  no  bank  be  granted  where  there  shall  not  be 
demonstrative  proof  that  the  interests  of  trade  and  commerce 
require  increased  bank  facilities.  Let  those  proofs,  and  not  the 
interests  and  anxieties  of  personal  applicants,  govern  the  action 
of  our  legislators.  Let  the  novel  doctrine  that  banks  are  to  be 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  559 

chartered  in  different  sections  and  counties  in  the  State  upon  the 
basis  of  territory,  population  and  representation,  be  wholly  dis 
carded,  as  unsound  and  dangerous.  Let  the  substantial  wealth 
and  description  of  business  of  the  population  for  which  a  bank 
is  asked  determine  the  propriety  of  the  application,  and  not  the 
price  of  real  estate,  of  city  or  village  lots,  or  the  extent  of  vision 
ary  speculations  prevalent  at  the  point  of  proposed  location. 
Above  all,  let  the  least  evidence  of  an  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the 
applicants  of  a  bank,  to  gain  legislative  votes  for  it  by  combin 
ing  it  with  any  other  measure  whatsoever  depending,  or  to  come, 
before  the  body,  be  proof  conclusive  of  want  of  merit  in  the 
application,  and  want  of  integrity  in  the  applicants,  either  of 
which  should  secure  for  it  prompt  rejection." 

"THE  TIMES.— No.  7. 

"  The  Duties  of  the  People  in  reference  to  their  Governments, 
State  and  National,  as  the  Constitutional  Power  to  Correct 
Abuses  in  either,  to  Defend  their  own  Interests,  and  to  Secure 
to  themselves  and  their  posterity  Equal  Justice*  Public  Liberty, 
and  the  .Rights  of  Private  Property. 

"  Under  this  head  we  address  the  fountain  of  power,  under  our 
system  of  government,  the  sovereignty  of  our  republic.  With 
out  the  aid,  and  countenance,  and  support  of  that  sovereignty, 
neither  legislators,  nor  any  other  class  of  public  servants,  can 
perform  the  high  duties  which  the  crisis  demands.  Without  the 
advice  and  direction  of  the  sovereign  people  they  may  mistake 
those  duties,  and  fall  into  honest  but  not  less  fatal  errors.  It  is 
the  duty  of  a  free  people,  therefore,  upon  all  great  emergencies, 
to  advise  and  direct  their  agents,  to  make  manifest  to  them  their 
interests  and  wishes,  and  to  sustain  those  who  labor  to  do  their 
will. 

"  The  present  time  makes  this  loud  call  upon  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  A  period  of  apparent  prosperity,  such  as  no 
nation  ever  experienced,  is  almost  instantly  succeeded  by  depres 
sion,  mercantile  embarrassment,  and  a  derangement  of  our  cur 
rency  more  extensive  and  universal  than  any  former  example 
furnished  in  our  history.  Why  has  such  a  consequence  followed 
such  appearances  ?  Has  the  period  of  prosperity  been  merely 


560  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT. 

apparent,  artificial  and  unreal?  Or,  has  a  period  of  real  plenty 
and  prosperity  been  improved  by  the  artful  and  designing  to 
inflate  business,  and  confidence,  and  credit,  until  one  of  the  rich 
est  blessings  which  a  kind  Providence  showers  upon  a  nation  has 
been  perverted  and  made  to  minister  to  the  most  disastrous  con 
sequences  ?  If  either  position  implied  in  these  inquiries  be  cor 
rect,  by  what  immediate  agency  has  the  false  bubble  been  inflated 
and  distended,  until  its  bursting  has  given  a  shock  to  business, 
and  confidence,  and  credit,  as  sudden  as  the  motion  of  the  elec 
tric  fluid  in  a  commotion  of  the  elements,  and  as  terrible  as  the 
earthquake  to  the  planet  we  inhabit  ?  Is  there  a  doubt  that  State 
legislation  has  given  existence  to  this  agency,  and  that  the  all- 
powerful  agent  is  the  State  banks,  to  which  has  been  intrusted, 
not  the  regulation  only,  but  the  practical  making  of  the  eurrency 
of  our  country  ?  To  us  it  seems  no  one  can  doubt  this  position. 
"  The  State  Legislatures  have  chartered  banks  that  they  might 
serve  and  advance,  not  injure  and  retard,  the  great  pecuniary 
interests  of  society.  They  have  conferred  upon  them  their 
extensive  and  exclusive  privileges,  not  for  those  who  hold  the 
stock  and  the  management  of  these  institutions  to  make  them 
more  profitable  to  themselves,  but  that  they  might  be  more  use 
ful  to  the  public,  more  safe  in  their  operations,  and  consequently 
better  able  to  sustain  against  all  contingencies  that  currency 
which  they  are  authorized  to  furnish  for  the  uses  of  the  people. 
How  is  it,  then,  that  these  wise  and  just  intentions  are  so  often 
disappointed  ?  Why  are  State  banks  so  often  surrounded  with 
embarrassments,  unable  to  meet  their  responsibilities, —  indeed, 
wholly  and  desperately  insolvent?  Why  are  portions  of  our 
currency  so  often  found  discredited,  depreciated  and  finally 
valueless?  And  why,  at  too  short  intervals,  do  we  find  the 
whole  mass  of  our  paper  money  deranged,  depreciated  and 
inconvertible?  Are  these  evils  innate  and  inherent  in  the  bank 
ing  system,  or  are  they  defects  in  the  regulations  of  law  which 
govern  banking  in  our  country  ?  We  know  that  there  are  many 
who  suppose  these  fluctuations,  evils  and  losses  are  inseparable 
from,  and  irremediable  in,  the  paper  system;  but  we  have  hoped, 
and  still  do  hope,  that  this  opinion  is  founded  in  error.  We  know 
that  all  former  experience  has  countenanced  it;  but  we  believe 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  561 

that,  in  all  former  time,  the  interests  of  bankers,  of  stockholders, 
of  borrowers,  have  predominated  over  the  interests  and  safety  of 
the  community,  in  our  legislation  upon  banks  and  banking.  We 
know  that  the  former  class  of  interests  are  private,  personal  and 
direct,  and  that  they  are  always  exerted  upon  the  legislative 
body  with  their  full  force  and  effect;  while  we  also  know  that 
the  latter  are  left  to  the  good  sense,  careful  remembrance  and 
unbiased  integrity  of  each  public  agent  who  has  a  vote  to  give, 
or  a  voice  to  express,  in  this  part  of  our  legislation. 

"  If  fault  be  here,  it  is  the  fault  of  the  people  themselves.  The 
negligence  is  theirs,  and  the  loss,  injury  and  suffering  is  upon 
them.  They  have  left  their  public  servants  without  advice, 
without  the  expression  of  their  wishes,  without  instruction,  open 
to  the  influence,  exerted  in  season  and  out  of  season,  of  the  inte 
rests  in  conflict  with  those  of  the  public  generally,  and  are  not 
roused  until  the  consequences  of  their  want  of  vigilance  are 
visited  upon  themselves  arid  their  dearest  and  deepest  interests. 

"  This  is  emphatically  that  time,  and  what  are  now  the  duties 
of  the  people  ?  We  answer, 

"1.  To  see  that,  in  our  future  legislation  upon  this  great  sub 
ject,  the  interests  of  the  public  and  the  safety  of  the  currency 
are  made  paramount  to  the  private  interests  connected  with  the 
banks. 

"  This  duty  can  only  be  discharged  by  an  awakened  attention, 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  to  their  deep  interest  in  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  country  ;  in  the  equivalent  for  which  they  exchange 
their  labor,  the  products  of  their  labor,  their  farms  and  their 
shops ;  in  that  article  of  property  which  they  receive  as  money, 
upon  which,  as  property,  they  place  the  highest  estimate,  and 
which,  with  all  business  men,  is  the  end  and  aim  of  industry,  of 
economy,  of  exertion  and  of  enterprise  in  the  things  of  this 
world.  That  medium  of  exchange  with  us  is  principally  furnished 
by  the  State  banks,  and  upon  them,  by  our  laws,  rests  its  sta 
bility,  value  and  character.  The  interests  of  the  people,  there 
fore,  in  these  institutions,  their  soundness  and  action,  are  equal 
to  their  interests  in  their  currency,  in  their  circulating  medium 
of  exchange.  The  banks  exist  at  the  will  of  the  people  and 
through  the  direct  agency  of  their  representatives,  and  without 
36 


562  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

this  will  and  this  agency  they  could  have  no  existence.  The 
privileges  granted  to  them  are  a  portion  of  the  privileges  and 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  and  those  privileges,  so  far  as  they  are 
ever  correctly  granted,  are  parted  with  for  the  public  benefit,  and 
that  only.  The  interests  of  the  stockholders  and  managers  of 
the  banks,  resulting  from  their  business  transactions,  are  merely 
consequential  and  secondary,  and,  in  the  theory  of  incorporated 
banking,  rightly  understood,  form  no  part  of  the  consideration 
for  the  charter  of  a  bank. 

"  Still,  we  apprehend  that  here  rests  one  of  the  greatest  errors 
in  the  practice  of  banking  in  the  States.  The  great  public  inte 
rests  involved  are  lost  sight  of,  while  the  interests,  wishes  arid 
solicitations  of  the  corporators  are  permitted  to  command  not 
only  the  representative  action,  but,  by  way  of  inconsiderate 
petition,  the  popular  voice  also.  Hence,  banks  have  been  soli 
cited  and  granted,  in  the  various  States,  merely  to  accommodate 
local  and  personal  and  private  interests,  where  there  was  not, 
even  a  pretense,  that  the  great  interests  of  trade  and  commerce, 
or  of  a  sound  and  solvent  medium  of  exchange,  required  such 
institutions. 

"The  revulsion  necessarily  consequent  upon  legislation  by 
such  a  standard  is  now  oppressing  the  country,  and  an  irredeem 
able  currency,  fearfully  expanded,  is  one  of  the  fruits  of  the 
policy  which  all  feel  and  deplore.  The  remedy,  and  the  only 
remedy,  for  this  great  evil  is  with  the  people. 

"But  let  the  people  express  their  will;  let  them  advise  their 
public  servants;  let  them  pronounce  their  interests  in  a  sound 
and  valuable  currency,  and  their  determination,  at  any  sacrifice, 
to  possess  and  enjoy  it;  let  them  instruct  their  representatives; 
let  them  command  the  legislation  which  their  rights,  the  pros 
perity  of  the  country  and  the  credit  of  the  nation  demand,  and 
the  incipient  steps  toward  a  remedy  for  existing  evils  in  our 
monetary  affairs  will  have  been  effectually  taken.  Let  this  course, 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  be  followed  up  by  a  careful  scrutiny 
upon  the  conduct  of  all  their  public  servants,  especially  their 
representatives  in  the  State  and  national  Legislatures.  Let  their 
every  vote  and  action  in  reference  to  the  currency  and  our  mone 
tary  system  be  marked,  its  tendency  strictly  scrutinized,  and  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  563 

reasons  and  motives  for  it  be  demanded,  examined  and  justly 
estimated.  *  *  In  this  way,  and  this  way  only,  will  an 
ascendancy  be  given  to  public  over  private  interests  growing  out 
of  our  banking  system. 

"  2.  To  see  that  no  further  unnecessary  and  improvident  addi 
tions  be  made  to  our  banking  capital,  and  consequently  to  our 
already  too  greatly  expanded  currency. 

"The  discharge  of  this  duty  is  most  imperious,  and  had  it 
been  firmly  discharged  years  gone  by,  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  the  country  would  not  have  experienced  its  present 
sad  reverse.  *  *  *  Let  the  legislative  combinations  which 
have  become  so  common,  and  have  been,  of  late,  so  openly 
avowed,  be  entirely  broken  up. 

"  We  know  that  our  remarks  may  be  supposed  to  cast  impu 
tations  upon  those  who  have  represented  the  people  in  our  legis 
lative  assemblies.  We  make  no  personal  allusions,  nor  have  we, 
even  in  our  minds,  the  name  of  any  individual  to  whom  we  would 
make  the  personal  application;  but  so  palpable  to  the  whole  pub 
lic  sense  has  the  influence  of  these  combinations  been,  upon  a 
variety  of  occasions,  and  never  more  than  in  the  legislation  of 
1836,  when  more  than  $6,000,000  were  added  to  our  banking 
capital,  that  it  becomes  a  duty  on  our  part  to  warn  the  people 
against  them,  and  to  arouse  them  to  a  watchfulness  and  scrutiny, 
in  regard  to  the  individual  and  separate  acts  of  their  representa 
tives,  which  will  prove  a  speedy  corrective  against  these  baneful 
effects  for  the  future. 

"  3.  To  enforce  such  remedies  for  the  defects  in  our  present 
banking  system  as  shall  sustain  the  public  credit,  protect  the 
public  interests,  restore  the  currency  to  a  specie  value  and 
give  stability,  infuse  a  greater  portion  of  the  precious  metals 
into  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country,  and  restrain  the 
action  of  the  existing  banks  within  the  limits  of  prudence  and 
safety. 

"  4.  To  protect  our  political  institutions  from  the  influence  of, 
and  from  all  unnecessary  connection  with,  moneyed  institutions, 
State  or  national,  and  from  the  dangers  which  accumulations  of 
capital,  with  incorporated  banking  powers,  and  a  control  over  the 
currency  of  the  country,  must  always  present  to  the  rights  of 


564  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  MILAS  WRIGHT. 

private  property,  to  the  purity  of  our  elections  and  to  public 
liberty. 

"  When  a  concentrated  movement  of  local  banks  has  prostrated 
our  currency,  can  any  one  expect  that  the  people  will  consent  to 
shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact  ?  When  that  same  vigilant  opposition 
which,  one  year  ago,  was  taunting  us  with  a  denial  of  justice  in 
not  granting  more  banks,  is  now  charging  upon  us  the  multiplica 
tion  of  banks  to  the  ruin  of  the  business  and  credit  and  currency 
of  the  country,  can  any  one  expect  that  republicans  will  be  silent 
and  not  avow  and  defend  their  principles  ?  When  the  dangers 
to  property  and  to  liberty,  threatened  from  the  influence  of  a 
great  national  bank,  have  but  just  been  eradicated  by  the  people, 
does  any  one  expect  that  the  same  people  will  sit  tamely  by  and 
see  one  of  the  most  serious  of  those  threatened  evils  inflicted  by 
a  combination  of  banks,  without  an  expression  of  their  feelings  ? 

"  The  existence  of  an  individual  aristocracy  in  this  country  is 
rendered  impossible  by  the  abolition,  by  the  States,  of  the  laws 
of  entails  and  primogeniture,  and  nothing  but  an  aristocracy  of 
wealth,  based  upon  a  legal  corporate  existence,  can  ever  return 
that  affliction  upon  our  beloved  country.  Against  that  the  people 
must  guard  with  a  sleepless  vigilance,  equal  to  that  which  was 
exercised  by  our  fathers  in  the  achievement  of  our  freedom  ;  and 
if  the  time  shall  ever  come  when  a  political  party  shall  rise  up 
and  be  successful  in  our  country,  whose  principles  shall  be  found 
in  a  bank  charter,  or  in  the  charter  of  any  other  corporate  money 
power,  then  may  we  class  our  government  with  the  most  dangerous 
aristocracies  upon  the  earth ;  then  may  our  people  cease  to  boast 
of  their  freedom,  of  the  purity  of  their  institutions,  of  their  elec 
tive  franchise,  or  of  their  rights  of  property,  and  be  content  to 
fatten  upon  the  humble  boons  which  corporate  wealth  shall  in 
mercy  grant,  whether  those  boons  shall  be  presented  in  the  miti 
gated  form  of  an  irredeemable  paper  currency,  or  the  more  severe 
aspect  of  menial  service  in  a  manufactory  or  on  a  manor. 

"  We  must  be  distinctly  understood  in  these  remarks.  We  do 
not  intend  by  them  to  invoke  prejudice  against  the  existing 
banking  institutions.  We  have  already  said  that  their  conduct 
should  control  their  standing  in  the  public  estimation  ;  that  those 
which  present,  by  their  management,  satisfactory  evidence  of  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  565 

disposition  to  return  to  a  practical  and  faithful  discharge  of  their 
whole  duties  to  the  public  should  be  aided  by  public  confidence; 
and  that  all  should  be  sustained  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  their 
existing  legal  rights.  These  sentiments  we  cheerfully  repeat, 
and,  so  far  as  our  humble  voice  is  concerned,  we  entreat  their 
full  and  strict  observance  from  the  people  ;  and  it  is  only  in 
reference  to  a  system  of  corporate  authorities,  corporate  exemp 
tions  and  corporate  wealth,  and  to  the  existence  of  a  political 
party  in  this  country,  founded  upon  such  a  system,  whether 
denominated  State  or  national,  local  or  general,  '  credit  system,' 
or  '  American  system,'  that  we  apply  the  remarks  in  our  last 
paragraph." 


566  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER   LXIII. 

POSTPONING  THE  FOURTH  INSTALLMENT  OF  THE  DEPOSITS 
WITH  THE  STATES. 

In  the  spring  of  1837,  nearly  all  the  banks  in  the  United 
States,  as  if  by  concert,  suspended  specie  payments.  The 
deposit  banks  failed  to  keep  their  plighted  faith  toward 
the  government,  and  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  meet 
their  obligations.  The  whole  amount  in  the  treasury  on 
the  1st  day  of  January,  1837,  over  and  above  the  five 
millions  to  be  retained  there  under  the  distribution  act  of 
1836,  was  $37,468,859.97,  of  which  three  installments, 
amounting  to  $28,101,644,  had  been  paid  over  to  the  States, 
and  the  fourth,  of  $9,367,213.24,  was  soon  to  become  pay 
able.  Public  policy  forbid  this  being  done.  At  the 
special  session  of  Congress  Mr.  WEIGHT  reported  a  bill 
to  postpone  paying  over  this  installment.  This  was  taken 
up  for  consideration  on  the  14th  of  September,  1837,  and 
its  immediate  passage  strongly  urged  by  Mr.  WEIGHT, 
who  addressed  the  Senate  on  its  merits  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  it  might  become  him  to  say  a  few  words  in 
relation  to  the  bill  before  the  Senate.  His  position  in  reference 
to  this  and  other  bills,  perhaps,  required  him  to  do  so.  He 
would,  however,  confine  himself  strictly  to  the  present  subject, 
and  to  the  most  brief  justification  of  his  own  course,  arid  that  of 
the  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  who  had  concurred 
with  him  in  reporting  the  bill. 

"  Immediately  upon  the  appointment  of  the  committee,  and  the 
reference  to  it  of  the  important  subjects  treated  of  in  the  message 
of  the  President  and  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
the  committee  found  that  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  was 
very  soon  to  be  in  want  of  means  to  meet  the  current  demands 
upon  it,  without  regard  to  any  further  transfer  to  the  States. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  567 

They  also  found  that  this  fourth  installment  of  the  deposits  with 
the  States  was  to  become  payable  on  the  first  day  of  October,  and 
amounted  to  about  nine  and  one-third  millions  of  dollars. 

"  The  state  of  the  treasury,  as  developed  by  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was,  as  he  now  recollected,  and  he 
thought  he  could  not  be  materially  mistaken,  that,  at  the  time 
when  the  statement  appended  to  that  report  was  made  up,  about 
the  first  day  of  the  present  month  (he  believed  the  exact  date 
was  the  twenty-eighth  of  August),  there  was  in  the  treasury,  sub 
ject  to  draft,  available  and  unavailable,  but  eight  millions  one 
hundred  and  some  odd  thousand  dollars.  The  report  was 
printed,  and  upon  the  table  of  every  Senator,  and  would  verify 
his  correctness  in  this  particular.  This  amount  was  exclusive  of 
the  sums  already  deposited  with  the  States,  being  some  twenty- 
eight  millions. 

"  To  arrive  at  what  would  be  the  condition  of  the  treasury  on 
the  first  of  October,  the  expenses  of  the  present  month,  which, 
from  drafts  already  made  and  anticipated,  were  estimated  at 
about  two  and  a  half  millions,  must  be  deducted  from  the  eight 
millions  one  hundred  and  odd  thousands  ;  thus  leaving  in  the 
treasury,  subject  to  draft,  on  the  first  day  of  October,  less  than 
six  millions,  without  the  transfer  of  a  dollar  to  the  States  toward 
the  October  installment.  This,  too,  included  all  the  funds  in  the 
treasury  subject  to  draft  for  payments  or  transfers  to  the  States, 
whether  available  or  not,  upon  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer;  the 
funds  on  deposit  with  the  States  not  being  taken  into  the  compu 
tation. 

"  If,  then,  the  October  installment  was  to  be  transferred  to  the 
States,  all  the  means  in  the  treasury,  of  all  descriptions,  on  the 
day  when  that  installment  was  by  the  deposit  law  made  trans 
ferable,  would  not  be  equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  amount,  and 
money  must  be  borrowed,  upon  the  credit  of  the  United  States, 
to  supply  the  deficiency. 

"Another  and  stronger  view,  however,  was  presented  to  the 
committee  by  the  head  of  the  Treasury  department.  The  larg 
est  portion  of  the  funds  in  the  treasury  at  present,  and  which 
would  remain  there  on  the  first  of  October,  were  wholly  unavail 
able  upon  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer.  They  were  in  the  western 


568  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  south-western  banks  ;  and  experience  had  already  shown 
that  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  upon  these  banks  would  not 
be  received  in  payment  by  the  public  creditors.  It  was  equally 
proved  that  the  States,  other  than  those  in  which  the  banks  were 
located,  would  not  take  those  drafts  and  give  their  obligations 
for  a  repayment  of  the  amount  in  money,  in  pursuance  of  the 
provisions  of  the  deposit  law.  The  transfer  to  the  States,  there 
fore,  could  not  be  made,  even  to  the  amount  of  the  funds  in  the 
treasury  subject  to  draft,  by  reason  of  the  character  of  the  funds 
to  be  drawn  upon ;  and,  if  to  be  made,  a  loan,  to  a  much  greater 
amount  than  the  deficiency  of  those  funds  upon  paper,  would  be 
rendered  indispensable,  from  the  unavailable  condition  of  these 
funds. 

"  Still,  it  would  be  seen  by  the  Senate  that  this  disposition  of 
the  funds  in  the  treasury,  and  of  the  public  credit,  would  leave 
the  treasury  without  a  dollar  to  answer  the  current  demands 
upon  it.  The  appropriations  for  the  year  were  large,  almost 
beyond  example,  and  the  current  calls  upon  the  public  treasury 
must  be  measured  by  them.  Hence  it  had  been  an  object  of 
primary  interest  with  the  Secretary  to  devise  the  means  for  carry 
ing  on  the  government  and  fulfilling  its  obligations  to  the  public 
creditors;  and  in  reaching  that  object  he  had,  as  he,  Mr.  W.,  con 
sidered,  wisely  and  properly  suspended  his  efforts  to  make  this 
last  transfer  to  the  States.  In  pursuance  of  this  necessity,  he 
had  told  Congress,  in  his  printed  report,  that  he  should  make  no 
movements  toward  the  accomplishment  of  that  object  until  the 
action  of  Congress  should  signify  its  will  that  that  transfer  should 
still  be  made,  and  should  provide  the  means  for  making  it.  These 
facts  and  conclusions  were  fully  before  the  committee. 

"  It  then  became  necessary  for  them  to  see  what  would  be 
the  state  of  the  public  treasury,  upon  the  supposition  that  the 
October  installment  of  the  deposit  with  the  States  should  be  with 
held.  In  prosecuting  that  inquiry,  they  found  that  the  funds  in 
the  treasury,  subject  to  draft,  were  to  so  great  an  extent  unavail 
able  that  it  would  be  indispensably  necessary  to  resort  to  the  use 
of  the  credit  of  the  government,  in  some  form,  to  anticipate  the 
practical  use  of  the  unavailable  portions  of  those  funds,  for  the 
purpose  of  current  payments. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  569 

"At  this  stage  of  the  inquiry,  two  other  important  interests, 
both  public  and  private  in  their  character,  pressed  themselves 
upon  the  attention  of  the  committee.  In  any  settlement  with 
the  late  deposit  banks  which  should  have  proper  regard  to  the 
present  deranged  and  depressed  state  of  the  business  of  the 
country,  and  to  the  security  of  the  public  moneys  yet  remaining 
in  their  possession,  the  committee  were  forced  to  the  conclusion 
that  indulgence  to  these  institutions,  beyond  their  legal  liabilities, 
was  indispensable.  The  conclusions  of  the  committee  upon  this 
point  had  been  embodied  in  the  shape  of  a  bill,  which  was  now 
before  the  Senate  in  a  printed  form.  The  other  great  interest  to 
which  he  referred  was  a  similar  indulgence  upon  the  revenue 
bonds.  There,  also,  the  committee  had  reported  a  bill,  which 
was  before  the  body.  In  both  cases,  the  least  indulgence  had 
been  proposed  which  the  committee  believed  to  be  consistent 
with  the  great  private  interests  of  the  community  or  the  security 
of  the  public  property  involved.  They  had  been  induced  to 
believe  that  the  time  granted  to  the  banks  was  the  least  which 
would  enable  them  to  meet  the  payments  in  the  manner  required 
by  law,  and  that  any  dependence  upon  a  more  speedy  collection 
of  the  merchants'  bonds  would  result  in  disappointment  to  the 
public  treasury,  and  a  consequent  failure  to  pay  the  public 
creditors. 

"  It  being  assumed  that  Congress  would  agree  with  the  com 
mittee  in  these  conclusions,  and  that  these  bills  would  meet  with 
approbation,  what,  then,  would  be  the  state  of  the  treasury  with 
reference  to  a  transfer  of  the  October  installment  to  the  States  ? 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  understood  the  estimates  of  the  department 
to  be,  that  without  these  indulgences  to  the  banks  and  the  mer 
chants,  and  with  the  postponement  of  the  October  installment  of 
the  transfer  to  the  States,  the  whole  means  in  the  treasury  might 
be  adequate  to  its  wants,  in  case  Congress  should  be  willing  to 
grant  the  use  of  the  public  credit  temporarily,  that  that  portion 
of  the  funds  which  was  at  present  unavailable  might  be  brought 
into  practical  use,  until  time  should  render  them  available  for 
the  redemption  of  that  credit.  If  those  indulgences  should  be 
granted,  then  the  use  of  the  public  credit  would  be  required 
beyond  the  current  year,  because  material  portions  of  the  existing 


570  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

means,  and  of  the  otherwise  accruing  revenue,  would  be  placed 
without  the  reach  or  control  of  the  treasury  for  more  than  that 
period. 

"  Upon  these  calculations  and  hypotheses  the  bills  of  the  com 
mittee  had  been  framed,  and  it  was  now  his  duty  to  give  these 
facts  and  conclusions  practical  application  to  the  measure  under 
discussion. 

"  This  was  a  bill  to  postpone  the  October  installment  of  the 
transfer  to  the  States.  If  he  had  been  correct  in  his  statements, 
and  had  made  himself  intelligible  to  the  Senate,  it  would  be  seen 
that  nothing  existed  in  the  treasury  out  of  which  this  transfer 
could  be  made,  and  that  nothing  within  its  power  could  enable  it 
to  make  it  without  the  aid  of  Congress.  It  would  also  be  seen 
that  the  whole  means  of  the  treasury  were  inadequate  to  meet  the 
current  calls  upon  it,  without  the  temporary  aid  of  the  credit  of 
the  nation;  and  that,  if  a  reasonable  indulgence  were  granted  to 
public  debtors  (such  as  the  condition  of  the  country  and  the  secu 
rity  of  eventual  collections  seemed  to  demand),  the  use  of  that 
credit  must  extend  beyond  the  current  year,  and  could,  at  best, 
be  only  eventually  met  and  redeemed  by  the  means  of  the 
treasury,  existing  or  in  prospect,  without  a  further  transfer  to 
the  States. 

"  In  view  of  these  facts,  Mr.  W.  said  his  own  mind  had  been 
brought  to  this  simple  and  plain  conclusion :  that  the  United 
States  had  no  longer  any  moneys  to  be  safely  kept  by  the  States; 
that  if  the  October  installment  of  the  transfer,  provided  for  by 
the  deposit  law  of  1836,  was  made,  the  means  to  make  it  must  be 
borrowed  upon  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  and  that  Con 
gress  must  place  itself  in  the  singular  position  of  using  the  public 
credit  to  borrow  money,  merely  that  it  might  be  safely  kept  by 
the  States  when  it  was  obtained.  He  understood  these  provi 
sions  of  the  deposit  law,  upon  their  face,  to  be  mere  provisions 
for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  money.  He  understood  this  to 
be  the  object  of  those  who  advocated  and  supported  that  law  at 
the  time  of  its  passage.  In  that  sense  he  was  disposed  to  regard 
it  now;  and  he  did  not,  therefore,  view  it  as  creating  any  claim  in 
favor  of  the  States,  or  as  imposing  any  debt  upon  the  United 
States.  If,  therefore,  we  were  called  upon  to  borrow  money  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  571 

fulfill  the  provisions  of  that  law,  he  could  only  view  it  in  the 
light  of  a  call  upon  us  to  borrow  money,  merely  that  it  might 
be  safely  kept  when  so  borrowed.  He  had  not  felt,  and  could 
not  feel  himself  authorized  to  recommend  a  loan  upon  the  credit 
of  the  nation  for  such  a  purpose.  He  believed  he  spoke  the  sen 
timents  of  those  of  his  colleagues  upon  the  committee,  when  he 
said  that  these  were  the  views  which  had  actuated  him  and  them 
in  consenting  to  report  this  bill. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  owed  it  to  himself  to  say  that  he  had  felt  most 
sensibly  the  remarks  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts  [Mr.  Webster]  as  to  the  inconveniences  and  disappointments 
which  must  grow  out  of  withholding  the  transfer  of  this  install 
ment  to  the  States.  With  a  much  less  knowlege  of  the  varied 
business  and  pecuniary  affairs  of  our  extended  country  than  that 
distinguished  Senator,  he  had  not  been  insensible  to  these  consid 
erations.  The  course  pursued  by  his  own  State,  in  the  disposi 
tion  of  this  money,  had  compelled  him  to  be  awake  to  them. 
The  law  of  his  State  for  the  investment  of  its  portion  of  this 
money  had  placed  the  matter  even  beyond  its  control,  and  had 
compelled  its  chief  fiscal  officer,  long  since,  to  announce  to  its 
citizens  that  this  installment  would  be  paid  from  the  treasury  of 
the  State,  whatever  might  be  the  action  of  Congress  upon  the 
subject.  This  would,  beyond  doubt,  be  done;  and  those  who  sent 
him  here,  and  whom  it  was  his  duty  and  desire  faithfully  to  repre 
sent,  should  this  bill  pass,  would  be  compelled  to  indemnify,  from 
their  own  public  funds,  the  individuals  interested  as  borrowers 
of  these  moneys,  against  disappointment,  damage  or  loss,  from 
the  action  of  Congress.  Yet,  under  these  delicate  and  difficult 
circumstances,  he  had  not  been  able  to  convince  himself  that  he 
could  properly  do  otherwise  than  to  support  the  bill.  He  owed 
a  high  duty  to  those  constituents,  but  he  owed,  in  his  estimation, 
a  higher  to  the  nation  and  to  the  Constitution  of  his  country. 
He  could  not  think  that  the  power  granted  to  Congress  to  borrow 
money  upon  the  credit  of  the  United  States  could  be  properly 
exercised  for  the  mere  purpose  of  raising  money  to  be  safely 
kept;  and  this  he  must  consider  the  simple  question  presented. 
He  might  be  mistaken  in  this  view  of  the  matter;  but  such  was 
the  deliberate  conclusion  of  his  mind,  upon  the  most  mature 


572  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

reflection,  and  that  conclusion  must  govern  his  action  upon  the 
bill,  as  it  had  done  his  action  as  a  member  of  the  committee 
which  reported  it. 

"  Having  said  thus  much,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  would  only  correct 
two  or  three  errors  of  fact  into  which  the  honorable  Senator  who 
had  just  resumed  his  seat  [Mr.  Webster]  seemed  to  him  to  have 
fallen,  and  he  would  detain  the  Senate  no  longer. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  seemed  to  suppose  that  the  means  to 
make  this  transfer  to  the  States  were  in  the  treasury,  and  that  the 
only  difficulty,  separate  from  the  other  demands  upon  it,  grew  out 
of  the  present  unavailable  character  of  those  means.  The  state 
ments  he  had  already  made  had  shown  the  error  of  this  hypothe 
sis.  He  had  already  shown  that  the  whole  means  in  the  treasury, 
even  when  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  made  his  report,  at  the 
commencement  of  our  present  session,  of  whatever  character, 
whether  available  or  not,  were  less,  by  more  than  a  million  of 
dollars,  than  the  installment  required  to  be  transferred  to  the 
States  under  the  deposit  law.  He  had  further  shown  that  those 
means,  such  as  they  were,  were,  before  the  first  of  October,  when 
that  transfer  was  required  to  be  made,  to  be  still  further  dimin 
ished  by  the  whole  expenses  of  the  government  for  the  present 
month,  ascertained  and  estimated  to  amount  to  two  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars.  Hence  it  would  follow  that  the  whole  means 
in  the  treasury,  on  the  first  day  of  October  next,  must  be  from 
three  and  a  half  to  four  millions  less  than  the  transfer  required. 
It  was  in  vain,  therefore,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  escape  from  the  conclu 
sion  that,  if  Congress  should  insist  upon  this  transfer,  it  must 
authorize  a  loan  of  money  upon  the  public  credit,  to  enable  the 
treasury  to  make  it;  in  other  words,  that  it  must  authorize 
a  loan  of  money  upon  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  that 
that  money,  when  loaned,  may  be  deposited  with  the  States  for 
safe-keeping. 

"Another  error  of  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Webster],  which 
he  felt  bound  to  correct,  was  in  his  strictures  upon  the  recom 
mendations  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as  to  the  manner 
of  issuing  treasury  notes.  The  honorable  Senator  had  criticised 
this  part  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  with 
some  severity,  and  had  held  him  up  to  the  Senate  and  the  country 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  573 

as  striking  out  a  new  path  for  the  supply  of  the  treasury  ;  as 
recommending  the  issue  of  paper  money  ;  of  a  description  of 
paper  similar  to  that  which  we  know  by  the  denomination  of 
'  continental  money  ;'  and  of  doing  this  for  the  first  time  since  the 
organization  of  the  government  under  the  Constitution.  The 
fault  complained  of  consisted  in  a  recommendation,  merely  dis 
cretionary  and  alternative,  to  issue  treasury  notes  bearing  no 
interest,  and  payable  to  the  bearer,  in  the  case  the  public  credi 
tors  should  be  found  willing  to  receive  such  notes  in  payment  of 
their  demands  against  the  government,  at  par ;  otherwise  to  give 
the  notes  such  an  interest  as  would  bring  them  to  par. 

"  Mr.  W.  said,  as  the  committee,  in  the  bill  they  had  reported, 
had  not  followed  this  recommendation  of  the  Secretary,  it  would 
be  seen  that  no  question  was  depending  before  the  Senate,  either 
in  the  bill  now  under  discussion  or  in  any  other,  which  rendered 
this  point  material ;  but  he  was  sure  his  object  would  be  fully 
understood  and  appreciated  in  making  this  correction.  It  was 
simply  to  defend  this  public  officer  against  a  mistaken  accusation. 
It  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  defend,  at  this  time,  the  sound 
ness  of  the  recommendation,  but  to  protect  the  Secretary  against 
the  charge  of  being  the  author  of  a  principle  now  supposed  to 
be  so  new  and  dangerous.  To  do  this,  it  was  only  necessary  for 
him  to  read  the  third  section  of  the  act  of  the  24th  of  February, 
1815,  authorizing  an  emission  of  treasury  notes,  in  which  all  these 
dangers  would  be  found  to  be  embraced,  adopted  and  made 
imperative,  as  a  part  of  laws  of  the  land. 

"Mr.  W.  here  read  the  section  of  the  act  as  follows: 

u '  SEC.  3.  And  be  it  furflier  enacted,  That  the  said  treasury  notes  shall  be 
prepared  of  such  denominations  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  the 
approbation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  shall,  from  time  to  time, 
direct  ;  and  such  of  the  said  notes  as  shall  be  of  a  denomination  less  than 
one  hundred  dollars  shall  be  payable  to  bearer,  and  be  transferable  by  delivery 
alone,  and  shall  bear  no  interest ;  and  such  of  said  notes  as  shall  be  of  the 
denomination  of  one  hundred  dollars,  or  upwards,  may  be  made  payable  to 
order,  and  transferable  by  delivery  and  assignment,  indorsed  on  the  same, 
and  bearing  an  interest  from  the  day  on  which  they  shall  be  issued,  at  the 
rate  of  five  and  two-fifths  per  centum  per  annum ;  or  they  may  be  made 
payable  to  bearer,  and  transferable  by  delivery  alone,  and  bearing  no  interest,  as 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  the  approbation  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  shall  direct.' 


574  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  What  now,  Mr.  W.  asked,  was  the  condition  and  the  fault 
of  the  Secretary  ?  He  had  found  the  public  treasury  in  want  of 
means  to  pay  the  public  creditors.  The  exigency  had  grown  out 
of  a  reverse  in  trade  and  business,  sudden  and  universal,  and  the 
use  of  the  credit  of  the  government,  in  some  form,  seemed  to  him 
indispensable.  It  became  his  duty  to  suggest  to  Congress  the 
means  and  the  mode  of  supplying  the  treasury.  He  examined 
the  legislative  history  of  the  government  in  former  cases  of 
embarrassment  at  the  treasury,  and  found,  among  other  expe 
dients,  that  emissions  of  treasury  notes  paying  no  interest,  pay 
able  to  bearer,  transferable  by  delivery  alone,  and  without  any 
restriction  as  to  the  denomination  of  the  notes  to  be  so  issued, 
had  been  authorized.  Among  a  variety  of  plans  to  meet  the 
present  wants,  he  suggested  this,  recommending  that  no  note 
should  be  issued  for  a  less  amount  than  twenty  dollars.  Had  he 
attempted  to  introduce  any  new  principle  ?  Certainly  not.  Was 
his  conduct,  in  making  this  suggestion  in  conformity  with  the 
.  previous  practice  of  Congress  itself,  deserving  of  the  high  censure 
which  had  been  bestowed  upon  it  ?  He,  Mr.  W.,  thought  not. 

"  A  single  other  reply  to  the  honorable  Senator.  That  gentle 
man  had  supposed  the  President  most  inconsistent  and  contradic 
tory  with  himself,  in  remarking  generally,  in  his  message,  that 
he  did  not  recommend  to  Congress  measures  for  the  regulation 
of  the  general  currency  of  the  country,  or  of  the  foreign  and 
domestic  exchanges,  because  he  could  not  find  in  the  Constitu 
tion  any  power  conferred  upon  Congress  to  regulate  these  mat 
ters  ;  and  then,  in  the  same  message,  recommending  a  bankrupt 
law,  as  applicable  to  banks  and  bankers.  Where  was  the  incon 
sistency  or  contradiction  ?  The  President  had  said  he  omitted 
to  make  further  recommendations  upon  these  subjects  than  those 
found  in  the  message,  because  he  could  not  find,  and  did  not 
believe,  that  Congress  possessed  further  power  over  them ;  but 
he  did  recommend  a  bankrupt  law,  because  the  power  to  pass 
bankrupt  laws  is  conferred  upon  Congress  by  the  Constitution, 
in  express  terms.  He  did,  therefore,  recommend  a  bankrupt 
law,  which  the  Constitution  authorizes,  and  he  did  not  recom 
mend  anything  else  upon  these  points,  because  the  Constitution 
authorizes  Congress  to  do  nothing  else.  Is  this  inconsistent  ?  " 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  575 

Tliis  bill  passed  the  Senate  by  ayes  27,  nays  18,  and 
was  sent  to  the  House,  where  it  was  passed  by  a  vote  of 
119  to  117,  and,  being  signed  by  the  President  on  the 
second  of  October,  it  became  a  law.  This  installment,  in 
consequence  of  future  legislation,  has  never  been  paid 
over  to  the  States. 

A  proviso  to  this  bill  declared  "  that  the  three  first 
installments  under  the  [original]  deposit  act  shall  remain 
on  deposit  with  the  States  until  otherwise  directed  by 
Congress."  Without  this  proviso,  the  bill  would  not 
have  passed  the  House.  Congress  has  never  directed  the 
States  to  be  called  upon,  by  the  executive  or  otherwise, 
to  repay  the  money  they  received  from  the  treasury,  and 
doubtless  never  will.  The  original  act  was  an  undis 
guised  attempt  by  Congress  to  buy  up  the  States  with 
the  money  constitutionally  collected  by  the  federal  gov 
ernment  for  its  own  legitimate  support.  Calling  this  dis 
tribution  a  "deposit,"  was  adding  a  false  pretense  to  an 
unconstitutional  proceeding.  This  was  Mr.  WRIGHT'S 
opinion,  and  that  of  the  author  then  and  now,  and  both 
voted  in  conformity  with  such  opinions.  Many  of  the 
Mends  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  voted  for  it,  to  prevent  his 
being  prejudiced  by  a  measure  which  his  enemies  thought 
would  be  so  popular  as  to  sweep  him  overboard  and  defeat 
him  entirely.  Although  an  ardent  supporter  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  Mr.  WEIGHT,  without  regard  to  consequences, 
deemed  it  his  duty  to  vote  against  this  bill,  because  it 
contained  this  distribution  provision,  which  he  deemed  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution. 


576  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXIV. 

THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  TREASURY. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  for  the  first  fifty-one  years 
of  the  federal  government,  we  had  no  actual  treasury, 
although  we  had  a  Treasury  department  and  a  Treasurer. 
It  was  not  until  the  4th  of  July,  1840,  that  rooms,  with 
vaults  and  safes,  were  provided  in  the  treasury  building 
for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  moneys.  The  law  com 
monly  called  "the  sub-treasury  act,"  was  entitled  "An 
act  for  the  collection,  safe-keeping,  transfer  and  disburse 
ment  of  the  public  moneys,"  lived  but  one  year  and  nine 
days,  wlien  it  fell  a  victim  of  partisan  legislation  in  Pre 
sident  Tyler' s  time,  with  the  expectation  that  a  new  Bank 
of  the  United  States  would  take  its  place.  But  in  this 
those  who  repealed  this  act  were  disappointed  ;  Mr.  Tyler 
killing  the  then  pending  bill,  chartering  a  bank,  with  a 
veto.  Prior  to  1840,  the  revenues  of  the  government  had 
been  almost  exclusively  intrusted  to  banks,  through 
which  they  were  disbursed.  The  failure  to  redeem  their 
bills  by  every  one  of  the  selected  deposit  banks,  in  1837, 
rendered  it  the  imperative  duty  of  Congress  to  provide, 
through  the  officers  of  the  government,  for  the  collection, 
safe-keeping  and  disbursement  of  the  public  moneys. 
The  public  mind  was  turned  in  this  direction  and  em 
ployed  in  devising  the  best  and  safest  means  of  accom 
plishing  this  object.  Numerous  plans  were  devised, 
many  of  which  were  made  public,  all  of  which  were  more 
or  less  defective.  Mr.  WRIGHT,  then  distinguished  for 
his  clear  perceptions  and  practical  knowledge  on  such 
subjects,  elaborated  a  plan  to  accomplish  this  immensely 
important  subject.  His  views  were  fully  communicated 


LIFE  AND  TJMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  577 

to  President  Van  Buren,  whose  message  at  the  special 
session,  September  4,  1837,  contained  the  following  sug 
gestions  on  this  subject.  Referring  to  the  condition  of 
the  banks  and  the  prostration  of  credit  and  the  mode  of 
keeping  the  public  money,  he  said  : 

"  The  present  and  visible  effect  of  these  circumstances  on  the 
operations  of  the  government,  and  on  the  industry  of  the  people, 
point  out  the  objects  which  call  for  your  immediate  attention. 

"  They  are,  to  regulate  by  law  the  safe-keeping,  transfer  and 
disbursement  of  the  public  moneys;  to  designate  the  funds  to  be 
received  and  paid  by  the  government,  to  enable  the  treasury  to 
meet  promptly  every  demand  upon  it;  to  prescribe  the  terms  of 
indulgence,  and  the  mode  of  settlement  to  be  adopted,  as  well 
in  collecting  from  individuals  the  revenue  that  has  accrued,  as 
in  withdrawing  it  from  former  depositories;  and  to  devise  and 
adopt  such  future  measures,  within  the  constitutional  compe 
tency,  of  Congress,  as  will  be  best  calculated  to  revive  the  enter 
prise  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  country. 

"For  the  deposit,  transfer  and  disbursement  of  the  revenue, 
national  and  State  banks  have  always,  with  temporary  and  lim 
ited  exceptions,  been  heretofore  employed;  but,  although  advo 
cates  of  each  system  are  still  to  be  found,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
events  of  the  last  few  months  have  greatly  augmented  the  desire, 
long  existing  among  the  people  of  the  United  States,  to  separate 
the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  srovernment  from  those  of  individuals 

O 

and  corporations." 

At  that  time  Mr.  WEIGHT  was  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Finance  of  the  Senate,  and  prepared  and 
reported  a  bill  to  carry  out  the  views  presented  by  the 
President  in  his  message.  As  reported,  it  authorized 
the  receiving  and  paying  out  of  bills  of  specie-paying 
banks,  to  which  Mr.  Calhoun  objected ;  and,  at  his 
instance,  Mr.  WEIGHT  assented  to  striking  out  this  pro 
vision.  The  bill  was  fully  and  ably  debated.  On  the  2d 
of  October,  1837,  Mr.  WEIGHT  addressed  the  Senate  as 
follows : 

37 


578  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said,  but  for  his  situation  upon  the  committee, 
which  reported  the  bill  upon  the  table,  he  should  not  only  not 
feel  it  to  be  his  duty,  but  he  should  not  even  feel  excused,  for 
occupying  the  attention  of  the  Senate  at  this  time,  and  adding  to 
this  already  full  debate.  Indeed,  so  extensively  had  all  the  import 
ant  points  presented  by  the  various  propositions  been  referred 
to,  and  ably  debated,  by  those  who  had  preceded  him,  that  he 
should  feel  justified  in  preserving  silence,  had  not  certain  charges 
been  made  against  the  committee,  touching  the  discharge  of  their 
duties,  which  he  felt  himself  compelled  to  notice.  He  did  not 
use  the  term  i  charges '  in  any  offensive  or  improper  sense,  but  as 
expressing  strong  differences  of  opinion  between  himself  and 
those  who  had  complained. 

"The  reference  of  this  and  all  the  other  important  subjects 
which  had  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Senate  during  its  pres 
ent  session  to  a  single  committee,  though  strictly  appropriate, 
had  necessarily  devolved  upon  the  members  of  that  committee 
some  labor,  great  anxiety,  and  high  and  delicate  responsibilities. 
It  was  impossible,  therefore,  that  any  one  of  them,  and  most  espe 
cially  any  one  of  the  majority  of  the  committee,  who  had  con 
curred  in  its  reports,  could  have  listened  to  this  debate  with  any 
other  than  the  most  interested  feelings;  nor  could  they  pass,  in 
silence,  charges  of  insensibility  to  the  crisis,  and  its  influence 
upon  all  the  citizens  of  the  country,  or  of  a  culpable  neglect  of 
any  important  duty  confided  to  them.  What  then  were  the 
charges  to  which  he  had  referred  ? 

"  The  first  was,  that  the  committee  had  confined  their  delibe 
rations,  and  the  measures  they  had  proposed,  simply  to  the  wants 
of  the  government,  in  disregard  of  the  higher  and  paramount 
wants  of  the  people.  It  had  been  said  that  the  great  and  import 
ant  purpose  of  this  extra  convention  of  Congress  was  to  relieve 
the  people,  and  that  the  wants  of  the  government  were  secondary 
and  unimportant  in  the  comparison.  He  did  not  himself  under 
stand  this  new  doctrine  of  a  separation  of  interests  between  the 
government  and  the  people.  He  had  supposed  that  the  wants  of 
the  people,  which  it  was  within  the  constitutional  power  of  the 
government  to  relieve,  were,  of  necessity,  the  wants  of  the  gov 
ernment  itself;  nor  could  he  understand  how  it  was  possible  that 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  579 

the  government  could  have  any  want,  which  was  not  a  want  of 
the  people.  The  public  treasury  wants  money.  Is  that  a  want 
of  the  government  and  not  a  want  of  the  people  ?  For  what  is 
the  money  wanted  ?  To  carry  out  the  dearest  interest  of  the 
people,  in  all  the  objects  of  a  good  government,  of  a  government 
of  their  own  choice.  Why  is  the  want  of  money  for  the  public 
treasury  a  want  of  the  government  ?  Simply  because  it  is  a 
want  of  the  people,  inasmuch  as,  without  it,  their  government 
cannot  be  carried  on. 

"  He  would  examine,  for  a  moment,  the  measures  which  the 
committee  had  reported  to  the  Senate,  that,  in  that  way,  it  might 
be  seen  what  was  their  tendency  and  effect,  and  how  far  the  com 
mittee  had  been  derelict  in  their  attention  to  the  wants  of  the 
citizens  generally,  or  in  proposing  such  measures  of  relief  as  the 
government  could  properly  adopt.  He  certainly  did  not  intend 
to  discuss  now  measures  which  had  passed  the  Senate  and  gone  to 
the  House  many  days  since,  but  he  trusted  a  reference  to  these 
measures,  for  the  purpose  he  had  avowed,  would  be  not  only 
pardonable,  but  proper. 

"  The  first  was  the  bill  to  postpone  the  transfer  of  the  fourth 
installment  of  the  deposit  with  the  States.  The  committee  found 
that  the  existing  law  made  it  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  to  make 
this  transfer  to  the  States,  of  about  nine  and  one-third  millions 
of  dollars,  on  the  first  day  of  the  present  month, —  on  yesterday. 
They  found  that  the  means  in  the  treasury,  from  which  alone  it 
could  be  made,  were  in  the  late  deposit  banks,  and  in  the  deferred 
and  unpaid  merchants'  bonds  for  duties.  If  the  transfer  must  be 
made,  the  banks  and  the  merchants  must  be  called  upon  for 
immediate  payments,  to  enable  the  treasury  to  make  it.  Conse 
quently,  the  customers  of  the  banks,  and  of  the  merchants,  must 
be  called  upon  to  pay  them,  that  they  might  be  able  to  pay  the 
government.  The  committee  supposed  it  impolitic  to  make  the 
call,  and  oppress  the  debtor  citizens,  merely  that  the  treasury 
might  obtain  the  money  to  transfer  for  safe-keeping.  They  con 
sidered  it  wiser  and  better  to  postpone  the  transfer,  and  give  time 
to  the  banks  and  merchants  to  pay.  Therefore  they  presented 
the  bill  in  question  ;  and  was  it  not  a  relief  bill  ?  Did  any  one 
look  on  it  as  a  relief  to  the  banks  and  merchants  only  ?  Did  any 


580  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

one  suppose  that  the  banks  actually  had  in  their  possession,  locked 
up  in  their  vaults,  the  money  they  owe  to  the  government,  or 
that  the  merchants  were  in  funds  to  pay  their  deferred  bonds, 
without  a  call  upon  their  customers  ?  On  the  contrary,  did  not 
all  know  that  the  banks  had  loaned  these  moneys  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  their  banking  operations,  and  that  they  could  not  pay 
without  collecting  in  these  loans  at  this  difficult  period  for  bor 
rowers  to  pay?  Did  not  all  know  that  the  inability  of  the 
importing  merchants  to  pay  proceeded  from  the  inability  of  their 
customers  to  pay,  and  that,  if  pressed  for  payment  by  the  govern 
ment,  they  must  press  those  customers?  And  who  are  the  cus 
tomers  of  the  banks  and  the  merchants  ?  Are  they  not  the 
people,  and  the  whole  people  ?  Would  any  one  say,  then,  that 
this  was  not  a  relief  bill  ?  that  this  was  a  bill  for  the  govern 
ment,  and  not  for  the  people  ? 

"  The  second  bill  reported  by  the  committee  was  to  authorize 
the  emission  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  in  value  of  treasury  notes; 
in  this  form  to  borrow  upon  the  credit  of  the  United  States  the 
sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  in  money — and  for  what?  To 
enable  the  treasury  to  get  on,  and  grant  time  to  the  debtor  banks 
and  merchants.  The  committee  found  the  treasury  in  want  of 
means  to  answer  the  ordinary  calls  upon  it,  and  that  those  means 
must  be  realized,  either  from  a  prompt  collection  of  the  demands 
due  to  it,  or  from  moneys  raised  upon  the  public  credit.  For  the 
reasons  which  induced  them  to  recommend  a  postponement  of  the 
further  deposit  with  the  States,  they  were  also  induced  to  present 
this  bill  to  the  Senate,  and  thus,  so  far  as  the  current  calls  upon 
the  treasury  should  require  it,  to  interpose  the  public  credit 
between  the  wants  of  the  government  and  the  rigid  collection 
of  its  dues.  Was  this  bill  to  be  considered  in  the  mere  light  of 
a  care  for  the  government,  without  regard  for  the  interests  of  the 
citizens  ?  Who  were  to  be  affected  by  a  prompt  and  rigid  collec 
tion  of  the  public  dues  ?  Not  the  government  or  the  treasury, 
but  the  public  debtors.  Who  were  the  public  debtors?  The 
banks  and  the  merchants  immediately  ;  the  borrowers  from  the 
banks  and  the  customers  of  the  merchants  substantially.  And 
who  were  the  borrowers  from  the  banks  and  the  customers  of  the 
merchants  but  the  people  of  the  country  ? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  581 

"The  third  bill  reported  by  the  committee  was  to  grant  time 
to  the  importing  merchants  upon  their  bonds,  due  and  to  become- 
due,  for  a  year  from  the  present  time.  The  extension,  as  assented 
to  by  the  committee  and  ordered  by  the  Senate,  was  nine  months 
upon  each  bond.  Would  any  one  question  that  that  was  a  relief 
measure  to  the  merchants  ?  Did  any  one  suppose  that  the  relief 
afforded  by  that  bill  was  designed  to  reach  no  farther  than  the 
merchants  who  owed  the  bonds  ?  No,  sir.  It  was  the  customerc 
of  those  merchants,  the  persons  who  had  purchased  for  consump 
tion  and  use  the  goods  upon  which  the  duties  were  payable,  that 
the  bill  was  to  relieve.  Few,  comparatively,  of  those  who  occupy 
these  seats  would  have  voted  for  that  measure  had  its  influence 
and  action  been  confined  to  the  merchants  only.  But  they  could 
not  indulge  their  debtors  unless  they  could  be  indulged  by  the 
government,  because  they  must  collect  if  they  must  pay.  To 
enable  them  to  grant  the  indulgence  which  the  state  of  the  times 
and  the  condition  of  the  monetary  aifairs  of  the  country  demanded, 
was  the  design  and  object,  and  would  be  the  effect,  of  the  bill. 
Who,  then,  would  deny  to  it  its  relief  character  ? 

"  The  fourth  bill  which  the  committee  presented  for  the  accept 
ance  of  the  Senate  was  one  to  extend  a  proportionate  indulgence 
to  the  late  deposit  banks  for  the  payment  of  the  balances  remain 
ing  due  from  them  to  the  public  treasury.  It  was  true  that  these 
institutions  stood  upon  a  different  footing  from  the  merchants. 
They  had  merely  received  the  public  moneys  for  safe-keeping. 
The  moneys  were  legally  and  technically  in  the  treasury,  but 
were  they  there  in  fact  ?  Could  the  Treasurer  command  them 
for  the  uses  of  the  government  or  the  people  ?  No.  They  were 
unavailable  funds  in  the  treasury.  And  why  were  they  unavail 
able  funds?  Because  the  banks  had  got  them  locked  in  their 
vaults,  and  were  not  willing  to  pay  them  upon  demand?  No, 
sir  ;  but  because  the  banks  had  them  not  ;  because  they  were 
loaned  to  the  customers  of  the  banks,  the  citizens  of  the  country, 
who  could  not  pay  on  demand.  The  relation  of  debtor  and  credi 
tor,  in  its  ordinary  acceptation,  was  not  intended  to  be  created 
by  the  law  establishing  the  late  bank-deposit  system.  It  was  a 
mere  agency  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  money,  which  the  law 
recognized,  but  that  agency  had  been  turned  into  the  relation  of 


582  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

debtor  and  creditor  by  the  failure  of  the  banks  to  fulfill  on  their 
part  —  into  the  most  unpleasant  relation  of  debtor  and  creditor; 
a  creditor  who  wants  and  debtors  who  cannot  pay.  Indulgence, 
therefore,  became  a  matter  of  interest  to  the  creditor,  as  adding 
to  the  chances  of  eventual  payment,  and  of  favor  to  the  debtors, 
as  giving  them  time  to  collect  the  means  for  payment.  To  whom, 
then,  was  the  favor,  the  relief,  extended  ?  To  the  banks  or  to 
their  customers  ?  Most  assuredly  to  the  latter.  The  banks  could 
pay  if  they  could  collect ;  and,  if  compelled  to  pay,  they  would 
be  compelled  to  collect.  Their  power  to  indulge  depended  upon 
the  indulgence  extended  to  them  ;  and  could  it  be  said  that  a 
measure  giving  to  them  four,  six  and  nine  months,  to  pay  their 
balances  to  the  treasury,  was  a  measure  solely  confined  to  the 
protection  of  the  government,  without  regard  to  the  relief  of  the 
people  ? 

"These  were  the  first  four  bills  presented  by  the  committee  to 
the  Senate,  and  yet  they  were  told  that  they  had  forgotten  the 
suffering  interests  of  our  great  community  in  their  exclusive  care 
for  the  government  and  its  officers.  Was  the  charge  just  or 
merited  ?  These  bills  had  all  received  the  final  action  of  the 
Senate,  and  all,  save  one,  had  passed  this  body  by  nearly  unani 
mous  votes,  while  that  one  had  passed  by  a  large  majority.  It 
was  true  that  the  connection  between  them  was  intimate,  and 
that,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  each  subsequent  one  was  predi 
cated  upon  the  success  of  its  predecessor,  while  all  were  most 
intimately  connected  with  the  condition  and  action  of  the  public 
treasury. 

"  Indeed,  it  was  but  candid  to  say  that  the  committee  knew  of 
no  direct  relief  which  Congress  could  properly  afford  to  the  dis 
tresses  of  the  people  of  the  country,  but  such  as  should  grow  out 
of  the  existing  connection  between  the  means  of  the  treasury 
and  the  banking  and  mercantile  interests.  These  bills  covered 
all  that  ground,  and  no  difference  of  opinion  could  possibly  exist 
as  to  them,  unless  it  should  arise  upon  the  principle  of  indulgence 
or  the  time  of  indulgence.  No  such  difference  had  been  mani 
fested  in  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  the  respective  measures, 
and  therefore  it  was  right  to  assume  that  none  existed.  Some 
had  supposed  that  it  was  the  duty  of  Congress  to  borrow  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  583 

nine  and  one-third  millions  covered  by  the  first  bill,  that  it  might 
be  transferred  to  the  States  for  safe-keeping;  and  propositions 
having  that  tendency  had  been  presented  to  and  acted  upon  by 
the  Senate,  but  they  did  not  meet  with  favor.  The  body  did  not 
seem  to  suppose  that  such  a  disposition  of  the  public  credit 
would  be  a  measure  of  relief  either  to  the  government  or  the 
people,  and  it  was  rejected. 

"Take,  then,  the  four  measures  referred  to,  sum  them  up  in 
their  combined  action,  and  to  what  do  they  amount  as  relief  to 
the  community  ?  The  first  is  equal  to  a  forbearance  to  collect 
nine  and  one-third  millions  of  dollars  from  the  customers  of  the 
banks  and  the  merchants,  to  be  transferred  to  the  States  for  safe 
keeping.  The  three  last  authorize  a  loan  upon  the  public  credit, 
to  the  amount  of  ten  millions  of  dollars,  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
the  government  and  meet  the  public  appropriations,  and  a  for 
bearance  of  the  collection  of  that  sum  from  the  public  debtors, 
that  they  too  may  be  able  to  forbear  collections,  at  this  trying 
period,  from  those  who  are  indebted  to  them.  Here,  then,  is 
direct  and  positive  relief  to  the  amount  of  nineteen  and  one-third 
millions  of  dollars.  Might  he  not,  then,  ask,  with  some  force 
and  some  justice,  whether  the  committee  were  obnoxious  to  the 
charge  of  having  forgotten  the  interests  of  the  people  in  their 
care  for  the  government  ?  He  would  here  dismiss  this  topic. 

"  The  next  and  only  remaining  charge  against  the  committee 
which  he  proposed  to  notice  was,  that  in  their  action  they  had 
entirely  overlooked,  or  wholly  neglected  to  act  upon,  one  of  the 
most,  nay,  the  very  most,  important  of  the  subjects  presented 
for  their  action  in  the  message  of  the  President  referred  to  them; 
that  they  had  reported  no  bill  declaring  the  description  of  cur 
rency  which  should  be  receivable  in  payment  of  the  public  dues. 
He  did  not  refer  to  this  complaint  against  the  action  of  the 
committee  for  the  purpose  of  representing  it  as  unjust  or  ungene 
rous;  not  even  for  the  purpose  of  refuting  it.  It  had  come  from 
opposite  sides  of  the  House,  and  it  might  be  well  founded.  The 
fact  was  certainly  as  alleged;  and  his  only  purpose  was  to  give 
the  reasons  which  governed  himself,  and  which,  he  was  certain, 
governed  the  majority  of  the  committee,  in  the  conclusion  to 
report  no  bill  upon  the-  subject  of  the  currency  to  be  received 


584  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

into  the  public  treasury.  Those  reasons  had  been  and  still  were 
satisfactory  to  himself,  as,  he  doubted  not,  they  were  to  his  col 
leagues  upon  the  committee;  but  the  course  of  action  of  the 
Senate  upon  this  bill  seemed  to  indicate,  and  its  final  action 
would  probably  show,  that  they  were  not  satisfactory  to  the 
majority  of  the  body.  Should  this  be  so,  the  committee  would 
be  content  when  their  reasons  had  been  placed  fairly  before  the 
Senate  and  the  country. 

"  They  found  the  message  presenting,  among  others,  two  dis 
tinct  points,  both,  in  the  judgment  of  the  committee,  most 
deeply  interesting  to  the  public  treasury,  the  government  and 
the  country.  The  first  was  a  continuance  of  the  separation 
between  the  moneys  of  the  people  and  the  State  banks,  which 
the  operation  of  the  existing  laws  and  the  conduct  of  the  banks 
had  already  produced.  The  other  was  a  gradual  and  safe  dis 
continuance  of  the  reception  of  the  bills  of  the  State  banks  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues,  and  an  eventual  return  to  the  col 
lection  of  gold  and  silver  and  such  paper  as  should  be  issued 
upon  the  faith  and  'credit  of  the  United  States,  and  be,  by 
the  laws  of  Congress,  made  receivable  for  debts  due  to  the 
United  States.  The  laws  as  they  are,  upon  the  subject  of  the 
deposit  and  safe-keeping  of  the  public  moneys,  seemed  to  the 
committee  to  require  immediate  action,  if  the  recommendation  of 
the  President  was  to  be  carried  out  and  made  a  part  of  our  per 
manent  policy.  Hence  they  reported  to  the  Senate  the  bill  now 
under  discussion.  They  were  not  unmindful  that  some  regula 
tion  as  to  the  descriptions  of  currency  to  be  received  in  payment 
of  the  public  dues  might  become  necessary,  in  case  the  new  sys 
tem  of  deposits  should  be  adopted  and  the  present  condition  of 
the  banks  should  be  changed  ;  but  in  the  present  condition  of  the 
banks  and  of  the  law  upon  this  point,  they  could  see  no  necessity 
for  immediate  action,  or  for  any  present  change  of  the  existing 
laws.  They  felt  that  the  two  subjects  were  somewhat  connected, 
but  not  so  intimately  as  to  require  or  demand  that  both  should 
be  embraced  in  the  same  bill.  They  knew  that  great  diversity 
of  sentiment  prevailed  as  to  both,  and  that  different  opinions 
were  held  by  those  who  had  hitherto  been  friends  and  supporters 
of  the  administration,  as  well  as  between  them  and  their  common 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  585 

political  opponents.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  with  the 
distinct  expression  of  a  desire,  on  the  part  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  Senate,  that  the  present  session  should  be  terminated  at  the 
earliest  possible  day,  the  committee  felt  bound  to  present  every 
subject  from  their  hands  in  the  most  simple  and  distinct  form, 
and  in  a  shape  which  might  receive  the  definitive  action  of  the 
body  with  the  least  possible  consumption  of  time.  With  this 
view  they  reported  separate  bills  upon  every  subject  upon  which 
they  did  report,  and  the  same  consideration  influenced  them  to  omit 
reports  upon  all  subjects  which  they  supposed  might  be  deferred 
to  the  regular  annual  session,  without  injury  to  any  important 
interest,  public  or  private.  By  the  law,  as  it  stands,  the  notes  of 
non-specie-paying  banks  can  neither  be  received  in  payment  of  the 
public  dues  nor  paid  to  the  public  creditors.  He  was  sorry  to  be 
compelled  to  say  that,  for  all  practical  purposes  either  to  the  gov 
ernment  or  the  people,  there  were,  at  this  time,  no  other  banks  in 
the  country,  and  he  was  much  more  sorry  to  be  compelled  to 
believe  that  there  would  not,  in  a  practical  sense,  be  any  such 
banks  until  after  the  time  when  Congress  would, be  again  in  ses 
sion.  No  one  had  proposed,  and  he  was  happy  to  know  that  no 
one  would  propose,  to  make  the  inconvertible  notes  of  non-specie- 
paying  banks  receivable  at  the  public  treasury,  and  surely  no  one 
could  have  expected  such  a  proposition  from  the  committee.  The 
revenues,  then,  to  every  practicable  extent,  are  now  receivable  in 
gold  and  silver  only,  unless  Congress  shall,  at  its  present  session, 
create  a  paper  upon  the  faith  and  credit  of  the  government,  and 
make  it  receivable  for  the  public  dues.  Hence  the  absence  of 
any  immediate  necessity  for  legislation  upon  this  point.  The 
committee  further  believed,  what  has  already  been  proved  to  be 
true,  that  any  bill  upon  this  subject  would  lead  to  long  and  grave 
discussion, .and  tend  to  protract  the  session.  For  these  reasons 
they  had  omitted  to  report  upon  this  subject,  and  he  had  as  yet 
seen  nothing  to  change  his  opinion  of  the  wisdom  of  their  course. 
He  still  believed  that  the  connection  of  these  two  subjects  in  the 
same  bill  was  undesirable ;  that  it  would  retard  action,  and,  he 
greatly  feared,  embarrass  the  bill  which  the  committee  had 
reported,  and  the  passage  of  which  they  considered  to  be  of  high 
public  importance.  The  matter,  however,  was  now  with  the 


586  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Senate,  and  he  should  cheerfully  submit  to  its  choice.  If  called 
upon  to  vote  upon  the  propositions  before  it,  he  was  ready  to 
vote,  whether  they  should  be  insisted  upon  as  amendments  to 
the  committee's  bill  or  as  an  independent  measure. 

"  Having  said  thus  much  by  way  of  explanation,  and  he  hoped, 
to  some  extent,  justification,  of  the  course  and  action  of  the  com 
mittee,  he  would  now  pass  to  a  brief  discussion  of  the  bill  before 
the  Senate. 

"  The  crisis,  he  said,  was  one  of  the  deepest  interest.  Every 
man  in  these  seats,  every  citizen  of  the  country,  felt  it  to 
be  so.  Still,  its  peculiar  character  could  not  be  too  often 
adverted  to,  or  too  firmly  fixed  in  the  memory  of  all.  Dur 
ing  a  period  of  profound  peace;  after  a  series  of  years  of 
unexampled  abundance  in  every  production  of  the  earth,  and 
every  product  of  labor;  with  a  currency  more  abundant  than 
our  young  country  had  ever  before  witnessed,  and  standing  as 
strong  in  the  public  confidence  as  our  paper  currency  had  ever 
stood;  with  ready  markets,  and  prices  higher  than  any  former 
period  of  peace  had  sustained ;  under  the  influence  of  all  these 
elements  and  evidences  of  prosperity  and  wealth,  national  ana 
individual,  and  at  the  entrance  upon  another  of  those  rich  and 
fruitful  seasons  with  which  a  kind  Providence  so  frequently 
blesses  our  fertile  soil  — a  season  not  surpassed  by  any  which  has 
preceded  it  in  the  abundance  it  has  returned  to  the  husbandman 
for  his  labor  —  at  such  a  time,  and  under  such  circumstances,  the 
revulsion  came,  and  in  an  instant,  as  it  were,  in  a  single  night, 
the  whole  beauty  of  this  rich  scene  was  changed.  That  currency, 
so  abundant  and  creditable,  became  depreciated,  inconvertible 
and  debased.  Those  markets,  so  quick  and  active,  and  profitable, 
became  stagnant  and  deserted.  Those  prices,  so  alluring  to 
enterprise  and  industry,  were  changed  to  a  priceless  mass  of 
unsalable  commodities. 

"  That  all  should  have  inquired  after  the  causes  of  this  sad  and 
sudden  change  was  most  natural.  That  statesmen  should  have 
done  so  was  necessary  to  the  discharge  of  their  delicate  and 
responsible  duties.  The  President  of  the  United  States,  to 
qualify  himself  for  the  performance  of  his  constitutional  duty  of 
giving  to  Congress  '  information  of  the  state  of  the  Union,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  587 

recommending  to  their  consideration  such  measures  as  he  shall 
judge  necessary  and  expedient,'  has  done  this.  In  his  message, 
he  has  given  to  us  his  opinion  of  the  causes  which  have  brought 
upon  our  country  this  sudden  and  sweeping  revulsion.  It  was 
not  his  purpose  to  examine  the  correctness  of  these  opinions  of 
the  President.  No  one  had  expressed  a  doubt  that  they  wei\- 
honestly  entertained,  and  all  admitted  that  they  had  been  clearly, 
frankly  and  firmly  expressed.  They  had  been  the  subject  of 
able  and  extended  criticism  in  the  course  of  this  debate,  and  he 
thought,  also,  the  subject  of  equally  able  and  perfectly  triumphant 
defense.  Entertaining  this  opinion,  he  had  but  a  single  remark 
to  make  in  regard  to  them,  and  that  was,  that  he  had  heard  criti 
cism  and  contradiction  from  some  quarters  of  the  House  delivered 
in  a  manner  and  in  language  which  excited  his  profound  regret  — 
in  a  manner  and  in  language  which  he  would  not,  if  he  could 
(and  he  was  most  thankful  he  could  not),  imitate,  toward  friend 
or  opponent. 

"  He  had  listened  to  the  debate,  however,  with  profound  atten 
tion;  and  while  all  had  their  peculiar  views  of  the  causes  of  the 
present  derangement  in  our  monetary  affairs,  and  while  the  views 
of  the  different  speakers  differed  materially  as  to  the  immediate 
and  most  active  causes,  he  thought  there  were  certain  general 
positions  substantially  conceded  by  all,  which,  being  drawn  out 
and  placed  in  their  proper  order,  would  advance  us  very  far  in 
the  wide  field  of  discussion  presented  and  occupied  by  the  vari 
ous  members.  He  had  endeavored,  therefore,  to  place  these  posi 
tions  upon  paper,  and  to  give  them  an  order  best  calculated  to 
promote  this  object.  They  were  as  follows: 

"  1.  That  wide-spread  and  highly  injurious  derangements  have 
been  and  are  experienced  in  the  banking  concerns  and  in  most 
of  the  business  transactions  of  the  country. 

"  2.  That  the  present  embarrassments  in  the  affairs  of  indi 
viduals  are,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  caused  or  greatly 
increased  by  the  existing  embarrassments  in  the  affairs  of  the 
banks. 

"  3.  That  an  undue  multiplication  of  banks  by  many  of  the 
State  Legislatures,  and  excessive  issues  of  paper  money  by  the 
State  banks,  are  among  the  most  prominent  of  the  causes  which 


588  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

have  brought  about  these  embarrassments  of  the  banks,  and  con 
sequently  of  business  generally. 

"4.  That  a  material  enlargement  of  the  specie  basis  for  our 
paper  circulation  is  indispensable  to  the  security  of  the  banks 
and  the  stability  of  the  paper  currency. 

"  5.  That  all  banks  of  issue  and  circulation  are  liable  to  excesses, 
and  that  the  State  banks,  from  their  distant  locations,  rival  inter 
ests,  and  the  variety  and  diversity  of  their  business  and  associ 
ations,  are  peculiarly  so  liable,  which  renders  it  desirable  and 
important  that  the  fiscal  action  of  this  government  should  never 
be  so  directed  as  to  promote  these  excesses,  while,  so  far  as  that 
can  be  safely  and  constitutionally  done,  it  should  be  so  directed 
as  to  have  an  equal  tendency,  in  all  parts  of  our  extended  con 
federacy,  to  check  them. 

"  6.  That  the  powers  of  Congress,  to  prevent  the  evil  of  exces 
sive  banking  by  the  State  institutions,  are,  in  no  sense,  direct  and 
positive,  but  are,  in  whatever  form  they  may  be  exercised,  inci 
dental  and  consequential,  growing  out  of  the  expressly  granted 
powers. 

"  So  far  he  thought  all  could  agree  and  walk  together  in  this 
trying  crisis.  He  was  not  aware  that  any  one  would  controvert 
either  of  these  positions,  while  he  was  sure  that  most  of  those 
who  had  addressed  the  Senate,  in  the  course  of  this  debate,  upon 
whatever  side  of  the  House,  had  substantially  assumed  them. 

"  The  difference  seemed  to  arise  as  we  passed  the  last  proposi 
tion,  and  came  to  inquire  how  this  incidental  power  of  Congress 
should  be  exercised.  The  late  catastrophe  to  the  banks  and  busi 
ness  of  the  country  had  satisfied  all  that  something  was  wrong 
in  the  working  of  our  monetary  system,  but  the  seat  of  the  dis 
ease,  and  the  appropriate  remedy,  were  questions  upon  which 
opinions  differed. 

"  The  President  was  bound,  in  recommending  to  the  considera 
tion  of  Congress  such  measures  as  he  judged  necessary  and 
expedient,  to  point  out  his  view  of  the  evil,  so  far  as  he  should 
consider  it  connected  with  and  remedial  by  federal  legislation, 
and  to  present  his  plan  of  remedy.  He  has  done  so  frankly  and 
fully;  and  as  the  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  have 
agreed  with  him,  and  have  reported  the  bill  under  consideration 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  589 

to  carry  out  his  recommendation  upon  this  point,  it  would  be  his 
duty,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  examine  that  bill  in  its  favorable  and 
unfavorable  influences  upon  the  treasury,  upon  the  government, 
upon  the  banks  and  upon  the  currency  generally.  The  safe-keep 
ing  of  the  public  moneys  became  separated  from  the  State  banks, 
in  May  last,  by  the  voluntary  suspension  of  specie  payments  by 
the  banks,  and  the  operation  of  the  existing  laws  upon  that  act, 
and  the  bill  proposes  to  continue  the  separation. 

"  Before  he  could  proceed  with  his  argument,  he  must  here 
notice  a  position  taken  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  who 
addressed  the  Senate  yesterday  [Mr.  Preston],  and  which  position, 
he  must  say,  he  heard  assumed  with  some  surprise.  It  was,  that 
the  existing  law  had  not  produced  a  separation  between  the  pub 
lic  treasury  and  the  State  banks ;  that  they  were  not  legally 
separated,  and  that  the  only  separation  which  did  exist  was  one 
forced  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  without  the  requirement 
of  law  and  against  the  public  interests.  If  he  correctly  under 
stood  the  Senator,  this  was  a  fair  statement  of  his  argument  ; 
and  he  would  repeat,  he  had  heard  it  with  surprise.  The  answer 
to  it  should  be  an  extract  from  the  law  itself;  and  it  would  be 
found  a  triumphant  answer.  That  part  of  the  eighth  section  of 
the  deposit  act  of  the  23d  of  June,  1836,  which  prescribed  the 
rule  for  the  action  of  the  Secretary  upon  this  subject,  was  in  the 
following  words : 

" '  SEC.  8.  And  be  itfurtlier  enacted,  That  no  bank  which  shall  be  selected 
or  employed  as  the  place  of  deposit  of  the  public  money  shall  be  discon 
tinued  as  such  depository,  or  the  public  money  withdrawn  therefrom,  except 
for  the  causes  hereinafter  mentioned  ;  that  is  to  say,  if  at  any  time  any  one 
of  said  banks  shall  fail  or  refuse  to  perform  any  of  said  duties  as  prescribed 
by  this  act,  and  stipulated  to  be  performed  by  its  contract  ;  or  if  any  of  said 
banks  shall  at  any  time  refuse  to  pay  its  own  notes  in  specie,  if  demanded;  or 
shall  fail  to  keep  in  its  vaults  such  an  amount  of  specie  as  shall  be  required 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  shall  be,  in  his  opinion,  necessary  to 
render  the  said  bank  a  safe  depository  of  the  public  moneys,  having  due 
regard  to  the  nature  of  the  business  transacted  by  the  bank  ;  in  any  and 
evei^y  such  case  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  tlie  Treasury  to  discontinue 
any  such  bank  as  a  depository,  and  withdraw  from  it  the  public  moneys  which  it 
may  hold  on  deposit  at  the  time  of  such  discontinuance? 

"  This  was  the  law.  What  had  the  Secretary  done  ?  He  had 
discontinued  the  defaulting  banks  as  public  depositories.  Had 


590  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

he  obeyed  the  law  in  doing  this,  or  had  he  forced  the  separation? 
It  was  true,  as  the  gentleman  had  stated,  that  there  were  yet  six 
specie-paying  banks,  and  consequently  six  deposit  banks  upon 
the  list  ;  but  where  were  they  located  ?  What  were  the  collec 
tions  of  the  revenue  at  those  points  ?  Whac  was  the  importance 
of  any  one  of  them  as  a  fiscal  agent  of  the  treasury  ?  The  gen 
tleman  had  not  seen  fit  to  give  to  the  Senate  these  facts  in  con 
nection  with  his  claim  on  behalf. of  this  remnant  of  the  deposit 
banks,  and  certainly  he  did  not  intend  to  detain  the  Senate  to  do 
it.  It  was  enough  for  his  purpose  that  the  connection  was,  for 
all  practical  and  useful  purposes,  either  to  the  government  or 
the  people,  wholly  dissolved  ;  and,  if  it  again  existed,  must  exist 
by  a  reunion,  not  as  a  continuance  of  any  present  existence. 

"The  conduct  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was  complained 
of  by  the  Senator.  Had  the  Secretary  attempted  to  force  a  sepa 
ration  between  the  public  deposits  and  the  six  remaining  deposit 
banks  ?  This  was  not  alleged.  They  were  placed  upon  the  list 
of  depositories  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  laid  before  Congress 
at  the  commencement  of  the  present  session  ;  and  in  the  same 
statement  the  location  of  each,  and  the  amount  of  public  money 
on  deposit  in  each,  to  enable  the  Senate  and  the  country  to  judge 
of  the  importance  of  a  continued  connection  with  these  banks  as 
fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury,  were  plainly  given.  From  this 
statement  the  assertion  had  been  made,  and  was  now  repeated, 
that,  for  all  practical  and  useful  purposes  to  the  treasury  or  the 
people,  the  connection  between  the  deposit  banks  and  the  public 
moneys  was  at  an  end.  Nor  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
in  any  sense  chargeable  for  the  dissolution  of  this  connection. 
So  far  from  it,  his  own  statements  to  Congress  show  that  he  has 
fallen  short  of  the  execution  of  the  law.  It  commanded  him, 
upon  the  failure  of  any  bank  to  pay  specie  for  its  notes,  when 
demanded,  not  only  to  discontinue  such  bank  as  a  depository, 
but  to  '  withdraw  from  it  the  public  moneys  which  it  may  hold 
on  deposit  at  the  time  of  such  discontinuance?  Has  he  done 
this?  No  ;  for  he  tells  us  that  the  larger  portion  of  the  means 
in  the  treasury,  at  this  moment,  exist  in  balances  due  from  these 
banks  as  portions  of  the  deposits  they  have  received  for  safe- 
Keeping.  Has  the  Secretary  brought  suits  to  recover  these  bal- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIUIIT.  591 

ances  when  the  banks  have  failed  to  make  legal  payment?  He 
tells  us  not,  except  in  a  few  cases  where  it  was  considered  neces 
sary  for  the  eventual  security  of  the  public  property.  He,  then, 
is  the  last  person  in  the  world  who  should  be  charged  with  per 
secution  against  the  banks,  or  with  an  attempt  to  force  a  separa 
tion  between  them  and  the  public  treasury.  If  he  is  culpable  at 
all,  it  is  in  not  having  obeyed  the  law,  by  withdrawing  from 
them  the  moneys  they  held  in  deposit  at  the  time  they  discon 
tinued  the  payment  of  their  notes  in  specie,  when  demanded. 
If  he  has  violated  the  law,  he  has  violated  it  from  lenity  to  the 
banks;  and  all  know  that  this  lenity  has  been  wholly  compulsory, 
growing  out  of  the  situation  in  which  the  banks  have  placed 
themselves.  So  much  for  the  charge  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  has  forced  the  separation  between  the  banks  and  the 
government. 

"  He  would  now  proceed  to  inquire  what  influences,  favorable 
or  unfavorable,  the  bill  (to  make  this  separation  between  all  banks 
and  the  public  money  permanent)  would  exert  upon  the  public 
treasury.  It  would  give  to  the  treasury  direct  possession,  and  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  its  means  at  all  times  and  under  all  circum 
stances.  They  would  consist  not  of  bank  credits  but  of  money, 
and  would,  therefore,  not  be  subject  to  any  of  the  fluctuations 
to  which  bank  credits  must  be  always  liable.  The  means  of  the 
treasury  would  be  the  value  received,  and  not  the  mere  represen 
tation  of  that  value  in  account. 

"  It  would  give  to  the  treasury  the  perfect  command  of  its 
means.  It  would  no  longer  be  troubled  with  unavailable  funds, 
a  description  of  funds  well  known  to  it  for  the  last  twenty  years; 
which  have  always  grown  exclusively  out  of  its  connection  with 
banks  ;  which  now  constitute  almost  its  only  resource  for  the 
payment  of  the  public  creditors  ;  and  the  consequence  of  which 
character  given  to  the  means  of  the  treasury,  so  far  as  he  was 
informed,  had,  more  than  any  other  single  cause,  compelled  the 
convention  of  Congress  at  this  inconvenient  and,  he  thought  he 
might  safely  say,  dangerous  season  of  the  year.  It  might  be 
well,  here,  to  define  this  term  '  unavailable  funds,'  as  applied  to 
the  means  in  the  public  treasury.  He  understood  them  to  con 
sist,  now  and  upon  all  former  occasions,  either  of  bank  notes, 


592  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

which  the  banks  issuing  them  could  not  redeem  in  specie,  or  any 
thing  else  which  would  pay  the  debts  of  the  government;  or  of 
moneys  received  by  the  banks  for  safe-keeping,  and  which  they 
could  not  pay,  upon  demand,  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  country, 
or  in  any  currency  which  the  creditors  of  the  government  would 
consent  to  receive  as  money.  An  entire  separation  from  banks 
would,  of  course,  relieve  the  public  treasury  from  this  embarrass 
ment  for  the  future.  It  would,  at  all  times,  enable  the  treasury 
to  pay  the  demands  upon  it,  when  the  money  of  the  people  had 
been  collected  and  placed  in  its  keeping  for  that  purpose;  whereas, 
under  the  connection,  these  moneys  were  liable  to  become  un 
available  in  the  hands  or  the  banks,  and  the  people  again  to  be 
called  upon  to  raise,  either  from  their  pockets  or  upon  their  credit, 
the  means  to  pay  those  very  debts  for  the  payment  of  which  they 
had  once  provided,  by  depositing  the  money  in  bank. 

"A  continuance  of  the  separation  would  further  relieve  the 
treasury  from  the  necessity  of  using  its  means  to  sustain  the 
credit  of  banks,  when  revulsions  in  trade  and  general  shocks  to 
credit  should  bring  the  banks  in  jeopardy.  These  revulsions 
must  be  always  more  or  less  frequent  in  every  commercial  coun 
try,  and  most  frequent  and  most  severe  in  those  which  most 
extensively  adopt  a  system  of  paper  or  credit  circulation  and  cur 
rency.  If,  then,  the  means  of  the  national  treasury  are  confided 
to  the  safe-keeping  of  the  banks  which  furnish  that  paper  or 
credit  circulation  and  currency,  they  must  be  always  subject  to 
the  fluctuations,  revulsions  and  incidents  to  which  the  credit  of 
the  banks  are  subject.  They  become  mere  credits  with  the  banks, 
and  cannot  be  exempted  from  the  influences  which  affect  its  other 
credits.  Can  the  fiscal  officers  of  the  government,  then,  neglect 
to  put  forth  their  exertions  and  the  means  at  their  command  to 
sustain  the  credit  of  those  banks,  when  occasion  shall  call,  whose 
credits  constitute  the  means  of  the  public  treasury  itself  ?  He 
was  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  loud  and  startling  complaints 
had  been  made  in  this  hall  against  a  late  'Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury,  upon  the  mere  suspicion  that  he  had  used  the  means  of  the 
treasury  to  sustain  the  credit  of  the  deposit  banks;  but  would 
any  gentleman  deny  that,  under  this  concise  and  practical  view 
of  the  consequences  of  a  connection  between  the  treasury  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  593 

people  and  the  banks,  it  must  frequently  become  the  imperious 
duty  of  that  officer,  a  duty  as  binding  as  that  of  keeping  the 
treasury  in  a  situation  to  answer  the  calls  upon  it,  to  exert  this 
power,  and  so  to  locate  the  means  of  the  treasury  as  to  render  it 
as  effective  as  possible  ?  The  consequence  was  unavoidable;  and 
still  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  would  always  be  odious  in  a 
political  sense,  and  must  always  be  more  or  less  invidious  in  a 
financial  sense.  It  could  never  be  exerted  equally  toward  all  the 
banks,  but  must  be  used  especially  in  favor  of  those  which  should 
be,  for  the  time  being,  the  depositories  of  the  public  funds. 
Its  influence,  then,  might  often  be  unfavorable,  and  even  injurious 
toward  institutions  which  had  promoted,  as  much  as  any  other, 
the  collection  and  prompt  payment  of  the  public  revenues,  but 
which  should  not,  on  the  day  of  trouble,  be  safe  keepers  of  any 
portion  of  those  revenues.  Is  it  not  desirable,  if  it  can  be  done 
with  safety  to  all  interests  to  be  regarded,  to  relieve  the  treasury, 
and  the  head  of  the  fiscal  department,  of  this  government,  from 
this  always  so  delicate,  and  frequently  so  odious,  an  exercise  of 
the  power  and  influence  of  the  public  funds  upon  the  credit  of 
the  banks  and  the  business  of  the  country  ?  He  must  say  that  a 
proper  national  pride,  and  a  just  feeling  of  patriotism,  seemed 
to  him  to  demand  it,  at  any  expense  short  of  the  positive  sacrifice 
of  some  paramount  public  interest. 

"A  further  benefit  to  be  derived  from  a  system  which  shall 
make  the  treasury  the  keeper  of  its  own  means,  and  especially  if 
those  means  shall  be  collected  and  disbursed  in  the  legal  currency 
of  gold  and  silver,  or  of  paper  issued  upon  the  faith  and  credit 
of  the  government  only,  will  be  a  perfect  uniformity  of  value  in 
the  collections  and  disbursements  of  the  treasury,  wherever 
made.  Its  operations  will  become  stable  and  certain  in  every 
sense,  and  all  the  contracts  with  the  government  may  be  made 
without  the  customary  deductions  on  account  of  the  anticipated 
receipt  of  a  depreciated  medium  of  payment.  Every  citizen 
can  make  his  proposals  for  the  public  works  or  public  supplies, 
wherever  may  be  the  place  of  his  residence  or  the  place  of  pay 
ment  under  the  contract,  based  upon  the  par  of  money,  and  will 
not  be  driven  to  an  uncertain  calculation  upon  the  fluctuations  of 
exchange  and  the  uncertainties  of  credit. 
38 


594  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  These  are  some  of  the  benefits  to  be  anticipated  to  the  public 
treasury  from  a  permanent  separation  from  the  banks.  What 
are  the  injuries,  the  unfavorable  influences,  if  any,  to  stand 
against  these  benefits  ?  He  had  heard  but  one  suggested,  so  far 
as  the  interests  and  conveniences  of  the  treasury  are  concerned, 
and  he  must  say  but  that  one  had  occurred  to  his  mind.  The 
expense  and  trouble  of  remitting  specie,  in  cases  where  that 
should  become  necessary,  was,  he  believed,  the  only  drawback 
upon  the  treasury  for  all  these  benefits,  and  a  short  examination 
would  show  the  weight  of  this  objection. 

"  Under  the  system  of  bank  deposits,  drafts  from  the  Treasurer, 
upon  the  different  depositories,  and  from  one  depository  upon 
another,  are  made  the  medium  of  remittance  in  all  ordinary  cases, 
and,  where  the  drafts  are  fully  credited,  supersede  the  necessity  of 
an  actual  transportation  of  the  money  in  almost  all  the  operations 
of  the  public  treasury.  Nothing  in  the  system  proposed  pre 
vents  the  use  of  the  same  medium  for  remittance  and  exchange. 
The  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  upon  a  receiving 
officer  of  the  government  will  certainly  have  as  good  credit  as 
his  drafts  upon  a  deposit  bank,  and  when  they  are  known  to  be 
drawn  upon  the  specie  in  safe-keeping,  and  upon  nothing  else, 
they  cannot  fail  to  be  as  acceptable  to  the  public  creditor  as  any 
similar  drafts  have  heretofore  been.  The  trouble  and  expense, 
therefore,  of  transporting  specie  funds  from  one  portion  of  the 
country  to  the  other,  for  disbursement  to  the  public  creditors, 
will  not  probably  be  more  extensive  under  this  bill  than  under 
the  bank  system,  which  it  proposes  to  supersede. 

"  But  we  here  meet  an  objection  from  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  [Mr.  Preston],  which  requires  an  answer.  He  says  the 
system  proposed,  thus  carried  out,  will  constitute  a  bank,  a  bank 
of  discount,  a  bank  of  issue,  a  national  bank,  a  government  bank. 
He  reasons  thus :  One  of  the  depositories  constituted  by  the  bill 
will  make  its  draft  upon  another  and  deliver  it  to  the  public 
creditor.  The  receipt  of  the  draft  by  the  public  creditor  is  a 
discount  of  the  paper  of  the  officer  making  it.  The  person 
receiving  the  draft  may  transfer  it  to  his  neighbor  before  it  is 
presented  for  payment,  and  it  may  pass  from  hand  to  hand  before 
it  finds  its  way  to  the  officer  upon  whom  it  is  drawn,  and  who 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  595 

has  the  specie  in  keeping  for  its  payment.  This  will  convert  the 
draft  into  an  issue  of  paper,  and  as  it  is  drawn  upon  specie  funds 
in  actual  deposit  in  the  hands  of  the  drawee,  the  whole  machinery 
must  constitute  a  bank,  and  a  bank,  too,  of  deposit,  discount  and 
issue.  Now,  the  only  answer  which  this  argument  requires  is  sim 
ply  to  say,  that  if  this  constitutes  a  national  bank,  a  government 
bank,  or  a  bank  of  any  sort,  then  we  have  had  such  a  bank  under 
the  system  of  deposit  with  the  State  banks,  because  the  public 
disbursements  have  constantly  been  made,  and  the  public  funds 
distributed  and  equalized  by  exactly  similar  drafts.  He  saw  no 
force  whatever  in  the  argument,  unless  it  was  designed  to  frighten 
those  who,  like  himself,  were  not  very  partial  to  banks  of  any 
description,  and  were  most  distinctly  hostile  to  a  national  or 
government  bank,  with  the  apprehension  that  such  a  bank  was 
insidiously  buried  under  the  bill,  and  would  be  disinterred  and 
spring  into  life  at  its  passage.  Now,  he  was  ready  to  say  to  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina,  and  to  all  the  friends  of  that  Sena 
tor,  who  were  so  very  anxious  for  the  establishment  of  a  national 
bank,  that,  opposed  as  he  was  to  such  an  institution,  in  name  or 
in  principle,  if  they  would  compromise  by  the  acceptance  of  such 
a  bank  as  this  bill  would  establish,  they  should  have  it  with  his 
cheerful  assent,  and  this  long  and  heated  agitation  about  a  gov 
ernment  bank  should  be  forever  amicably  settled. 

"He  would  now  look  at  the  influences  of  this  measure  upon 
the  government. 

"  It  would  discharge  its  legislation  free  from  bank  influences  of 
all  sorts.  He  spoke  not  of  improper  or  corrupt  influences,  but  of 
those  constituent  interests  which  must  be  represented  in  Con 
gress  so  long  as  the  connection  between  the  public  treasury  and 
banks  of  any  description  was  maintained.  He  addressed  those 
who  must  understand  him,  and  who  must  have  seen  and  felt 
these  influences  in  our  oflicial  action  here.  Who,  he  would  ask, 
had  occupied  one  of  these  seats  for  the  last  five  years,  and  had 
not  seen  the  power  of  this  influence  upon  our  deliberations? 
Who  had  failed  to  see  that  it  was  an  influence  more  nearly  over 
powering  and  beyond  our  control  than  any  we  had  been  called 
to  encounter  ?  Who  did  not  see  and  feel  it  now  as  pressing 
upon  us  with  a  giant  force  ?  It  was  true  we  had  formerly 


596  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

and  most  usually  encountered  it  in  the  consolidated  form  of  a 
national  bank,  and  that  it  now  presented  itself  to  us  in  State 
detachments;  but  it  was  the  same  influence  similarly  exerted.  It 
was  the  effort  of  cupidity  on  our  free  institutions  —  an  effort  to 
make  money  out  of  the  money  and  means  and  credit  of  the  people. 

"He  uttered  these  sentiments  with  extreme  reluctance,  and 
with  the  most  extended  charity  toward  all  those  who  differed 
from  him.  He  knew  well  that  not  only  political  opponents,  but 
those  who  had  ever  been  political  and  personal  friends  —  those 
toward  whom  he  had  ever  entertained  and  still  did  entertain  the 
kindest  feelings — did  differ  with  him  upon  these  points.  He 
most  cheerfully  yielded  to  their  integrity,  sincerity  and  patriot 
ism  every  indulgence  which  he  asked  for  himself;  but  the  crisis, 
the  importance  of  the  questions  presented,  and  our  imperious 
duty  to  our  constituents,  demanded  from  us  frank  and  fearless 
action. 

"  Was  it  not,  then,  in  case  he  was  right,  most  desirable  to  free 
the  legislation  of  Congress  from  bank  influence  altogether? 
Would  it  not  tend,  more  than  any  other  single  act  we  could  per 
form,  to  take  from  our  debates  and  deliberations  that  bitterness 
and  acrimony  which  had  too  strongly  characterized  them  for  the 
last  few  years,  but  which,  he  was  proud  to  say,  had  entered  in  a 
much  less  degree  into  the  present  debate  in  the  Senate  than  into 
any  similar  debate  for  many  years?  For  himself,  he  felt  that 
this  consideration  alone  demanded  the  passage  of  this  bill:  that  it 
was  entirely  paramount  to  any  objections  he  had  yet  heard  urged 
against  it;  that  it  was  as  much  superior  to  considerations  of 
financial  convenience  and  pecuniary  profit  as  was  the  purity  and 
permanency  of  our  political  institutions  to  the  temporary  advan 
tages  of  a  bargain  or  the  facilities  of  borrowing  money. 

"This  was  not  the  only  advantage  the  government  would 
derive  from  a  permanent  separation  of  its  finances  from  the 
banks.  It  would  discharge  it  from  that  eternal  round  of  imputa 
tions  to  which,  under  the  connection,  its  every  fiscal  action  is 
subjected.  If  it  be  a  time  of  prosperity  and  plenty,  all  are 
struggling  for  the  profits  arising  from  the  safe-keeping  of  the 
government  funds;  and  the  failure  on  the  part  of  its  fiscal  officer 
to  select  a  given  bank  as  a  public  depository  is  not  only  matter 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  597 

of  personal  offense,  but  is  immediately  converted  into  the  active 
cause  of  all  the  pecuniary  calamities  which  the  friends  and  cus 
tomers  of  that  bank  may  experience  through  all  time  to  come. 
If  it  be  a  time  of  scarcity  and  pressure,  like  the  present,  the 
drafts  of  the  Treasurer  upon  the  money  of  the  people  in  safe 
keeping  with  the  banks  is  :i  ruthless  attack,  a  war  upon  them, 
and  is  ntended  to  prostrate  the  institutions.  The  former  keep 
ing  of  the  funds  becomes  a  merit  and  a  virtue,  and  to  ask  for 
their  payment  to  the  public  creditors  is  ingratitude  and  injustice. 

"  If  the  executive,  in  the  exercise  of  a  sound  discretion,  sees 
proper  to  issue  an  order  requiring  payment  in  money  for  the 
whole,  or  any  portion,  of  the  public  revenue,  this  is  converted 
into  an  attack  upon  the  banks,  a  distrust  of  their  credit  and  sol 
vency,  and  a  wrong  inflicted  by  the  government  upon  the  whole 
people.  Can  it  be  desirable  to  preserve  a  connection  which  is 
the  subject  of  incessant  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  banks  and 
their  friends,  and  of  constant  embarrassment  to  the  operations 
of  the  public  treasury,  and  of  imputation  upon  the  most  faithful 
and  worthy  public  officers  ?  He  thought  not.  He  considered  this 
connection  of  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  government  with  the  credit 
and  business  of  the  banks,  and  of  business  and  commercial  men, 
and  the  constant  imputations  brought  upon  the  government 
thereby,  as  promoting  a  political  morality  in  the  public  mind 
most  dangerous  to  our  institutions;  as  doing  more  to  weaken  the 
confidence  of  the  people  in  the  government  of  their  choice,  than 
any  and  all  other  causes  of  distrust  combined.  If  we  would 
listen  to  the  slander  and  misrepresentations  of  the  times,  we  must 
believe  that  all  our  misfortunes,  public  and  private,  are  imputable 
to  our  government  —  all  our  prosperity  to  a  resistance  to  its  mea 
sures  and  its  policy.  And  whence  do  these  imputations  come, 
but  from  our  connection  with  the  banks  ?  They  all  emanate  from 
that  source,  and  from  no  other.  That  connection  is  now  dis 
solved,  by  the  operation  of  law  and  the  voluntary  action  of  the 
banks  themselves  ;  and  he  would  say,  let  it  be  perpetual  —  let  it 
never  be  renewed. 

"  The  effect  of  this  measure  upon  the  banks  should  next  occupy 
his  attention. 

"  It  had  been  considered  as  a  measure  of  open  and  violent  hos- 


598  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tility  to  those  institutions,  as  fraught  with  unmixed  evil  to  them. 
Was  this  the  true  view  of  it  ?  Had  it  these  exclusive  tenden 
cies  ?  He  thought  not,  and  he  would  attempt  to  point  out  some 
positive  benefits  to  the  banks  from  its  adoption. 

"  It  would  leave  the  State  banks  to  operate  upon  their  own 
means  —  upon  the  capitals  which  the  respective  State  Legislatures 
had  thought  proper  to  give  to  them,  and  upon  the  funds  derived 
from  their  private  depositors.  These  means  would  be  perfectly 
certain  and  uniform,  so  far  as  they  consisted  of  the  capitals  of 
the  banks,  and  would  be  subject  to  no  dangerous  fluctuations,  so 
far  as  they  consisted  of  private  deposits.  Hence  the  action  of 
the  institutions  could  always  be  regulated  by  a  certain  standard  — 
the  extent  of  their  means  for  the  accommodation  of  their  custo 
mers.  This  would  discharge  them  from  the  inducement  to  those 
dangerous  expansions  and  contractions,  which  not  only  promote, 
but  cause,  revulsions  such  as  that  under  which  the  country  now 
suffers. 

"  The  government  has  been  charged  with  being  the  cause  of 
the  present  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  the  country,  and  he 
thought  not  without  some  foundation;  but  he  considered  the  con 
nection  between  the  treasury  and  the  banks  the  only  foundation 
for  such  a  charge.  What  had  we  done  ?  We  had  deposited  our 
funds  in  the  State  banks.  A  period  of  unexampled  prosperity 
had  visited  our  country.  Importations  had  become  excessive, 
and  the  duties  thereupon  had  swelled  the  public  revenue  from 
that  source  beyond  all  reasonable  anticipation.  The  banks 
received  the  excess  of  revenue  which  the  wants  of  the  govern 
ment  and  the  public  appropriations  did  not  call  for.  The  same 
causes  promoted  unusual  and  unexampled  sales  of  the  public 
lands,  and  thus,  from  both  of  the  great  sources  of  revenue  to  the 
United  States,  streams  were  poured  into  the  public  treasury, 
widened  and  deepened  by  their  own  accumulation  and  velocity. 
The  banks  were  the  safe-keepers  of  the  public  funds,  the  fiscal 
agents  of  the  treasury,  and  they  were  also  the  reservoirs  from 
which  the  importing  and  other  merchants  drew  their  means,  and 
from  which  the  speculating  purchasers  of  our  immense  domain 
were  supplied  with  funds  for  their  operations.  So  far  as  the 
government  was  concerned  the  consequences  are  obvious.  The 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  599 

moment  the  revenue  exceeded  the  wants  of  the  treasury,  the 
excess  fed  the  passion  they  ought  to  have  controlled.  The  banks 
were  the  receivers  and  the  payers.  They  received,  to  keep  for 
the  government,  and  loaned  to  the  merchants  and  purchasers  of 
our  lands.  The  system,  in  fact  and  in  practice,  was  one  of  indefi 
nite  credit  for  both  duties  and  lands.  The  money  paid  for  both 
went  into  the  banks  for  safe-keeping.  The  treasury  did  not  want 
it  or  call  for  it  for  payment  of  the  public  dues.  The  banks  loaned 
it  to  their  customers,  who  were  the  payers  for  duties  and  lands. 
Under  these  circumstances,  and  this  action  of  the  system,  excesses 
were  inevitable,  and  they  had  visited  their  consequences  sweep- 
ingly  upon  the  country  and  upon  the  treasury  itself. 

"  Ought  not  this  state  of  things  to  be  a  lesson  to  the  wise  not 
to  renew  a  connection  which  had  been  so  disastrous  to  every 
interest  involved  ?  To  the  government  and  the  public  treasury, 
as  a  creditor  of  the  banks  ;  to  the  banks,  as  debtors  to  the  trea 
sury  and  creditors  to  the  citizens ;  and  to  the  people  at  large, 
and  especially  to  the  commercial  community,  as  debtors  to  the 
banks. 

"  That  the  times  have  promoted  overtrading  and  overbanking 
no  one  will  deny;  but  that  the  connection  between  the  govern 
ment  and  the  banks,  and  the  forty  millions  of  dollars  of  surplus 
funds  in  deposit  with  them,  immensely  increased  the  overbank 
ing,  is  equally  undeniable.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the 
managers  of  banks  will  keep  money  without  making  profitable 
use  of  it,  when  that  use  is  presented  and  urged  upon  them.  This 
remark  was  not  made  in  censure  of  the  officers  of  the  deposit 
banks.  Their  stockholders,  and  the  community  about  them, 
knew  that  they  were  in  possession  of  the  funds;  and  the  use 
would  be  demanded,  nay,  he  might  say  commanded,  had  the 
officers  of  the  institutions  resisted.  The  evil  lay  farther  back. 
It  was  in  placing  and  retaining  the  funds  in  the  banks,  which  the 
immediate  calls  upon  the  treasury  did  not  require. 

"  The  fault  of  the  government,  however,  did  not  stop  here. 
We  passed  a  law  exacting  from  the  banks  interest  for  these 
funds,  and  thus  not  only  sanctioned,  but  compelled,  their  use  of 
them  in  their  ordinary  loans  and  discounts.  Could  a  bank  keep 
money  and  pay  interest  Upon  it,  and  derive  no  interest  from  its 


600  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

use  ?  Most  certainly  not,  and  we  therefore  compelled  the  banks, 
by  our  express  legislation,  to  promote  the  evils  of  which  we  now 
complain.  We  compelled  them  to  loan  our  money,  in  their  hands 
for  safe-keeping,  by  charging  and  exacting  from  them  an  interest 
for  its  use,  and  thus  stimulated  them  to  increase  the  excesses  of 
overtrading  and  overbanking.  We  furnished  them  with  a  capi 
tal  of  some  forty  millions  of  dollars,  and  forced  them  to  use  it  in 
making  loans. 

"  Can  anything  more  strongly  or  clearly  show  the  impolicy  to 
every  interest  of  any  connection  of  a  financial  or  interested  char 
acter  between  the  local  banks  of  the  country  and  the  treasury 
of  the  nation  ?  The  imputations  cast  upon  us,  as  having  caused 
the  present  pecuniary  embarrassments  of  the  country,  have  this 
justice,  and  let  us  discharge  ourselves  from  similar  imputations 
for  the  future.  Our  real  fault  has  been,  not  that  we  have  unduly 
checked  the  excesses  of  the  times,  but  that,  in  the  outset,  we 
promoted  the  expansions  by  the  banks  which  necessarily  led  to 
those  excesses,  and  that  all  our  efforts,  legislative  and  executive, 
have  been  insufficient  to  avert  the  catastrophe  which  has  now 
come  upon  the  country.  We  see  our  agency  in  the  mischief, 
when  it  is  too  late  for  us  to  apply  a  remedy.  The  incidental 
relief  in  our  power  we  have  already  offered  to  the  country,  so  far 
as  the  action  of  this  body  is  concerned,  and  now  let  us  pass  this 
bill,  and  protect  ourselves  against  all  imputation  as  wrong-doers 
for  the  future. 

"  A  further  benefit  to  the  banks,  to  be  derived  from  a  continu 
ance  of  the  separation,  is,  that  when  they  shall  win  the  public 
confidence  by  their  sound  management  and  permanent  means, 
they  will  possess  and  retain  it,  independent  of  public  patronage, 
independent  of  any  action  of  the  federal  government,  and  exempt 
from  the  fluctuations  which  congressional  legislation  or  executive 
discretion  may  otherwise  cause.  This  is  the  description  of  public 
confidence  which  these  institutions  should  possess  and  rely  upon, 
and  these  should  be  its  foundations.  Its  own  capital,  and  the 
integrity  and  ability  of  its  managers,  should  be  the  dependence 
of  a  banking  institution ;  not  the  uncertain  and  changing  patron 
age  of  any  body,  much  less  the  fluctuating  and  dangerous  patron 
age  of  governments,  State  or  national.  A  credit  founded  upon 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  601 

such  patronage  must  be  delusive.  To-day  you  deposit  with  a 
bank  a  million  of  dollars  ;  to-morrow  it  extends  its  accommoda 
tions  upon  the  strength  of  your  funds  in  its  keeping;  the  day 
following  its  favored  customers  expand  their  business  and  enlarge 
their  credits;  on  the  fourth  day,  you  require  your. funds,  and 
draw  upon  the  bank  for  them.  Your  deposit  has  given  to  the 
bank  a  false  confidence  in  its  means;  its  extension  has  given  its 
customers  a  false  estimate  of  its  ability  to  indulge  them;  their 
expansion  has  given  the  community  false  expectations  as  to  their 
power  of  indulgence;  and  your  call  for  your  money  undeceives 
all,  after  the  mischief  is  done,  the  excess  committed,  and  just  in 
time  to  produce  the  derangement  and  distress  and  suffering 
which  must  always,  sooner  or  later,  follow  excessive  credits  and 
mistaken  confidence.  The  institutions  which  are  to  furnish  to 
the  people  of  this  country  a  circulating  paper  to  answer  the  pur 
poses  of  money,  ought  not  to  be  subjected  to  fluctuations  of  this 
description.  Their  love  of  gain  ought  not  thus  to  be  stimulated, 
and  especially  by  this  government,  which  has  none  but  an 
incidental  control  over  their  proceedings.  They  should  be  left 
by  us  to  operate  upon  their  own  means,  to  rest  their  credit  upon 
their  own  ability  and  good  character,  and  not  upon  our  funds. 

"  But  it  is  said  the  withdrawal  from  the  State  banks  of  our  con 
fidence,  countenance  and  patronage,  in  this  particular,  will  pros 
trate  and  destroy  those  institutions;  that  the  attempt  to  separate 
the  finances  of  this  government  from  them  is,  in  effect,  a  declara 
tion  of  war  against  them,  which  they  cannot  survive.  Is  this, 
can  this  be  so  ?  Will  any  sound  and  solvent  State  bank  fail 
because  the  United  States  does  not  intrust  to  it  the  safe-keeping 
of  the  moneys  of  the  people  ?  Did  the  State  Legislatures,  in 
chartering  those  banks,  expect  or  intend  that  their  credit  or 
solvency  should  be  sustained  by  the  legislation  of  Congress,  or 
the  use  of  the  funds  of  the  federal  government  ?  If  so,  why 
have  they  limited  and  fixed  their  respective  capitals,  and  attempted 
to  set  bounds  to  their  operations  ?  Why  have  they  assigned 
different  amounts  of  capital  to  different  banks,  dependent  upon 
their  location  and  business  associations  ?  Certainly  no  other 
answer  can  be  given  to  these  interrogatories  than  that  they 
intended  that  each  bank  should  have  a  capital  equal  to  the  wants 


(302  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  business  community  surrounding  it,  and  that  all  the  banks 
of  their  creation  should  have  a  credit  and  confidence  with  the 
people,  and  should  transact  a  business  proportioned  to  the  capi 
tals  granted  to  them  respectively,  and  not  beyond  that  limit. 
You,  then,  by  making  your  deposits  with  these  institutions, 
destroy  the  proportions  which  the  State  Legislatures  have  in 
tended  to  establish  and  preserve.  Your  deposits  are  treated  as 
capital  by  the  banks,  and  an  extension  of  their  loans,  and  an 
augmentation  of  their  business,  beyond  that  which  their  own 
means  would  allow,  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  your  patron 
age.  Can  this  disposition  of  your  moneys  fail  to  promote 
excessive  banking  ?  The  members  of  the  State  Legislatures  have 
a  knowledge  of  the  business  wants  of  all  the  places  at  which 
they  locate  banks,  and  their  object  is  to  measure  the  banking 
capital  at  any  given  point  by  the  wants  of  business  at  that  point. 
When  they  have  done  that,  you  come  in  with  your  deposits, 
distributed  not  upon  the  basis  which  governs  the  State  Legisla 
tures,  but  according  to  your  own  convenience  for  receipt  or  dis 
bursement.  The  consequence  is  that  you  pour  your  millions  into 
these  State  institutions,without  reference  to  the  legitimate  business 
calls  for  banking  facilities  at  the  points  where  your  deposits  are 
made,  and  thus  derange  and  destroy  the  proportions,  as  to  these 
facilities,  which  the  local  Legislatures  have  determined  to  be 
safe  and  proper.  In  this  way  your  patronage  becomes  an  evil, 
and  not  a  benefit.  It  stimulates  the  cupidity  of  the  banks,  and 
they,  in  turn,  stimulate  the  cupidity  of  the  business  community 
around  them,  until  excesses  on  the  part  of  all  produce  revulsion, 
distress  and  bankruptcy. 

"  Still  it  is  urged  that  our  withholding  this  evidence  of  our 
confidence  in  the  State  banks  will  destroy  their  credit  and  pros 
trate  the  institutions.  Will  any  one  pretend  that  the  States 
have  rested  the  credit  of  their  banking  institutions  upon  the 
patronage  or  confidence  of  this  government  ?  Can  that  man  be 
found  who  will  admit  that,  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of 
his  State,  he  has  voted  for  banks  with  the  expectation  that  they 
must  be  solvent  or  insolvent,  as  the  pleasure  of  Congress  shall 
determine  ?  Will  not  every  such  man  tell  you  that  he  has  given 
to  the  banks  which  he  has  aided  to  create  a  capital  stock  upon 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  603 

which  its  solvency  and  credit  with  the  people  is  to  rest  ?  That 
with  honest  and  prudent  management  each  bank  has  within 
itself,  and  under  its  own  control,  the  elements  of  its  own  pros 
perity,  and  is  not  dependent  upon  your  smiles  or  to  be  ruined  by 
your  frowns?  This  ought  to  be  so,  and  is  so. 

"  How  was  it  with  the  State  banks  during  the  period  from 
1816  to  1836?  The  Bank  of  the  United  States  then  enjoyed  the 
exclusive  privilege  of  keeping  the  public  funds,  and  its  notes 
alone  were  by  law  made  receivable  in  payment  of  the  public 
dues.  Were  the  State  banks  discredited  or  ruined  then  ?  Was 
that  separation  between  them  and  the  funds  of  the  government 
treated  as  a  war  upon  them,  a  war  of  extermination  ?  No,  sir. 
The  operations  of  these  institutions  were  never  more  stable  and 
safe  than  during  that  period,  nor  did  they  ever  stand  stronger  in 
the  public  confidence  than  then.  Away,  then,  with  the  idea  that 
the  solvency  or  credit  of  the  State  banks  rests  upon  our  patron 
age  or  favor,  or  that  our  frown  upon  them  is  annihilation. 

"  He  knew  that  were  we  to  withdraw  our  confidence  from  a 
particular  bank,  and  extend  it  to  all  others,  the  inference  would 
justly  be  that  we  suspected  its  solvency  and  responsibility,  and 
that  this  might  do  it  injury.  But  wThen  we  separate  ourselves 
from  all  banks,  State  or  national,  and  declare  our  object  to  be  a 
political  as  well  as  a  financial  separation,  will  it  be  said  that  we 
cast  distrust  upon  the  banks  which  will  destroy  their  credit  ?  Will 
it  be  contended  that  the  banks  established  by  the  States  have  a 
right  to  the  safe-keeping  and  use  of  the  revenues  of  the  nation  ? 
He  thought  not.  And  if  not,  then  could  the  separation  of  our 
finances  from  them  be  justly  termed  a  war  against  them  ?  No. 
The  position  was  absurd  and  unsustainable.  He  had  no  feeling 
of  hostility  to  the  State  banks,  but  he  was  not  to  concede  their 
right  to  the  possession  and  use  of  the  moneys  of  the  people,  lest 
they  should  choose  to  consider  a  denial  of  the  right  an  act  of 
hostility.  He  would  go  as  far  as  any  man  should  go  to  protect 
these  institutions  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  their  constitutional 
and  legal  rights;  and  he  would  go  quite  as  far  to  compel  them 
rigidly  to  fulfill  their  most  sacred  obligations  to  that  confiding 
people  who  take  their  promises  to  pay  upon  demand  as- money. 

"In  every  light,  then,  in  which  he  could  view  this  matter,  it 


604  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

was  his  deliberate  opinion  that  the  banks  would  be  benefited  and 
not  injured  by  making  the  existing  separation  between  them  and 
the  public  treasury  perpetual.  The  passage  of  this  bill  at  this 
time  might  have  some  tendency  to  weaken  the  confidence  of  the 
community  in  the  institutions;  but,  if  such  a  consequence  must 
attend  this  change  of  our  policy,  could  there  be  a  better  time 
than  the  present  to  make  that  change?  The  banks  were  now, 
he  would  not  say  insolvent,  for  he  did  not  believe  that  was  the 
condition  of  any  large  portion  of  them,  but  unable  to  pay  the 
demands  upon  them.  That  fact  was  avowed  by  themselves  and 
known  to  all  the  world.  They  were  in  a  quasi  insolvent  state,  and 
all  the  distrust  which  could  grow  out  of  such  a  condition  they 
had  brought  upon  themselves  by  their  voluntary  suspension  of 
specie  payments.  It  was  in  vain,  then,  to  talk  of  the  delicacy  of 
their  present  credit.  That  delicacy  had  been  destroyed  by  their 
own  act,  and  before  they  could  ever  again  restore  themselves  to 
the  confidence  of  the  community  they  must  be  sound  in  fact,  and 
able  to  discharge  to  the  fullest-  extent  every  obligation  which 
general  distrust  could  bring  against  them.  It  was  erroneous  to 
suppose  that  they  could  ever  resume  and  sustain  specie  payments 
until  they  were  thus  prepared  and  thus  armed.  They  must  build 
up  for  themselves  a  new  character,  based  upon  a  perfect  fulfill 
ment  of  all  their  obligations.  If,  then,  we  are  to  separate  from 
them,  and  that  separation  is  to  have  any  tendency  to  affect  their 
credit,  this  is  the  very  period  when  it  is  most  desirable  to  them 
that  the  declaration  of  a  perpetual  divorcement  should  be  made. 
Now  it  can  do  them  no  harm.  They  are  already  in  a  condition 
from  which  main  strength  alone  can  raise  them;  but  at  a  time 
when  their  credit  was  unsuspected,  and  their  operations  unem 
barrassed  and  unimpeded,  the  measure  might  give  them  an  inju 
rious  shock.  Let  it  be  done  now,  therefore,  that  when  they  do 
rise  it  may  be  distinctly  known  that  they  rise  upon  their  own 
strength,  unaided  by  our  patronage  and  untrammeled  by  our 
movements. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  had  touched  but  incidentally  the  question  of 
the  receptibility  or  non-receptibility  of  the  notes  of  the  State 
banks  in  payment  of  the  public  dues.  He  did  not  now  propose 
to  detain  the  Senate  by  remarks  upon  that  point.  The  proposi- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  605 

tion  affecting  that  question  had  not  come  from  the  committee, 
but  from  a  member  of  the  Senate  in  his  place,  and  to  him  he 
should  leave  the  discussion  of  that  topic.  For  himself,  he  agreed 
with  the  view  of  this  matter  which  he  understood  his  honorable 
colleague  to  take,  that,  in  case  the  deposits  were  confined  to  the 
safe-keeping  of  the  officers  of  the  government,  it  was  a  question 
of  much  less  interest  to  the  banks  than  seemed  to  be  generally 
supposed.  If  the  banks  were  not  made  the  depositories,  it  could 
not  be  supposed  that  their  notes,  if  made  receivable,  would  be 
retained  for  any  length  of  time  in  safe-keeping.  It  would  be  a 
necessary  result  of  this  mode  of  keeping  the  public  funds,  that 
all  bank-notes  received  must  be  presented  at  short  intervals  for 
payment;  and  he  could  not  see  that  it  would  be  any  very  valu 
able  favor  to  the  banks,  as  a  permanent  system,  to  receive  their 
notes  merely  for  the  purpose  of  immediate  presentment  and  pay 
ment.  In  this  respect  he  was  fully  conscious  that  the  change 
should  not  be  precipitate  or  rash;  most  especially  it  should  not 
while  the  heavy  balances  remain  due  to  the  treasury  from  the 
late  deposit  banks.  For  this  reason  the  graduation  provided  for 
in  the  amendment  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
[Mr.  Calhoun]  met  his  approbation;  nor  did  he  think  time  very 
material  upon  this  point,  and  he  should  be  willing  to  make  the 
graduation  even  more  slow  than  that  proposed,  in  case  any 
important  interest  would  be  favorably  affected  by  further  time. 
The  preservation  of  the  principle  was  what  he  wished,  but  he 
did  not  desire  rashness  or  precipitancy  in  bringing  it  into  practice. 

"  He  would  now  examine  very  briefly  the  influences  which  he 
supposed  this  measure  would  exert  upon  the  currency  generally. 

"It  would  give  a  stable  and  uniform  value  to  the  currency 
received  into  and  paid  from  the  public  treasury,  in  whatever 
portion  of  our  widely  extended  country  the  receipts  or  payments 
should  be  made. 

"It  would  also  preserve  the  currency  of  the  treasury  at  the 
standard  fixed  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  Congress,  and 
guaranteed  to  all  the  citizens  of  the  country,  as  the  only  currency 
they  should  be  compelled  to  take  in  payment  of  debts. 

"  It  would  stimulate,  if  not  compel,  the  banks  to  elevate  their 
paper  currency  to  a  level  -with  the  currency  of  the  public  trea- 


606  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

sury,  and  would  go  very  far  to  measure  the  public  confidence  in 
these  institutions  by  the  standard  which  regulates  the  currency 
received  and  disbursed  by  the  government.  If  they  keep  their 
paper  up  to  that  standard  of  value,  it  will  have  currency  and 
confidence;  and  if  they  do  not,  it  will  have  neither.  There  will 
be  a  rule  for  judgment  which  cannot  err,  because  it  will  be  a  rule 
of  intrinsic  value,  and  not  of  paper  credit. 

"In  this  sense  he  deemed  the  measure  of  immense  national 
importance.  Hitherto  the  standard  of  currency  fixed  by  the 
Constitution  had  been,  in  practice,  erected  nowhere ;  while  the 
banks,  State  and  national,  had  been  left  to  establish  the  standards 
of  value  in  all  quarters  of  the  country,  and  these  standards  had 
been  as  various,  at  different  points,  as  the  fluctuations  of  trade 
could  make  them.  The  fiscal  operations  of  the  federal  govern 
ment  had  hitherto  been  made,  to  every  practical  extent,  to  follow 
the  interests  of  the  banks,  and  the  uniformity  of  receipts  and  dis 
bursements  in  the  various  portions  of  the  Union  had  only  been  the 
uniformity  of  bank  credits  and  the  uniformity  in  value  of  bank 
paper.  It  was  high  time  that  a  more  permanent  standard,  and 
one  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution,  should  be  established. 
Congress  alone  could  establish  it;  and  Congress,  in  his  judgment, 
could  only  establish  it  in  connection  with  the  receipts  and  dis 
bursements  of  the  public  revenue,  and  to  the  extent  of  those 
receipts  and  disbursements.  He  hailed  this  measure,  then,  as  one 
calculated  to  produce  this  great  reformation,  and  to  bring  us 
back  to  the  starting  point  of  1789.  With  these  feelings  he  advo 
cated  it,  and  hoped  for  its  passage. 

"A  further  beneficial  tendency  of  this  measure  will  be  an 
extension  of  the  specie  basis  for  our  broad  paper  circulation. 
This  is  admitted  by  all  to  be  a  matter  of  indispensable  necessity. 
Who  then  should  contribute  to  it,  if  not  the  federal  government^ 
Are  the  banks  expected  to  do  it,  when  it  is  in  the  very  face  ot 
their  interests  to  promote  the  circulation  of  the  metals  ?  Are  the 
States  to  do  it,  when  they  cannot '  coin  money  or  regulate  the  value 
thereof? '  Whence  is  this  great  good  to  the  people  of  the  country 
to  be  derived,  unless  Congress  shall  bring  its  powers  to  aid  in  the 
work  ?  And  how  shall  Congress  accomplish  this  purpose  but  by 
the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  public  revenue? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  607 

"The  adoption  of  such  a  system  by  Congress  would  constitute 
a  point,  in  the  broad  field  of  our  currency,  exempt  from  the  fluc 
tuations  and  revulsions  to  which  a  currency  of  credit  must  be 
always  subject.  It  would  be  a  fortress  to  which  public  confidence 
would  retreat  in  times  of  trouble,  and  within  which  it  would 
remain  uninjured,  however  violent  the  convulsion  which  should 
shake  the  monetary  world.  Now  we  were  without  any  such 
rock  of  safety.  The  storm,  which  was  now  sufficiently  powerful 
to  agitate  the  great  ocean  of  credit,  shook  alike  the  treasury  of 
our  country  and  the  humblest  bank.  This  ought  not  so  to  be. 
The  finances  of  a  rich  and  powerful  and  prosperous  nation  ought 
not  to  be  subject  to  these  fluctuations.  They  ought  to  be 
exempted  from  the  reverses  and  revulsions  to  which  private 
cupidity  will  always  subject  the  business  of  an  enterprising  people. 
Place  them  upon  the  basis  of  a  currency  of  intrinsic  value,  and 
you  accomplish  this  great  object.  Leave  them  to  stand  upon  the 
credit  of  banks,  and  you  insure  the  recurrence  of  a  crisis  like  the 
present,  when,  with  abundant  means  in  account,  your  treasury  is 
destitute  of  means  at  command. 

"  But  we  are  told  that  the  passage  of  this  bill  will  establish 
one  currency  for  the  government  and  its  officers,  and  another  for 
the  people.  This  argument  has  been  repeated  from  various  quar 
ters  of  the  House,  and  he  was  disp  ^sed  to  consider  it  as  advanced 
in  all  candor  and  sincerity,  and  to  reply  to  it  in  the  same  spirit. 

"  He  must  premise,  however,  that  he  could  not  comprehend 
this  mode  of  treating  the  government  and  the  people  of  this 
country  as  separate  interests,  much  less  as  antagonistic  interests. 
He  had  supposed  that  our  government  consisted  of  mere  servants 
of  the  people,  charged,  in  their  several  stations,  with  the  execu 
tion  of  the  will  of  the  people;  and  that,  beyond  the  execution 
of  that  temporary  trust,  the  officers  of  the  government  were,  to 
the  extent  of  their  numbers,  the  people  themselves,  and  one  with 
them  in  feeling  and  interest.  How,  then,  it  would  be  possible  to 
create  or  establish  a  currency  which,  properly  and  practically 
speaking,  should  be  a  currency  for  the  government,  and  should 
not,  at  the  same  time,  be  a  currency  for  the  people,  was  entirely 
beyond  his  comprehension.  The  officers  of  the  government 
principally  reside  in  the  country,  and  among  the  people.  They 


608  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

receive  their  compensation,  whatever  it  may  be,  from  the  people, 
and  the  expenses  of  themselves  and  their  families  are  paid,  like 
those  of  other  citizens,  to  the  people  from  whom  they  purchase 
and  with  whom  they  d.eal.  The  currency  they  receive  from  the 
people,  as  a  compensation  for  their  services,  they  must  pay  to  the 
people  in  discharge  of  their  debts  ;  and  how  a  currency  thus 
employed,  received  from  the  .people  and  paid  back  again  to  the 
people,  could  be  a  government  currency,  as  contradistinguished 
from  the  currency  of  the  people,  he  must  again  repeat,  he  could 
not  at  all  comprehend. 

"  But  he  would  look  at  the  argument  in  another  aspect.  It 
necessarily  presupposes  that  a  better  currency  is  to  be  secured  to 
the  government  and  its  officers  and  a  baser  for  the  people.  The 
currency  proposed  to  be  secured  to  tile  national  treasury  is  gold 
and  silver,  or  their  equivalent.  The  currency  which  the  argu 
ment  assumes  the  people  are  to  have  is  bank  paper.  What, 
then,  do  those  who  use  the  argument  assume?  Most  certainly 
that  the  currency  of  bank  paper  is  always  to  be  baser  than  the 
currency  of  gold  and  silver;  because  if  the  currency  of  paper  be 
equal  in  value  to  the  currency  of  gold  and  silver,  then  the  argu 
ment  has  no  force,  as  urged,  to  show  that  the  government  and 
its  officers  are  to  be  preferred  in  our  legislation  to  the  people  at 
large.  Taking  the  argument  with  this  assumption,  and  in  what 
predicament  do  those  who  use  it  place  themselves?  They,  by 
their  own  assumption,  urge  us  to  adopt,  by  a  law  of  Congress,  a 
standard  of  currency  for  the  treasury  of  the  nation  baser  than 
gold  and  silver,  to  avoid  the  invidiousness  of  giving  to  ourselves 
a  better  currency  than  the  people  are  to  have.  Has  this  argu 
ment  been  well  considered  and  its  consequences  duly  weighed? 
He  thought  not,  or  it  would  not  have  been  presented. 

"  Gentlemen  might  suppose  it  popular  to  talk  about  the  cur 
rency  of  the  people  as  base  and  depreciated,  but  they  would  per 
mit  him  to  ask  to  whom  are  the  people  to  look  for  an  elevated 
standard  of  currency  —  for  a  standard  of  currency  such  as  is  guar 
anteed  to  them  by  the  Constitution  —  if  not  to  Congress  ?  Shall 
they  look  to  the  banks?  The  complaint  of  the  argument  is  that 
the  banks  are  to  furnish  them  a  base  paper  currency,  while  the 
government  secures  to  itself  a  currency  of  gold  and  silver.  Are 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  609 

they  to  look  to  the  States?  They  have  no  power  to  fix  a  stan 
dard  of  currency  even  for  their  own  citizens,  much  less  for  the 
nation.  They  must,  then,  look  to  Congress  and  to  the  Constitu 
tion.  And  what  shall  Congress  do  to  promote  the  interests  of 
the  people  in  this  matter?  Fix  a  standard  of  value  baser  than 
that  which  the  Constitution  has  guaranteed  to  the  people? 
Adopt  bank  paper  as  the  standard  of  value  of  the  country,  for 
fear  that  the  government  will  have  a  better  currency  than  the 
people  ?  Can  the  people  ever  have  a  better  currency  than  the 
government,  so  long  as  the  regulation  of  the  standard  rests  with 
the  government  ?  Most  certainly  not.  If  we  adopt  a  standard 
baser  than  the  coins,  the  people  cannot  elevate  it.  If  we  keep 
our  standard  upon  the  level  of  the  Constitution,  the  people  can 
compel  the  banks  to  come  up  to  that  standard,  because  no  law 
can  obligate  them  to  receive  the  paper  of  the  banks  or  to  give  to 
them  their  confidence,  and  they  will,  of  course,  do  neither,  unless 
the  banks  furnish  them  a  currency  equal  to  the  legal  standard  of 
the  country;  but  adopt  by  your  legislation  a  baser  standard  than 
gold  and  silver,  and  do  you  think  —  does  any  one  think  —  that 
the  banks  will  furnish  a  better  currency  for  the  people  than  you 
prescribe  for  the  public  treasury?  No,  sir.  The  supposition 
would  be  absurd.  If  you  do  not  fix  and  maintain  a  proper  stan 
dard  of  currency  none  can  exist  in  the  country.  If  you  adopt 
and  adhere  to  the  constitutional  standard  in  your  transactions, 
the  influence  of  your  example  will  be  all-powerful  with  the 
banks  and  with  all  future  State  legislation  in  regard  to  them. 

"The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Webster]  manifested 
some  alarm,  lest  the  officers  of  the  government  should  be  set 
down  at  the  first  table  and  the  people  left  to  supply  themselves 
at  the  second.  He  was  one  of  those  who  claimed  to  be  as  demo 
cratic  as  the  honorable  Senator,  and  as  unwilling  to  degrade  our 
masters,  the  people ;  but  if  the  cook  were  to  supply  the  first 
table  with  base  food,  in  order  that  the  master  of  the  mansion 
might  sit  at  it  with  the  servants,  he  could  not  believe  that  the 
honor  of  the  situation  would  compensate  for  the  unwholesome 
character  of  the  bill  of  fare.  Would  it  not  better  comport  with 
the  duty  of  a  faithful  servant  to  provide  sound,  healthful,  nutri 
tious  food  for  every  table,  and  thus  enable  the  master  to  consult 
39 


610  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

his  pleasure  as  to  which  he  would  be  fed  from,  without  danger 
to  his  health.  True,  if  bad  food  were  not  provided  and  cooked 
the  servants  could  not  eat  bad  food,  but  it  was  as  true  that  if 
sound  food  were  not  provided  the  master  could  not  have  sound 
food,  whatever  table  he  might  choose  it  from.  If  we  do  not 
provide  a  sound  standard  of  currency,  our  masters,  the  people, 
cannot  enjoy  a  sound  currency,  for  to  us  they  have  intrusted  the 
duty  of  selecting  and  establishing  that  standard.  We  act  for 
them  and  not  for  ourselves,  and  the  standard  of  currency  we 
adopt  for  the  public  treasury  is  adopted  for  them  and  not  for  us. 
"  Another  argument,  very  nearly  allied  in  character  to  the  last, 
is  urged  against  the  passage  of  this  bill.  It  is  said  its  effect  will 
be  to  raise  the  salaries  and  compensations  of  the  public  officers. 
Some  have  stated  the  increase  to  be  equal  to  ten,  some  to  twelve 
and  a  half,  and  he  believed  he  had  seen  some  statements  raising 
it  as  high  as  twenty  per  cent  upon  the  present  compensations. 
What  foundation  had  this  argument  ?  The  same  as  the  former. 
It  went  upon  the  assumption  that  the  currency  of  the  country 
was  now,  and  was  always  to  remain,  base  and  depreciated ;  that 
a  dollar  of  currency  was  not,  and  was  not  to  be,  equal  in  value 
to  a  statute  standard  dollar.  Look  at  the  position  in  its  true 
light,  and  its  fallacy  will  be  instantly  manifest.  The  compensa 
tions  of  all  public  officers  are  fixed  by  law.  Take  our  own  com 
pensation,  for  example.  We  are  to  receive  a  given  number  of 
dollars  per  day  for  each  day  of  our  service.  This  is  the  contract 
between  us  and  the  people.  How,  then,  are  we  to  be  paid  ?  Are 
we  to  have  eight  dollars  for  each  day  we  occupy  these  seats,  or  are 
we  to  have  eight  promises  of  some  bank  to  pay,  which  are  worth  but 
four  dollars  ?  Does  any  man  doubt  which  was  the  intention  of  the 
law  ?  Will  any  man  contend  that  we  are  overpaid  if  we  receive 
eight  dollars  in  gold  or  silver,  as  the  value  thereof  is  regulated 
by  Congress  ?  Will  not  all  admit  that  we  are  not  paid  accord 
ing  to  the  law  unless  we  receive  that  value  ?  But,  say  gentlemen, 
gold  and  silver  bear  a  premium  in  the  market,  and  therefore 
any  given  amount,  paid  in  the  standard  coins  of  the  country,  is 
overpaid  to  the  extent  of  the  premium  upon  the  coins.  Here 
rests  the  error.  The  premises  are  false,  and  the  conclusion  there 
fore  falls  to  the  ground.  Gold  and  silver  do  not,  and  cannot, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  611 

properly  speaking,  bear  a  premium.  An  American  silver  dollar 
can  no  more  be  worth  one  hundred  and  ten  or  one  hundred  arid 
twenty-five  cents,  in  this  country,  than  a  standard  pound  can 
weigh  a  pound  and  a  quarter.  The  one  thing  is  as  impossible  as 
the  other.  Both  are  themselves  standards,  the  one  of  value  and 
the  other  of  quantity  ;  and  the  former  can  no  more  vary  than  the 
latter.  The  dollar  is  worth  -exactly  one  hundred  cents.  It  is 
the  measure  of  that  value,  and  cannot  be  worth  either  more  or 
less  than  that  sum.  It  is  itself  the  par  of  money.  Whatever  is 
above  it  bears  a  premium,  and  whatever  is  below  it  is  at  a  dis 
count.  This  error  in  computing  the  value  of  money  and  the 
value  of  our  paper  currency  is  so  universal,  that  it  is  not  singular 
this  argument  should  appear  plausible  to  most  minds  without  a 
somewhat  close  examination.  All  the  statements  we  see  pub 
lished  adopt  the  value  of  the  paper  as  the  par  of  money ;  and 
because  the  gold  and  silver  are  more  valuable  and  command  a 
higher  price  in  the  market  than  paper,  they  are  said  to  bear  a 
premium.  The  error  arises  from  adopting  an  erroneous  standard 
for  the  par  value.  The  paper  is  not  par  when  gold  and  silver  are 
worth  more  than  it.  They  are  the  par  and  the  paper  is  depreci 
ated.  A  moment's  reflection  will  show  every  man  that  this  is 
the  true  position.  Why,  then,  it  will  be  asked,  are  not  the  state 
ments  of  the  market  value  of  our  currency,  daily  published  to  the 
country,  made  upon  the  true  and  not  upon  a  false  basis  ?  The 
boards  of  brokers  and  bankers  and  dealers  in  money  would  pro 
bably  be  able  to  account  for  the  manner  in  which  these  state 
ments  are  nmde.  It  is  much  more  acceptable  to  them,  and 
doubtless  much  more  favorable  to  the  circulation  and  credit  of 
the  depreciated  bank  paper,  to  use  it  as  the  par,  the  standard  of 
value,  and  to  present  gold  and  silver  at  a  premium,  as  being 
actually  worth  a  tenth  beyond  its  statute  value,  its  value  as  a 
tender  in  the  payment  of  debts. 

"A  single  fact  which  transpired  in  this  city  but  a  day  or  two 
since  will  show  the  practical  effect  of  this  mode  of  computing 
the  value  of  money.  A  member  of  the  Senate,  within  the  last 
few  days,  related  to  me  the  following  incident :  The  Senator 
stepped  into  a  shop  upon  the  avenue  to  purchase  some  small 
article.  The  price  was  given  to  him  by  the  shopkeeper  at  eighty- 


612  LTFE  AND  TIMES  ox  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

seven  and  a  half  cents.  He  presented  a  dollar  in  silver  to  make 
payment,  when  he  was  informed  that  the  price  was  given  at 
eighty-seven  and  a  half  cents  under  the  expectation  that  payment 
would  be  made  in  paper,  in  '  shin-plasters,'  as  they  are  called,  and 
that  it  was  but  seventy-five  cents  if  paid  in  specie,  and  he  received 
a  quarter  of  a  dollar  in  change  and  the  article  he  desired.  W;is 
this  difference  of  price  a  premium  upon  the  silver  ?  No,  sir.  It 
was  an  addition  to  cover  the  depreciation  of  paper.  The  seventy- 
five  cents  was  the  value  of  the  article  in  money.  The  eighty- 
seven  and  a  half  cents  was  the  value  in  depreciated  paper.  This 
little  incident  shows  us  the  tax  which  would  be  imposed  upon  the 
public  creditors,  including  the  officers  of  the  government,  if  we 
were  to  pay  them  in  a  depreciated  currency.  It  shows  us  that 
we  should,  at  once,  sink  their  compensations  about  one-sixth,  as 
that  would  be  the  additional  charge  against  them  for  every  neces 
sary  of  life,  because  they  must  make  payment  in  a  currency  so 
much  depreciated.  It  shows  us  also  the  immense  tax  which  the 
whole  community  must  pay  so  long  as  they  are  compelled  to  use 
a  base  currency;  and  shall  we  then  be  urged  to  adopt  a  standard 
of  currency  for  the  public  treasury  below  the  value  of  gold  and 
silver  ? 

"A  third  argument  against  the  passage  of  this  bill,  urged  with 
great  zeal  and  earnestness  by  those  who  put  it  forth,  is,  that  it 
will  extend  most  fearfully  the  executive  patronage  of  this  gov 
ernment;  that  it  will  tend  to  strengthen  the  executive  arm,  to  the 
danger  of  public  liberty  itself.  He  would  examine  concisely  this 
startling  objection.  The  bill  creates  no  new  officers.  It  proposes 
to  intrust  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  funds  with  the  officers 
who  now  collect  them.  These  officers  are  all  appointed  by  the 
President  and  Senate,  by  the  President  alone,  or  by  the  heads  of 
some  one  of  the  executive  departments.  They  are  all  public 
officers  of  the  government,  responsible  to  it  and  to  the  people 
for  their  official  acts.  They  are  all  now  removable  at  the  pleasure 
of  the  President.  The  bill  does  not  propose  to  change  the  mode 
of  their  appointment,  or  to  increase  their  liability  to  dismission 
from  office  by  the  executive.  In  what  way,  then,  does  it  increase 
the  executive  power  over  them,  or  strengthen  that  arm  of  the 
government  for  good  or  for  evil  ?  He  would  take  a  case,  the  more 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  618 

clearly  to  illustrate  his  views;  the  collector  of  the  port  of  New 
York,  a  place  of  high  trust  and  responsibility  already,  and  to  be 
made  much  more  so  if  this  bill  becomes  a  law,  is  appointed  by  the 
President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate;  he 
is  removable  at  the  pleasure  of  the  President  without  cause, 
either  proved  or  assigned;  this  is  the  relation  of  that  officer  to 
the  executive  branch  of  the  government  under  the  existing  laws. 
Does  the  bill  before  us  propose  to  change  that  relation  ?  Not  in 
any  way  whatever.  It  merely  proposes  to  make  that  officer  keep 
and  disburse  the  money  he  collects,  instead  of  handing  it  over  to 
a  bank  for  safe-keeping;  and  it  will  require  that  he  should 
strengthen  his  official  bond  and  sureties  to  meet  the  increased 
official  responsibility.  But  would  any  gentleman  explain  to  him 
how  the  power  or  influence  of  the  executive  over  the  officer  was 
to  be  increased  by  these  proceedings.  That  power  and  influence 
could  only  be  exerted  in  reference  to  his  appointment  to  or 
removal  from  office;  and  the  existing  law  upon  that  subject  was 
not  to  be  changed.  The  office  was  made  no  more  valuable  by 
this  addition  of  duty  and  responsibility,  and,  therefore,  the  bill 
would  cause  no  increase  of  a  desire  for  the  possession  or  reten 
tion  of  it. 

"  It  was  a  mistake,  then,  of  fact,  that  the  executive  patronage 
was  increased,  or  the  executive  arm  strengthened  by  the  provi 
sions  of  the  bill.  It  was  a  delusion  which  gentlemen  had  per 
mitted  their  imaginations  to  practice  upon  them,  which  had  no 
foundation  in  the  proposed  law.  This  would  be  rendered  more 
apparent  by  the  fact  that  this  argument  was  most  urged  by  those 
who  preferred  a  return  to  the  system  of  deposits  with  the  State 
banks.  Had  any  gentleman,  who  had  occupied  a  seat  here  for 
the  last  few  years,  or  who  had  turned  his  attention  at  all  to  the 
proceedings  of  Congress  since  the  public  moneys  were  trans 
ferred  for  safe-keeping  from  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States 
to  the  State  banks,  forgotten  the  vivid  pictures,  daily  drawn 
upon  this  floor,  of  the  immense  stride  which  had  been  taken 
by  the  executive  power  in  the  adoption  of  that  system  of 
deposits  ?  Were  we  not  constantly  told  of  the  army  of  bank 
agents,  bank  officers  and  bank  directors,  persons  unknown  to 
the  Constitution  and  the  'law,  and  not  responsible  to  Congress 


614  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

or  the  people,  which  that  system  had  brought  within  executive 
influence,  and  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  executive  ?  Who 
did  not  then  feel  that  there  was  some  force  in  these  remarks  ? 
And  who  that  was  a  friend  to  the  then  administration  did  not 
struggle  incessantly  to  procure  the  passage  of  some  law  which 
should  bring  that  system  of  deposits  within  the  power  and  con 
trol  of  Congress  ?  And  are  we  now  to  be  urged  to  return  to  that 
system,  to  re-enlist  that  numerous  body  of  bank  managers,  and 
reconnect  them  with  the  executive  branch  of  the  government,  to 
prevent  an  extension  of  executive  patronage  and  power,  by  the 
simple  employment  of  officers  of  our  own  appointment,  directly 
responsible  to  the  people,  and  to  the  representatives  of  the  people 
here  ?  The  position  was  absurd.  It  was  to  urge  us  upon  the 
very  evil  we  were  cautioned  to  avoid  ;  to  embrace  a  danger 
existing  in  its  worst  form,  to  discharge  ourselves  from  one  of  a 
merely  imaginary  character. 

"  No,  sir ;  if  gentlemen  would  take  a  calm  and  dispassionate 
view  of  this  subject,  they  would  see  that  the  bill  would  increase 
immensely,  fearfully,  the  executive  responsibilities,  not  the  execu 
tive  power.  If  the  system  proposed  be  adopted,  the  people  will 
hold  the  President  responsible  for  nis  selection  of  the  officers  to 
be  intrusted  with  the  safe-keeping  of  their  treasure;  and  they 
will  hold  the  head  of  the  Treasury  department  responsible  for 
an  incessant  and  sleepless  vigilance  over  these  depositaries.  This 
will  be  the  influence  the  bill  will  exert  upon  the  executive  branch 
of  the  government.  It  will  throw  upon  the  executive  officers  a 
great  increase  of  care  and  responsibility  —  not  an  increase  of 
power  or  influence. 

"  Indeed,  so  strongly  had  this  increase  of  responsibility,  even 
upon  the  minor  executive  officers,  impressed  itself  upon  the  mind 
of  one  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  addressed  the  Senate  [Mr. 
Rives],  as  to  induce  him  to  entertain  the  apprehension  that  men 
of  proper  character,  standing  and  responsibility  could  not  be 
found  willing  to  accept  the  trusts.  For  himself,  he  was  almost 
ready  to  say  that  he  wished  he  could  entertain  more  apprehen 
sion  upon  this  point  than  the  argument  of  the  Senator  had  inspired 
him  with.  lie  had  no  fear  of  living  to  see  that  period  when  the 
lucrative  and  honorable  and  desirable  offices  of  this  government 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  615 

would  go  begging  for  incumbents;  when  candidates,  of  the  most 
unquestioned  qualifications  in  every  sense,  would  not  voluntarily 
present  themselves,  and  conflict  with  each  other  for  the  places. 
At  points  where  the  emoluments  of  office  did  not  present  ade 
quate  temptation,  the  collections  must  be  small  and  the  trust 
light  ;  so  that  he  was  at  perfect  ease  upon  this  point,  and  had 
only  alluded  to  it  to  enforce  his  own  position,  that  the  bill  was 
calculated  to  increase  executive  responsibility,  not  to  extend 
executive  power. 

"A  fourth  argument  against  the  bill  claimed  a  passing  notice. 
It  was  that  it  would  work  the  entire  destruction  of  credit  in  the 
country.  This  appeared  to  him  to  be,  most  clearly,  an  objection 
springing  from  an  excited  imagination.  What  were  the  premises 
from  which  this  frightful  conclusion  had  been  drawn?  State 
them  in  their  worst  form  and  utmost  extent,  and  what  were  they  ? 
That  the  government  of  the  United  States  was,  hereafter,  to  con 
fine  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  moneys  to  the  hands  of  its 
own  officers,  and  was  gradually  to  discontinue  the  receipt  of 
bank  notes  in  payment  of  the  public  dues.  These  were  the  things 
proposed  to  be  done.  The  effect  of  such  a  policy  upon  the  credit 
and  business  of  the  local  banking  institutions  of  the  country  he 
had  already  fully  discussed  ;  and,  to  his  own  satisfaction,  had 
shown  that  its  adoption  would  promote,  and  not  injure,  the  use 
fulness  of  those  institutions,  considered  in  the  light  of  public 
institutions  founded  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  at  large, 
and  deserving  credit  and  confidence  precisely  in  proportion  as 
they  should  confine  their  operations  within  their  fixed  means, 
and  should  discharge  faithfully  and  promptly  all  the  obligations 
imposed  by  their  charters.  In  this  light  only  was  he  disposed  to 
discuss  the  claims  of  the  local  banks  upon  the  country  or  the  con 
fidence  of  -the  people.  The  profits  of  the  corporators  was  not  a 
consideration  to  enter  into  a  discussion  like  the  present.  It  was 
a  mere  consequence  of  the  faithful  discharge  of  one  of  the  high 
est  trusts  which  any  government  could  delegate,  the  trust  of 
making  a  currency  for  the  people  of  the  country;  and  if  he  had 
succeeded  in  showing  that  this  trust  could  be  more  safely  and 
perfectly  executed  without  than  with  a  fiscal  connection  with 
this  government,  he  had  accomplished  his  object,  and  proved  that 


616  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  just  credit  of  these  institutions  was  not  to  be  injuriously 
affected  by  the  bill. 

"  Who  would  contend  that  its  provisions  were  calculated  to 
injure  any  other  description  of  credit?  Would  not  wealth  and 
integrity  receive  the  same  confidence  with  the  community, 
whether  the  funds  of  this  government  were  kept  in  the  State 
banks  or  in  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  people?  Would  not 
industry  and  enterprise  gain  the  same  esteem,  and  command  the 
same  credit,  wherever  the  government  should  choose  to  place  its 
strong  box?  Would  neighbor  cease  to  trust  and  confide  in 
neighbor  because  bank  notes  were  not  to  be  received  in  payment 
of  the  public  dues  ?  Certainly  not.  The  picture  was  an  imagi 
nary  one,  and  this  consequence  of  the  passage  of  the  bill,  upon 
the  credit  between  man  and  man,  was  not  to  be  apprehended. 
It  was  the  objection  of  an  excited  mind  and  not  of  sober  reason. 

"  An  argument  of  a  character  very  similar  to  that  last  noticed 
had  proceeded  from  the  same  source.  It  was  that  the  passage  of 
this  bill,  the  separation  of  the  funds  of  the  government  from  the 
banks  and  the  gradual  suspension  of  the  receipt  of  their  paper  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues,  would  lead  to  a  universal  and  exclu 
sive  metallic  currency  for  the  whole  country  in  all  its  business 
operations.  That  it  would  lead  to  a  currency  equal  in  value  to 
gold  and  silver,  and  convertible  into  gold  and  silver  at  pleasure, 
he  hoped  and  believed.  But  that  it  would  destroy  the  State 
banks  and  send  us  back  to  an  exclusive  metallic  currency  there 
was  not  the  slightest  reason  for  believing.  If  he  had  not  labored 
in  vain,  in  a  former  part  of  his  argument  he  had  shown  that  the 
effect  of  this  policy  would  be  favorable  to  the  banks,  favorable 
to  the  certainty  of  their  means,  to  a  safe  measure  for  their  opera 
tions  and  to  the  stability  of  their  credit  and  confidence  with  the 
people.  If  these  positions  should  prove  to  be  true,  there  was  no 
just  fear  that  the  banks  would  be  destroyed  or  that  banks  char 
tered  by  the  States  would  not  continue  to  exist.  And  surely,  while 
banks  of  issue  were  in  operation  in  the  country,  no  one  need  fear 
the  prevalence  of  an  exclusive  metallic  currency;  for  nothing 
was  more  certain  than  that  bank  paper  and  gold  and  silver  of 
equal  denominations  could  not  circulate  together.  The  paper 
might  be  made,  for  the  general  purposes  of  business,  of  equal 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  617 

value  with  gold  and  silver;  but  while  the  one  was  the  promise  of 
a  bank  to  pay  and  the  other  the  means  by  which  alone  that  pro 
mise  could  be  redeemed,  and  while  it  was  the  direct  interest  of 
the  bank  that  the  promise  should  take  the  place  of  the  real  value 
and  circulate  in  its  stead,  the  one  would  be  withdrawn  from  cir 
culation  and  hoarded,  and  the  other  would  be  scattered  upon  the 
wings  of  the  wind. 

"  His  fear  was,  that  the  whole  operations  of  the  public  treasury 
would  be  inadequate  to  furnish  a  sufficient  specie  basis  for  our 
paper  circulation.  What  were  those  operations  in  the  aggre 
gate,  compared  to  the  monetary  operations  of  the  country  ?  The 
Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Webster]  had  said  they  were 
estimated  at  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  per  cent.  Call  them 
two  per  cent,  call  them  five  per  cent,  and  will  they  distribute  a 
quantity  of  the  metals  sufficient  to  sustain  the  immense  super 
structure  of  paper,  amounting  to  the  remaining  ninety-five  or 
ninety  eight  per  cent?  And  from  what  other  source  were  we  to 
look  for  an  extension  of  our  specie  basis  if  not  from  the  opera 
tions  of  this  government?  Here,  then,  was  the  fear,  and  not 
that  too  extensive  a  metallic  currency  would  be  diffused  among 
the  people. 

"  He  would  notice  a  single  other  objection  to  this  system,  and 
close  his  remarks  upon  this  branch  of  the  subject.  It  had  been 
said  that  its  effect  would  be  to  hoard  vast  amounts  of  cash  capi 
tal  from  the  uses  of  business.  How  far  was  this  effect  to  be 
anticipated  ?  When  the  revenues  of  the  country  were  made  to 
bear  a  just  relation  to  its  expenditures  —  a  relation  which  he  hoped 
our  recent  experience  would  induce  us  most  rigidly  to  preserve 
for  the  future  —  there  would  be  nothing  to  hoard,  in  the  practical 
sense  of  that  term.  We  should  receive  with  one  hand  and  dis 
burse  with  the  other.  The  payments  into  the  public  treasury,  and 
the  payments  out  of  it,  would  be  made  in  the  same  description  of 
currency  ;  and  what  was  taken  from  the  uses  of  business  by  the 
receipts,  would  be  given  back  to  those  uses  in  the  disbursements, 
without  material  delay.  It  was  true  that  the  great  extent  of  our 
territory,  the  great  number  of  points  at  which  both  receipts  and 
disbursements  were  to  be  made,  and  the  wide  distance  of  their 
location  from  each  other  and  from  the  treasury  here,  keep  a 


618  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

large  sum  in  suspense,  and  in  transitu,  during  the  whole  time. 
That  sum  might  be  liberally  estimated  at  from  three  to  five  mil 
lions,  and  it  was  the  whole  amount  which  the  ordinary  operations 
of  the  treasury  would,  in  any  sense,  hoard  —  the  whole  amount 
which  it  would  withdraw  from  the  uses  of  business,  when  the 
revenues  and  expenditure  of  the  government  should  be  justly 
measured  together.  This  same  sum  was  now  exactly  similarly 
employed,  and  was  suspended  in  the  deposit  banks  to  await  the 
presentation  of  outstanding  drafts ;  that  is,  it  would  be  so  sus 
pended  if  the  banks  were  in  a  condition  to  fulfill  their  obliga 
tions,  and  meet  the  drafts  of  the  treasury  in  specie  or  its  equiva 
lent. 

"  But  it  might  be  said  that,  when  our  revenues  should  again 
become  abundant,  and  exceed  our  expenditures,  so  that  another 
surplus  should  accumulate,  this  system  of  deposits  would  neces 
sarily  lead  to  hoarding.  This  consequence  he  most  cheerfully 
admitted,  and  he  considered  it  one  of  the  strongest  merits  of  the 
system.  He  hoped  never  again  to  see  the  time  when  a  surplus 
revenue  should  afflict  us;  but  if  that  time  did  ever  again  come, 
it  must  proceed  from  an  excess  of  importations,  and  a  renewal 
of  the  speculations  in  our  vast  public  domain.  In  that  case  he 
wished  to  see  the  excess  of  the  revenue  hoarded,  closely  locked 
up  from  the  uses  of  the  trading  community,  as  the  most  efficient, 
speedy  and  certain  check  to  the  overtrading  and  speculations. 

"What,  he  would  ask,  would  have  been  the  surplus  of  revenue 
during  the  late  excesses,  had  the  accumulations  of  money  in  the 
public  treasury,  paid  for  duties  and  lands,  been  hoarded  then, 
and  not  surrendered  to  the  uses  of  the  customers  of  the  banks  ? 
That  surplus,  under  the  system  of  deposits  then  in  use,  reached 
an  amount  beyond  forty  millions  of  dollars.  Does  any  one  sup 
pose  it  would  have  reached  one-third  of  that  sum  if  the  gold 
and  silver  had  been  demanded  in  payment  of  the  public  dues, 
and  closely  locked  up  in  the  public  depositories  ?  No,  sir;  a 
pressure  upon  the  money  market  would  have  been  produced,  and 
the  excesses  arrested  before  you  would  have  hoarded  ten  millions 
of  coin  by  this  process.  What  an  infinite  benefit  to  the  country 
would  have  been  produced  by  such  an  action.  We  should  have 
been  saved  from  the  almost  incurable  evils  of  a  surplus  revenue, 


fjiFK  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  619 

and  of  its  practical  distribution  among  the  States  of  the  Union, 
and,  what  would  have  been  of  far  more  importance,  we  should 
have  been  saved  from  this  tremendous  revulsion  which  the  excesses 
of  credit  have  brought  upon  us. 

"  What,  sir,  has  been  our  own  agency  in  this  national  calamity  ? 
Our  revenue  was  accumulating  millions  upon  millions  beyond 
our  wants.  We  placed  it  in  the  banks  for  safe-keeping,  exacted 
from  them  interest  for  its  use,  and  thus  compelled  them  to  make 
loans  upon  it  in  the  ordinary  course  of  their  business.  It  was  a 
time  of  plenty,  and  their  own  means  were  full,  but  yet  they  must 
use  ours  to  indemnify  them  for  the  use  which  the  law  compelled 
them  to  pay.  Could  any  system  have  been  better  devised  to  pro 
mote  the  excesses  of  which  we  now  complain  ?  Every  dollar  col 
lected  toward  the  public  revenue  added,  not  one  dollar  simply, 
but,  being  used  as  capital,  two  or  three  dollars,  to  the  loans  which 
the  cupidity  of  the  banks  stimulated  them  to  make.  Hence  the 
evil,  so  far  as  the  funds  of  the  government  were  concerned,  pro 
moted  its  own  increase,  and  so  it  must  ever  be  while  the  banks 
are  made  the  depositories  of  the  public  moneys.  Should  we  not, 
then,  dismiss  the  idea  that  a  hoarding  of  capital  is  to  be  a  dreaded 
evil  of  the  proposed  system;  so  regulate  our  legislation  that  the 
revenues  and  expenditures,  in  times  of  stability  and  regularity  of 
business,  will  meet  each  other;  and  desire  to  hoard,  when  excess 
in  trade  or  credit  or  speculation  threaten  to  disturb  the  healthful 
equilibrium  of  the  currency,  and  to  plunge  us  into  reverses  such 
as  we  are  now  experiencing  ?  For  himself,  he  had  no  hesitation 
upon  the  subject.  If  a  regulator  of  the  general  currency  of  the 
country  was  within  the  power  of  Congress,  he  thought  this  that 
regulator,  and  this  action  of  the  proposed  system  of  separation 
from  the  banks  seemed  to  him  to  be  more  valuable  than  almost 
any  feature  in  it. 

"  In  addition  to  the  remarks  he  had  made  and  the  objections 
he  had  attempted  to  answer,  he  found  it  to  be  his  duty  to  notice 
a  single  feature  of  the  bill,  which  had  been  the  subject  of  much 
apprehension  and  criticism.  He  referred  to  the  provision  for  the 
security  of  the  public  moneys  in  the  hands  of  the  depositaries 
proposed  to  be  established.  The  committee  had  here  introduced 
a  guard  of  a  most  rigid  character,  new  to  him,  and,  he  believed, 


620  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

new  to  our  laws.  It  was  that  of  making  a  use  of  the  moneys  a 
criminal  offense,  punishable  by  fine  and  imprisonment,  in  addition 
to  the  usual  pecuniary  liabilities.  Their  object  was  to  draw  the 
characters  of  the  officers  into  security  for  the  public,  and  to 
interpose  that  guaranty  against  an  abuse  of  their  trust.  He  con 
sidered  this  feature  of  the  bill  of  vital  importance  to  its  success 
ful  operation,  although  the  usual  provisions  for  sureties  and 
pecuniary  liabilities  were  full  and  complete  without  it. 

"  The  Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  had  expended 
much  of  his  argument  in  showing  that  the  public  funds  would 
be  insecure  in  such  keeping;  and,  to  fortify  himself  in  his  posi 
tion,  he  had  exhibited  to  us  the  long  list  of  defaulting  public 
officers  which  is  annually  laid  before  us,  and  which  comprises 
every  defaulter  from  the  commencement  of  the  government  to 
the  present  day.  This  was  a  part  of  the  history  of  our  country 
most  unpleasant  and  painful,  and  he  could  not  dwell  upon  it  with 
any  pleasure;  but  the  Senator,  in  bringing  it  to  his  aid  upon  this 
occasion,  seemed  to  have  forgotten  that  all  these  defalcations  had 
happened  under  an  established  system  of  bank  deposits,  State  or 
national,  and,  therefore,  did  not  go  a  step  to  show  either  the 
danger  of  a  permanent  keeping  and  disbursement  of  the  public 
moneys  by  the  public  officers,  or  the  greater  security  of  a  system 
of  deposit  in  banks  than  of  a  keeping  by  the  officers  themselves. 
The  cases  cited  did  go  to  show  that  there  would  sometimes  be 
defaulting  officers;  and  he  did  not  flatter  himself  that  the  present 
bill,  or  any  other  which  human  ingenuity  could  form,  would  con 
stitute  a  perfect  exemption  of  the  government  from  such  losses, 
or  a  perfect  security  to  the  public  funds  in  any  condition.  One 
thing,  however,  was  clear,  and  would  be  conceded  by  all,  which 
was,  that  the  depositaries  proposed  to  be  established  by  this  bill 
would  not  all  fail  at  once,  and  thus  effectually  block  the  wheels 
of  the  treasury,  with  an  abundance  of  means  in  its  possession  in 
case  those  means  could  be  commanded.  Such  was  its  present 
condition  under  the  system  of  State  bank  deposits.  With  mil 
lions  in  the  banks,  the  treasury  had  not  a  dollar  at  command,  and 
is  now,  at  this  moment,  compelled  to  resort  to  the  public  credit 
to  carry  on  the  government.  No  such  revulsion  to  the  treasury 
could  be  experienced  under  the  system  of  deposits  proposed  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  621 

be  adopted;  and  even  if  we  should  occasionally  lose  a  small  sum 
by  a  defaulting  officer,  we  should  not  be  driven  to  the  expense  of 
extra  calls  of  Congress  in  consequence  of  such  defaults. 

"  lie  would  not  detain  the  Senate  to  add  anything  further  to 
this  branch  of  the  argument.  The  President,  in  his  message,  had 
placed  the  ordinary  aspect  of  the  subject  too  clearly  before  Con 
gress  and  the  country  to  admit  of  confirmation  by  anything  he 
could  add  to  these  forcible  and  practicable  views. 

"  This  closed  the  examination  he  proposed  to  make  of  the  plan 
of  the  administration,  for  the  exercise  of  the  incidental  powers 
of  Congress  over  the  general  currency  of  the  country,  and  of  the 
prominent  objections  to  that  plan  ;  and  he  would  now  pass  to 
the  alternatives  proposed  by  those  who  differed  from  the  Presi 
dent. 

"  The  first  of  these  was  the  plan  proposed  by  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Rives],  which,  in  substance,  is  a 
return  to  the  system  of  State  bank  deposits,  connected  with  the 
general  receptibility,  upon  certain  conditions,  of  the  notes  of  the 
State  banks  in  payment  of  the  public  dues.  What  he  had 
already  said  in  reference  to  the  administration  plan  would  excuse 
him  from  any  further  discussion  of  this  proposition  than  what 
related  to  its  limitations.  The  proposition  was,  in  substance,  simi 
lar  to  one  formerly  introduced  into  this  body  by  the  same  distin 
guished  Senator,  and  upon  that  occasion  it  underwent  a  full  dis 
cussion.  It  was  not,  therefore,  a  proposition  new  to  the  body  ; 
but  as  he  had  not  taken  part  in  its  discussion  then,  and  as  it  was 
now  brought  in  conflict  with  a  system  he  approved,  he  felt  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  test  its  efficiency  to  accomplish  its  proposed 
objects. 

"Those  objects  seem  to  be  two:  the  first  of  which  was  to 
strengthen  and  sustain  the  State  banks  and  facilitate  their  return 
to  specie  payments ;  and  the  second  to  extend  and  strengthen 
the  specie  basis  for  the  paper  circulation  of  the  banks  by  expel 
ling  from  circulation  small  bank-notes. 

"  The  first  object  was  proposed  to  be  accomplished  by  a  con 
tinuance  of  the  public  deposits  with  these  banks,  and  by  making 
their  notes,  when  redeemed  with  specie,  receivable  in  payment  of 
the  public  dues.  He  had  already  discussed  both  these  points  as 


622  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

fully  as  he  proposed  to  do  it,  under  the  head  of  the  influence 
upon  the  banks  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  before  the  Senate.  He 
had  there  given  his  reasons  for  the  opinion  that  even  a  connec 
tion,  as  depositories,  between  the  State  banks  and  the  national 
treasury  was  injurious  to  the  banks;  that  if  the  connection  as 
depositories  did  not  exist,  the  receptibility  of  the  notes  of  the 
banks  in  payment  of  the  public  dues  was  a  matter  of  little  prac 
tical  interest  to  them,  because  the  notes  so  received  must  be 
immediately  presented  for  payment  and  could  not  be  perma 
nently  retained  in  safe-keeping;  and  that,  if  the  separation 
between  the  banks  and  the  treasury  was  to  be  made  perpetual, 
the  present  was  the  most  favorable  time,  so  far  as  the  banks  are 
concerned,  to  make  that  declaration. 

"It  therefore  remained  for  him  simply  and  concisely  to  exa 
mine  the  efficacy  of  the  Senator's  plan  to  exclude  small  notes  and 
extend  the  circulation  of  specie. 

"  These  two  great  objects  were  proposed  to  be  accomplished 
by  the  enactment  that  no  note  of  any  State  bank  should  be 
received  in  payment  of  the  public  dues,  if  such  bank  should,  after 
a  specified  day,  issue  notes  below  a  specified  denomination.  The 
restriction  is  made  to  commence  at  the  passage  of  the  act,  with  a 
limitation  of  notes  not  below  five  dollars;  after  the  year  1839  no 
notes  are  to  be  issued  below  ten  dollars;  and  after  the  year  1841 
no  notes  below  twenty  dollars;  and  the  receptibility  of  the  bank 
paper  by  the  public  treasury  is  made  dependent  upon  an  obser 
vance  by  the  banks  of  these  restrictions.  No  alteration  of  the 
present  bank  deposit  law  is  proposed,  and  that  compels  the 
banks,  as  a  condition  of  their  participation  in  that  patronage, 
not  to  issue  notes  below  the  denomination  of  ten  dollars.  Nei 
ther  the  deposit  law  nor  the  proposition  of  the  honorable  Senator 
appeals  to  the  controlling  power  of  State  legislation  to  make  them 
effective.  Neither  could  do  so  with  propriety,  as  both  are  mere 
regulations  of  federal  legislation  addressed  to  the  interests  of  the 
State  banking  institutions.  This  address  to  such  institutions  is 
always  the  safe  one,  so  far  as  their  power  of  action  is  within 
their  own  control;  for  no  principle  can  be  more  safely  depended 
upon  than  that  a  moneyed  incorporation,  by  whatever  authority 
brought  into  existence,  will  govern  its  action  by  its  interests. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  623 

"It  is  in  this  single  sense,  then,  that  the  practical  results  to  be 
expected  from  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  the  Senator  from  Vir 
ginia  are  to  be  examined.  How  far  will  the  interests  of  the 
Stiitc  banking  institutions  of  the  country  induce  them  to  sub 
ject  their  action  to  his  proposed  restrictions  ?  The  inducement 
offered  is  the  receptibility  of  their  paper  in  the  payment  of  the 
public  dues.  The  disability  is  that  of  issuing  no  small  notes. 
He  had  before  suggested,  as  the  result  of  his  reflections,  that, 
unaccompanied  by  a  portion  of  the  public  deposits,  the  recep 
tibility  of  the  notes  of  a  local  bank  in  payment  of  the  public 
dues  was  a  very  trifling,  if  not  a  very  questionable,  boon.  That 
impression  confidently  remained.  He  therefore  concluded  that 
the  interests  of  no  banks  would  induce  them,  voluntarily,  to 
subject  themselves  to  the  restrictions  proposed,  except  such  as 
should  be  selected  as  depositories.  The  value  of  this  patronage 
would  be  greatly  impaired  if  the  notes  of  the  deposit  banks  were 
not  so  receivable.  These  institutions,  therefore,  would  bring 
themselves  within  the  restrictions  and  within  the  benefits  of  the 
system.  What,  then,  would  be  the  effect,  in  practice,  upon  the 
currency  of  the  country  ?  There  are  now  some  eight  hundred 
State  banks  in  organization.  The  greatest  number  selected  under 
the  late  deposit  law  was  about  one-tenth  of  the  whole ;  and  it  is 
known  at  the  treasury,  and  will  be  readily  seen  by  all  who  will 
make  a  practical  examination  of  the  subject,  that  one  of  the 
greatest  evils  of  that  law  was  the  large  number  of  banks  which 
its  provisions  compelled  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  the 
then  bloated  state  of  the  public  funds,  to  select  as  depositories. 
From  thirty  to  forty  is  the  largest  number  which  the  convenience 
of  the  receipts  and  disbursements  and  the  safe  management  of 
the  public  funds  can  ever  require.  But  suppose  the  highest 
number  heretofore  employed  should  be  retained,  still  we  should 
have  more  than  seven  hundred  banks  not  submitting  themselves 
to  the  proposed  restrictions,  and  consequently  not  restrained, 
except  by  their  charters,  from  the  issue  of  small  notes.  Go  far 
ther,  and  suppose  that  the  interests  of  one-half  of  all  the  banks 
of  the  country  should  induce  them  to  come  within  the  provisions 
of  the  proposed  bill  ;  the  field  for  the  circulation  of  small  paper 
would  only  be  made  richer-  for  those  which  did  not  come  in,  and, 


624  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

until  the  established  laws  of  currency  be  radically  changed,  and 
silver  dollars  and  half  eagles  can  circulate  in  common  with  one 
and  five-dollar  bank  notes,  the  four  hundred  banks  would  make 
much  more,  from  this  circulation,  than  from  any  additions  we  can 
make  to  their  business  by  receiving  their  notes.  The  induce 
ment  which  the  proposition  holds  out  is  wholly  inadequate  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  objects  proposed,  and  not  a  dollar  will  be 
added  to  the  specie  circulation  of  the  country  under  it.  These 
considerations  rendered  this  plan  less  desirable  to  him  than  that 
proposed  by  the  President. 

"  True,  it  might  be  said  that  the  plan  of  the  President  did  riot 
act  upon  the  banks  by  way  of  restraint  upon  the  amount  or 
description  of  their  issues.  It  was  true  as  to  the  description  of 
their  issues.  That  was  left  to  State  legislation,  the  source  from 
which  they  derived  their  existences,  and  to  which  belonged  the 
limitation  of  their  powers,  so  far  as  they  were  to  be  limited  by 
legislation.  The  plan  of  the  President  sought  to  act  upon  these 
institutions  in  a  different  way,  and  by  a  more  powerful  lever. 
Specie  was  their  life-blood,  and  the  creation  of  a  demand  for  it 
was  the  only  efficient  control  over  them.  Bring  the  public  reve 
nues,  then,  to  a  specie  standard,  and  you  most  effectually  limit 
the  amount  of  issues  of  the  banks,  so  far  as  your  operations  can 
impose  such  a  limit.  Make  your  disbursements  in  gold  and 
silver;  and,  although  the  small  bank  paper  will  displace  it,  your 
continued  and  perpetual  action  will  draw  the  same  specie  again 
from  the  banks,  and  will  thus  keep  an  amount  equal  to  your 
receipts  and  disbursements  in  a  constantly  active  state.  In  this 
way  alone,  in  his  judgment,  is  it  in  the  power  of  this  government 
to  expand  the  specie  basis  for  our  immense  paper  circulation. 

"  He  could  not  see  that  the  action  of  the  bill  proposed  by  the 
Senator  from  Virginia  would  accomplish  this  object,  while  it  did 
appear  to  him  that  a  perfect  separation  from  the  banks,  and  a 
gradual  return  to  a  metallic  currency  for  the  operations  of  the 
national  treasury,  might  reach  it. 

"  The  only  other  alternative  which  had  been  presented  was  a 
national  bank.  No  distinct  proposition,  in  a  legislative  form,  for 
such  an  institution,  was  before  the  Senate  ;  but  the  debate  had 
developed  the  fact  that  such  an  institution  was  the  favorite  alter- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  625 

native  of  a  large  majority  of  the  body,  and  therefore  he  made 
this  allusion  to  it.  It  was  not  his  purpose  to  discuss  it  in  any 
manner.  In  the  absence  of  any  distinct  proposition,  and  after 
the  recent  expression  of  the  Senate  upon  that  point,  he  could 
not  feel  warranted  in  taking  the  time  even  to  reply  to  the  argu 
ments  which  had  been  advanced  in  favor  of  this  plan.  The  whole 
subject  had  constituted  a  topic  of  constant  discussion  before  the 
country  for  years,  and  he  could  not  hope,  at  this  late  day,  to  give 
any  new  ideas  upon  it  to  the  Senate  or  to  the  public. 

"He  had  upon  his  notes  several  other  replies  which  he  had 
intended  to  make,  but  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  and  the  full  dis 
cussion  which  every  important  point  in  the  debate  had  received 
from  others,  would  induce  him  to  omit  them,  with  a  single  excep 
tion. 

"The  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Rives]  had  seemed 
to  suppose  that  nothing  had  transpired  to  weaken  the  confidence 
of  those  who  had  formerly  favored  the  system  of  State  bank 
deposits.  He  was  one  who  had  favored  that  system,  when  it  was 
adopted  by  the  executive  in  1833-34.  He  then  expressed  his  con 
fidence  in  the  ability  and  fidelity  of  the  State  banks  to  discharge 
the  trusts  confided  to  them.  At  that  time  he  entertained  fully 
and  honestly  the  confidence  he  expressed  in  those  institutions. 
Their  subsequent  conduct  had  gone  far  to  convince  him  that  his 
confidence  was  excessive  and  misplaced.  He  would  not  say  that 
that  system  of  deposits  had  entirely  failed,  as  that  seemed  to  be 
a  point  of  debate  and  question,  but  he  would  say  that  the  banks 
had  failed  to  comply  with  their  obligations  ;  that  both  the 
government  and  the  people  had  been  reduced  to  extremities  by 
this  failure  on  their  part  ;  that  we  found  ourselves  here,  at  this 
unseasonable  period,  in  consequence  of  it ;  and  that,  in  view  of 
these  facts,,  he  heard  with  some  surprise  the  declaration,  confi 
dently  pronounced,  that  nothing  had  taken  place  to  authorize  a 
change  of  opinion  as  to  the  safety  of  that  system. 

"  He  had  been  repeatedly  published  to  the  country  as  grossly 
inconsistent  for  supporting  and  sustaining  that  system  of  deposits 
in  1834,  and  for  failing  to  support  it  now.  He  did  not  feel  the 
force  of  the  charge  ;  but,  whether  inconsistent  or  not,  when  con 
vinced  of  his  error,  he  was  -most  cheerful  to  retract  it.  Time  had 
40 


626  LIFE  ANL  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

shown  that  he  then  possessed  a  confidence  in  the  banks  which 
they  had  not  sustained,  and  which  he  was  bound  to  presume  they 
could  not  sustain.  Was  he,  for  the  sake  of  consistency,  or  for 
any  other  cause,  to  assume  to  entertain  his  former  confidence, 
when  every  foundation  for  it  had  been  swept  away  by  the  volun 
tary  action  of  the  banks  themselves  ?  No,  sir,  such  was  not  his 
course.  He  left  the  defense  of  such  a  position  to  those  who 
could  see  no  difference  between  sound  specie-paying  banks  and 
banks  which  refused  to  pay  specie  upon  their  promises;  between 
banks  which  promptly,  upon  demand,  fulfilled  all  their  obliga 
tions  to  the  public  and  the  national  treasury,  and  banks  which 
complied  with  their  engagements  to  neither." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  debate,  on  the  4th  of  October, 
1837,  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  by  the  following  vote  : 

"  Yeas  —  Messrs.  Allen,  Benton,  Brown,  Buchanan,  Calhoun, 
Clay  of  Alabama,  Fulton,  Grundy,  Hubbard,  King  of  Alabama, 
Linn,  Lyon,  Morris,  Niles,  Norvell,  Pierce,  Roane,  Robinson, 
Sevier,  Smith  of  Connecticut,  Strange,  Walker,  Wall,  Williams, 
WEIGHT  and  Young  —  26. 

"Nays  —  Messrs.  Bayard,  Black,  Clay  of  Kentucky,  Clayton, 
Crittenden,  Davis,  Kent,  King  of  Georgia,  Knight,  McKean, 
Nicholas,  Prentiss,  Robbins,  Smith  of  Indiana,  Southard,  Swift, 
Tallmadge,  Tipton,  Webster  and  White  —  20." 

It  was  sent  to  the  House,  where  it  was  laid  upon  the 
table  by  a  vote  of  120  to  107. 

There  was  no  further  action  on  this  subject  at  that 
session. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  627 


CHAPTER  LXV. 

OTHER  MEASURES  INTRODUCED  INTO  THE  SENATE  AT  THE 
SPECIAL  SESSION  IN  1837. 

After  the  failure  of  nearly  all  the  banks  to  redeem  their 
bills,  importing  merchants  encountered  great  difficulties 
in  obtaining  currency  receivable  by  law  at  the  custom 
houses  for  duties.  This  led  to  an  application  to  Congress 
for  authority  to  deposit  goods,  on  their  arrival,  in  public 
stores.  Mr.  WEIGHT  reported  a  bill  for  this  purpose, 
which  did  not  then  become  a  law.  But  an  act  was  passed 
to  authorize  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  post 
pone,  for  a  limited  time,  the  collection  of  duty  bonds, 
and  to  give  a  credit  of  three  and  six  months  for  the 
duties  on  goods  imported  by  the  first  of  November  then 
next. 

Mr.  WEIGHT  also  reported  a  bill  to  revoke  the  charters 
of  all  banks  in  the  District  of  Columbia  which  should 
not  resume  specie  payments  within  sixty  days,  and  should 
not  cease  within  thirty  days  to  pay  out  bills  of  banks 
which  did  not  redeem  them  in  specie;  and  that  said  banks 
should,  within  sixty  days,  commence  redeeming  their  notes 
under  ten  dollars,  and  should  forthwith  cease  to  deal  in 
bills  under  five  dollars.  This  bill  indicated  Mr.  WEIGHT'  s 
views  concerning  banks  not  redeeming  their  bills  in  specie 
and  his  dislike  to  a  currency  of  small  bills.  It  did  not, 
however,  become  a  law  at  that  session. 

Mr.  WEIGHT  also  introduced  a  bill  for  the  adjustment 
of  claims  of  the  government  upon  the  late  deposit  banks. 
It  authorized  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  continue  to 
withdraw  public  money  in  them,  whether  standing  to  the 
credit  of  the  United  States  or  any  officer  of  the  govern- 


628  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

merit,  in  a  manner  convenient  to  the  banks  as  lie  should 
deem  consistent  with  the  wants  of  the  government.  In 
case  the  banks  should  not  comply  with  the  requisitions 
of  the  Secretary,  then  he  was  directed  to  institute  suits 
against  them.  The  Secretary  was  also  directed  to  require 
additional  security  from  these  banks.  This  bill  became 
a  law.  Under  this  it  is  understood  that  the  Secretary 
secured  and  received  all  the  moneys  due  from  these 
deposit  banks,  so  that  the  government  did  not  eventually 
lose  anything  by  them. 

The  deposit,  as  well  as  other  banks,  having  refused  to 
redeem  their  bills  or  pay  what  they  owed  the  government, 
except  in  depreciated  and  unconvertible  paper,  there  were 
no  means  of  meeting  the  national  engagements.  No 
officer  of  the  government  could  be  lawfully  paid  his 
salary  or  expenses,  nor  was  there  any  means  of  meeting 
our  engagements  to  the  army  or  navy.  Instead  of  seek 
ing  relief  through  a  loan,  the  administration  preferred 
resorting  to  treasury  notes.  Mr.  WRIGHT  reported  a  bill 
for  this  purpose,  which  passed  both  Houses,  for  not  to 
exceed  $10,000,000,  and  became  a  law  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1837. 

Here  we  have  the  astonishing  spectacle  of  a  government 
having,  in  the  middle  of  the  previous  year,  so  much 
money  that  it  actually  distributed  some  $28,000,000  to 
relieve  itself  from  its  abundance,  and  resorted  to  efforts 
for  the  reduction  of  its  income,  actually  reduced  to  bor 
rowing  in  order  to  avoid  acts  of  actual  bankruptcy  by 
refusing  to  pay  its  lawful  demands.  Mr.  WEIGHT  used 
to  speak  of  this  as  one  of  the  striking  features  of  a  paper- 
money  system.  His  views,  at  length,  on  banks  and  the 
paper-money  contrivance,  are  fully  and  strikingly  given 
in  seven  articles  published  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Republi 
can,  in  1837,  and  from  which  the  author  gave  extended 
extracts  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  untoward  conse 
quences  of  excessive  issues  of  a  paper  currency,  even  by 


LIIE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  629 

the  government,  exhibited  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion, 
are  remarkable  confirmations  of  his  great  financial  sagacity 
as  displayed  in  these  articles.  Our  national  debt  has 
been  nearly  doubled  by  resorting  to  a  paper  system 
instead  of  using  gold  and  silver,  which  Secretary  Chase 
said  could  be  borrowed  abroad  upon  five  per  cent 
interest. 


630  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXVL 

CASE    OF    RICHARD    W.    MEADE 

The  claim  of  Mr.  Meade  had  often  been  before  the 
Senate  and  received  its  affirmative  action.  He  had  been 
our  consul  at  Cadiz,  in  Spain,  and  had  had  extensive 
transactions  with  the  Spanish  government,  and  was 
largely  its  creditor.  When  we  purchased  Florida,  the 
treaty  provided  a  fund  of  $5,000,000  for  the  payment  of 
claims  of  American  citizens  upon  Spain.  A  commission 
was  appointed  to  adjust  these  and  distribute  the  fund. 
Meade  presented  his  claim  to  the  commission,  and  a  certi 
ficate  of  a  Spanish  official  that  his  government  owed  him 
a  specified  sum.  This  they  held  was  not  sufficient  proof, 
and  required  evidence  of  the  transactions  occasioning  the 
indebtedness,  which  was  not  furnished  before  the  expira 
tion  of  their  powers  and  the  distribution  of  the  sum  pro 
vided  among  other  claimants.  He  then  appealed  to 
Congress.  At  the  request  of  Gen.  Jackson,  Mr.  WEIGHT 
gave  the  case  a  long  and  patient  investigation,  and  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  claim  was  not  valid  against  our 
government.  When  the  bill  for  Meade' s  relief  came  up 
in  the  Senate,  Mr.  WEIGHT  presented  the  facts  as  he 
understood  them  and  the  conclusions  he  had  formed  at 
length.  He  gave  a  succinct  history  of  this  case  from  the 
time  of  Meade' s  first  visit  to  Cadiz,  in  1803,  up  to  the 
period  when  the  claim  was  made  on  this  country,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1819  with  Spain,  from 
which  he  maintained  that  Meade  had  no  well-founded 
claim  upon  the  United  States,  but  that  it  was  between 
himself  and  the  government  of  Spain,  growing  out  of 
transactions  of  a  private  nature.  The  bill,  however, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  631 

passed  the  Senate  by  a  vote  of  23  to  16.     It  failed  in  the 
House  as  it  had  done  before. 

This  claim  has  since  been  before  Congress  several  times. 
When  the  Court  of  Claims  was  established,  it  was  pre 
sented  there,  where  it  was  resisted  by  the  author,  as  gov 
ernment  solicitor,  in  an  elaborate  brief,  and  the  decision 
was  against  it.  A  motion  was  subsequently  made  for  a 
reargument,  since  which  the  author  has  not  heard  of  it, 
though  it  is  probable  it  is  still  an  outstanding  claim 
against  the  government. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  HIS  BROTHER-IN-LAW,  Lucius  MOODY. 

In  this  letter  we  have  a  specimen  of  Mr.  WRIGHT'S 
humorous  correspondence,  differing,  in  most  respects, 
from  his  ordinary  correspondence. 

"WASHINGTON,  19th  January,  1838. 

"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER. —  Your  letter,  with  the  inclosure,  came 
to  us  more  than  a  week  since,  but  I  have  been  too  deeply  engaged 
to  allow  me  time  to  answer  it.  I  have  not  now  time  to  write  a 
long  letter,  and  as  you  never  do  that  yourself,  I  am  sure  you  do 
not  wish  to  read  one.  We  are  much  more  comfortably  situated 
this  winter  than  when  you  was  with  us  during  the  fall.  We 
have  now  two  small  rooms  upon  the  second  floor  of  the  house, 
one  of  which  is  our  bed-room  and  Clarissa's  working-room,  and 
the  other  is  my  office.  Both  have  good  fire-places,  and  fires  when 
we  want  them;  and  as  they  adjoin  each  other,  and  are  wholly 
disconnected  from  any  other  room  in  the  house,  they  are  very 
pleasant.  We  have  four  other  ladies  in  the  mess  besides  Clarissa, 
and  as  they  are,  as  yet,  perfectly  friendly  and  very  neighborly, 
the  separation  of  rooms  is  very  convenient,  as  it  enables  Clarissa 
to  have  her  occasional  visitors  from  the  mess  in  her  own  room, 
while  I  can  be  undisturbed  by  the  discussions  which  you  know 
must  always  be  carried  on  at  such  meetings. 

"  Time  may  prove  that  there  are  more  inconveniences  con 
nected  with  this  separation  of  business  and  labor,  more  than 
counterbalancing  the  benefits,  though  I  hope  not.  It  is  true, 


632  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

when  I  closed  my  labors  in  my  room  last  evening,  at  rather  a 
late  hour,  and  attempted  to  get  to  my  bed,  I  found  myself  locked 
out,  and  not  having  any  bed  in  my  own  room,  the  prospect  for  a 
while  was  rather  discouraging.  Yet  the  weather  was  very  warm, 
so  warm  that  we  had  required  no  fires  in  our  rooms  during  the 
evening,  and  a  berth  upon  the  carpet  would  not  have  been  as 
inconvenient  as  in  a  colder  night.  By  rattling  the  door,  how 
ever,  for  a  few  times,  I  gained  admittance,  and  Clarissa,  with  all 
the  apparent  honesty  in  the  world,  assured  me  that  she  had  fas 
tened  the  door  to  undress,  and  had  gone  to  bed  and  to  sleep 
without  thinking  to  unfasten  it.  During  the  time  she  was  telling 
this  story  I  kept  my  position  firmly  in  the  open  door,  and  not 
finding  the  old  bachelor  of  our  mess  attempting  to  rush  out  past 
me,  nor  being  able  to  see  him  in  the  room,  I  made  the  best  of  it 
I  could,  assumed  to  believe  her  whole  story,  and  here  the  matter 
rested.  I  do  not,  in  truth,  think  he  was  in  the  room,  because  I 
did  not  see  and  did  not  hear  him  there  before  I  went  to  sleep, 
which  was  very  soon  after  I  went  to  bed;  but  you  will  admit  that, 
at  the  hour  of  eleven  o'clock  p.  M.,  it  was  somewhat  a  disturb 
ing  consideration  to  find  the  key  turned  upon  you  by  your  wife. 

"  Nonsense  aside.  Clarissa  has  improved  in  health  since  we 
left  home  more  than  our  hopes  or  wishes  would  have  permitted 
us  to  believe  she  could  have  done  when  we  did  leave.  We  have 
had  two  or  three  days,  last  past,  of  most  unnatural,  and  I  fear 
unhealthy,  weather.  It  has  been  about  as  warm  as  dog  days,  and 
much  such  weather  in  character.  During  that  time  she  has  not 
felt  quite  as  well;  but  for  six  or  seven  weeks  before  that  her 
improvement  seemed  to  be  constant  and  regular,  though  not  very 
rapid.  She  has  gained  strength  so  that  she  walks  a  mile  out  and 
back  without  unreasonable  fatigue,  and  this  evening,  if  the  wind 
does  not  blow  too  severely,  we  propose  to  walk  to  the  theatre 
and  see  Mr.  Booth  in  Richard  III.  I  am  perfectly  well,  and  have 
enough  that  I  ought  to  do,  and  much  more  than  I  do  attend  to 
properly. 

"We  had  letters  from  Horace  this  morning.  He  is  entirely 
well  and  apparently  in  good  spirits.  Our  last  letters  from  home 
informed  us  that  they  were  all  well  there,  but  I  believe  we  have 
not  heard  directly  since  about  a  week  since. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  633 

"  We  have  been  looking  with  great  anxiety  to  the  revolution 
ary  movements  in  your  Province  and  Lower  Canada.  I  have  not 
for  a  moment  anticipated  an  effective  revolution,  but  I  have 
found  that  the  thing  had  gone  so  far  as  to  work  great  injury  to 
some  worthy  and  good  radicals  among  you.  One  or  two  letters 
which  I  have  received  frQm  our  friend  Norton  have  induced  me 
to  fear  that  he  might  be  injured  in  property,  if  not  otherwise,  by 
the  disturbances.  I  have  written  to  him  at  Toronto,  but  was 
really  afraid  to  write,  as  he  told  me  his  letters  -*ould  be  opened 
and  examined  at  the  post-office. 

"  We  have  heard  that  you  had  closed  your  services  on  board 
the  Great  Britain  and  were  to  take  charge  of  another  boat  of 
Mr.  Hamilton's  in  the  spring,  and  that,  to  be  more  in  the  way 
of  that  duty,  you  was  also,  in  the  spring,  to  remove  your  resi 
dence  to  Lewiston.  Tell  us  if  this  news  is  true,  and,  if  it  be, 
when  you  expect  to  remove  up  stream. 

"  Tell  us  also  what  you  know,  if  anything,  about  the  place  of 
residence,  situation  and  circumstances  of  our  Mary  Dawdle.  All 
we  have  heard  of  her  since  we  left  home  is  through  Charlotte 
Hunter,  and  she  said  her  information  came  from  Julia. 

"Tell  us  also  how  that  fat  boy,  Lucius  Horace,  comes  on, 
and  whether  he  is  improving  in  a  manner  which  will  authorize 
the  expectation  that  he  too  is  to  be  advanced  from  a  clerk  to  a 
captain  in  the  spring. 

"  Do  write  more  frequently,  and,  if  we  do  not  give  you  letter 
for  letter,  we  will  give  you  documents  for  the  balance. 

"  Clarissa  sends  her  love  to  Julia  and  the  boy. 

"  Most  truly  yours, 

"SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  Mr.  Lucius  MOODY." 


634  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXVII. 

INDEPENDENT    TREASURY    BILL. 

Early  in  the  second  session  of  the  twenty -fifth  Congress 
Mr.  WEIGHT  again  introduced  his  bill,  entitled  "  A  bill 
to  impose  additional  duties,  as  depositaries,  upon  certain 
public  officers,  to  appoint  receivers-general  of  public 
money  and  to  regulate  the  safe-keeping,  transfer  and  dis 
bursement  of  the  public  moneys  of  the  United  States," 
commonly  called  the  "  sub-treasury  bill."  It  again 
underwent  a  rigid  scrutiny  and  a  long  discussion.  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  on  the  31st  of  January,  1838,  addressed  the 
Senate  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  regretted  that  it  would  be  necessary  for 
him  to  impose  a  more  severe  tax  upon  the  time  and  patience  of 
the  Senate  than  he  had  ever  before  been  compelled  to  impose, 
since  he  had  been  honored  with  a  seat  in  the  body.  He  had 
hoped,  therefore,  that  he  should  have  been  able  to  reach  the  sub 
ject  at  an  earlier  hour  in  the  morning;  but,  as  it  was,  he  would 
endeavor  to  conclude  with  the  sitting  of  the  day. 

"He  said  he  entered  upon  the  debate  with  a  painful  conscious 
ness  of  his  inability  to  do  justice  to  the  position  he  held  in  refer 
ence  to  the  measure  upon  the  table.  The  discussion  of  it  must 
involve  questions  of  the  highest  importance  in  politics,  of  the 
most  pervading  interest  in  finance,  and,  as  he  thought,  of  equal 
magnitude  in  the  morals  of  government.  These  questions  were 
to  be  discussed,  deliberated  upon  and  decided  by  the  Senate;  and 
upon  him  had  fallen  the  duty  of  opening  such  a  debate  before 
that  high  tribunal. 

"  Could  he  call  to  his  aid  talents,  experience,  learning,  powers 
of  argument  and  perspicuity  of  language,  such  as  were  possessed 
and  at  the  command  of  many  of  the  distinguished  Senators  whom 
he  knew  he  must  meet  in  opposition  to  the  bill,  he  should  feel  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


gratifying  confidence  that  he  could  contend  successfully  and 
could  triumphantly  refute  every  objection.  As  it  was,  he  was 
consoled  by  the  reflection  that  he  should  be  followed  in  the 
debate  by  other  Senators  equally  able  and  equally  distinguished, 
and  who  would -only  have  occasion  to  ask  of  him  that  he  should 
not  injure  a  cause  which  must  rest  its  defense  with  them.  He 
would  most  cheerfully  promise  them  that  he  would  not  inten 
tionally  throw  obstacles  in  their  way,  and  he  would  entreat  the 
Senate  to  judge  of  the  bill  from  its  provisions,  which  he  consid 
ered  sound  and  salutary,  and  not  from  the  weaknesses  they 
would  not  fail  to  discover  in  his  attempt  to  support  them. 

"Justice  to  himself  required  another  preliminary  remark.  But 
a  few  months  had  passed  since  they  were  engaged  there  in  the 
discussion  of  this  same  measure,  or  rather,  perhaps,  he  should 
say,  of  a  measure  precisely  similar  in  its  great  leading  features. 
In  that  discussion  he  had  taken  a  part,  and  if  he  should  be  found 
upon  this  occasion  repeating  ideas  and  urging  arguments  which 
he  had  then  advanced,  the  reason  and  his  apology  must  be 
sought  in  the  identity  of  the  subjects,  and  not  in  a  disposition 
on  his  part  to  trouble  the  Senate  now  with  remarks  to  which 
they  had  once  done  him  the  honor  to  listen. 

"  He  said  the  bill  was  based  upon  two  great  leading  principles, 
and  that  all  its  provisions,  detailed  and  numerous  as  they  were, 
became  necessary,  in  the  judgment  of  the  committee,  to  carry 
those  principles  successfully  into  practice.  These  principles  were: 

"First.  A  practical  and  bonafide  separation  between  the  pub 
lic  treasure,  the  money  of  the  people,  and  the  business  of  indi 
viduals  and  incorporations,  and  especially  between  this  money 
and  the  business  of  banking. 

"Second.  A  gradual  change  of  the  currency  to  be  received  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues,  from  that  authorized  to  be  received 
by  the  resolution  of  Congress  of  1816,  to  the  legal  currency  of 
the  United  States. 

"  The  material  details  of  the  bill  applicable  to  each  of  these 
objects  it  would  be  his  duty  to  notice;  and  as  the  task  must  be 
tedious  and  uninteresting  to  him,  and  much  more  so  to  the 
Senate,  he  would  abridge  it  as  much  as  justice  to  the  measure 
would  permit. 


(336  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"As  applicable  to  the  first  object,  the  bill  commenced  with  the 
establishment  of  offices  and  vaults,  at  designated  points,  for  the 
safe-keeping  of  the  public  money.  The  first  section  defined  and 
established  the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  and  placed  it 
under  the  care  and  charge  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States; 
and,  singular  as  it  had  appeared  to  him,  and  as  he  thought  it 
would  appear  to  most  of  the  constituents  of  every  Senator,  this 
was  the  first  attempt,  so  far  as  his  researches  had  enabled  him  to 
discover,  to.  establish,  by  law,  a  national  treasury.  Should  this 
bill  pass,  and  this  section  be  retained,  he  was  confident  it  would 
be  the  first  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  which  had 
given,  not  a  name,  but  c  a  local  habitation,'  to  this  most  import 
ant  institution.  As  the  object  of  the  bill  is  to  place  the  funds 
of  the  government  hereafter  under  the  control  of  the  public 
treasury,  and  not  of  private  banking  institutions,  it  seemed  to 
the  committee  peculiarly  proper  that  its  first  enactment  should 
be  to  define  and  establish  that  treasury. 

"  The  second  section  constituted  the  mint  at  Philadelphia,  and 
the  branch  mint  at  New  Orleans;  also,  places  for  the  deposit  and 
safe-keeping  of  the  public  money  collected  at  those  places,  or 
transferred  to  them  by  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  The  treasurers  of  the  mints  respectively  were  assigned 
to  the  charge  and  custody  of  the  moneys  there  deposited. 

"  The  third  section  directed  the  preparation  of  suitable  oifices 
and  vaults  in  the  custom-houses  now  erecting  at  New  York  and 
Boston,  for  the  deposit  and  safe-keeping  of  the  public  money  at 
those  points,  and  for  the  use  of  the  officers  to  have  the  custody 
of  those  moneys;  and  the  fourth  section  provided  for  the  erection 
of  two  independent  offices  and  vaults,  for  the  same  purpose,  the 
one  to  be  located  at  Charleston,  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina, 
and  the  other  at  St.  Louis,  in  the  State  of  Missouri. 

"It  would  not  require  any  remark  from  him  to  satisfy  the 
mind  of  every  Senator  of  the  propriety  of  selecting  the  seat  of 
government  as  the  place  of  location  for  the  national  treasury,  or 
that  the  points  he  had  named  upon  the  Atlantic  coast,  as  well  as 
New  Orleans,  were  places  where  so  important  portions  of  the 
public  revenue  were  collected,  and  from  which  so  great  a  share 
of  the  public  disbursements  were  now,  in  fact,  made,  or  could  be 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  637 

made  with  increased  convenience  to  the  treasury  and  to  the  public 
creditors,  as  to  render  them  all  proper  places  for  the  location  of 
offices  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  money,  in  case  any  such 
offices  were  to  be  provided  at  the  public  expense,  owned  by  the 
government,  and  kept  in  the  charge  of  its  officers.  Another 
reason  also  existed,  and  which  was  conclusive  with  the  commit 
tee,  as  to  the  selection  of  Washington,  Philadelphia,  New  Orleans, 
New  York  and  Boston.  Public  buildings  of  a  fire-proof  charac 
ter  were  already  erected,  or  now  being  erected,  at  the  public 
expense,  and  for  the  public  use,  at  all  those  places,  in  which  suffi 
cient  rooms,  offices  and  vaults,  for  the  purpose  contemplated, 
could  be  secured  without  any  material  addition  to  the  expense 
incurred,  and  to  be  incurred,  upon  the  buildings.  It  was  also 
his  duty  to  inform  the  Senate  that,  since  the  bill  was  reported, 
the  committee  had  learned  that  the  government  now  owned  a 
custom-house  at  Charleston,  and  that  the  information  possessed 
at  the  Treasury  department  authorized  the  belief  that  suitable 
rooms  for  offices  could  be  had  in  that  building,  thus  rendering  it 
necessary  to  construct  a  vault  only,  instead  of  an  independent 
office,  as  the  bill  contemplated,  at  that  place.  He  had  prepared 
an  amendment  to  the  bill,  to  make  it  conform  to  this  state  of 
facts,  which  he  would  send  to  the  chair  before  he  resumed  his 
seat. 

"As  to  the  selection  of  St.  Louis,  some  diversity  of  opinion 
might  exist;  but  the  committee  had  fixed  upon  that  place  because, 
from  all  the  information  they  had  been  able  to  collect,  they 
believed  it  to  be  the  point  from  which  the  principal  part  of  our 
heavy  disbursements  upon  the  western  frontier  were  made.  They 
were  informed  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  money  paid, 
and  to  be  paid,  annually,  to  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  principal  part  of  the  disbursements  at  the  various  military 
posts  upon  the  western  frontier,  were  received  by  the  various 
disbursing  officers  at  this  town,  and  that,  therefore,  large  accu 
mulations  of  public  money  were  rendered  necessary  at  this  point, 
to  meet  these  payments.  This  seemed  to  them  to  require  an 
office  for  safe-keeping,  and  an  officer  or  agent  of  the  government, 
of  some  kind,  there  ;  and  the  place  was  selected  more,  perhaps, 
in  consequence  of  the  heavy  disbursements  made  from,  than  the 


638  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

amount  of  collections  at  it.  Still,  their  information  was  that  the 
money  collected  at  many  of  the  western,  and  especially  the  north 
western,  land  offices  could  be  more  conveniently  transferred  to, 
and  accumulated  at,  that  point  than  at  any  other  upon  that 
frontier. 

"  The  fifth  section  of  the  bill,  he  said,  provided  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  four  additional  salary  officers,  and  which,  in  the  draft 
of  the  bill,  the  committee  had  —  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
receivers  of  public  money  at  the  various  land  offices  —  denominated 
1  receivers-general  of  public  money.'  These  officers  were  to  be 
appointed  by  the  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  Senate,  as  other  officers  of  like  importance  were  appointed; 
were  to  hold  their  office  for  the  same  terms  of  four  years  ;  and 
were  to  be  located,  one  at  New  York,  one  at  Boston,  one  at 
Charleston  and  one  at  St.  Louis,  to  take  the  charge  of  the  offices 
and  vaults  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  money  at  those 
points  respectively,  and  of  the  money  placed  therein. 

"  He  was  well  aware  that  this  .was  a  feature  of  the  bill  not 
calculated  to  be  popular,  upon  a  slight  examination,  and  that  it 
was  not  palatable  to  some  of  the  friends  of  the  measure  gene 
rally.  It  was  not  his  purpose  to  discuss  this  provision  at  large, 
in  this  place,  as  the  course  he  had  marked  out  for  himself  would 
require  that  he  should  again  recur  to  it;  but  a  few  remarks  upon 
the  necessity  of  some  provision  of  the  sort  were  called  for  here. 
It  was  indispensably  necessary  to  the  operations  of  the  treasury 
that  it  should  have  agencies  of  some  description  at  these  points. 
The  collections  and  disbursements  at  them  all  made  this  impera 
tive,  and  if  it  was  designed  to  discontinue  the  banks  as  fiscal 
agents,  some  other  must  be  substituted.  This  would  be  appa 
rent  to  all,  merely  from  recurring  to  the  names  of  the  places, 
and  to  their  importance  as  commercial  towns.  It  was  true  that, 
in  the  bill  reported  by  the  committee,  at  the  extra  session  of 
Congress  in  September,  no  provision  was  made  for  this  addition 
to  the  existing  officers  of  the  Treasury  department.  The  duties 
now  proposed  to  be  assigned  to  these  new  officers  were,  by  that 
bill,  devolved  upon  the  respective  collectors  of  the  customs  at 
the  places  named;  but  it  was  then  stated  to  the  Senate  by  him 
self,  in  his  place,  that  this  and  many  other  matters  of  detail  were 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  639 

purposely  omitted,  that  the  bill  then  reported  might  be  made  as 
simple  as  possible,  and  embody  the  great  principles  intended  to 
be  secured  by  it;  knowing,  as  the  committee  did  know,  the  strong 
desire  and  determination  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  to  limit 
that  session  within  the  shortest  possible  period  which  the  public 
business  would  allow.  They  believed  that  these  details,  including 
as  well  the  provisions  of  the  sections  before  noticed  as  the  one 
now  under  discussion,  and  others  which  follow,  would  be  calcu 
lated  to  protract  discussion,  delay  action,  and  thus  either  extend 
the  session  or  prevent  the  final  passage  of  the  bill.  They  were 
then  convinced  that  the  recommendations  of  the  President  and 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  as  to  the  appointment  of  these  addi 
tional  officers,  would  have  to  be  carried  out,  but,  in  the  then 
almost  suspended  state  of  our  foreign  trade,  they  did  not  believe 
that  the  operations  of  the  treasury  would  suffer  for  the  want  of 
them  during  the  very  short  vacation  which  was  to  intervene 
between  that  and  the  present  session  of  Congress ;  and  it  was 
then  intimated  that  the  defects  in  that  bill  could  be  supplied  now. 
"  The  inquiries  which  the  committee  have  since  made,  not  only 
at  the  Treasury  department,  but  at  some  of  the  places  named,  have 
proved  to  their  entire  satisfaction  that  this  addition  of  officers 
will  be  required;  that  the  collectors  of  the  customs  at  these  places, 
or  certainly  at  some  of  them,  are  already  charged  with  more  oner" 
ous  and  responsible  duties  than  any  one  man,  whatever  may  be 
his  industry  and  capacity  for  business,  can  well  discharge  ;  and 
that,  at  the  port  of  New  York  at  least,  those  duties  would  justly 
bear  division,  were  it  not  that,  from  their  nature  and  character, 
they  cannot  be  divided.  The  same  must  be  nearly  the  truth  at 
Boston,  and  cannot  vary  very  materially  from  it  at  Charleston 
and  St.  Louis.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  supposes  that  the 
receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  money  ordinarily  collected  and 
disbursed  at  each  of  these  points  will  occupy  the  full  time  of  one 
competent  business  man ;  and  will  any  one  suppose  that  duties  so 
onerous  and  so  responsible  can  be  added  to  those  at  present  to 
be  performed  by  the  collectors  of  the  customs?  Will  any  one 
desire  that  such  duties  and  responsibilities  should  be  confided  to 
a  mere  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  collector?  He  thought  not. 
Then  the  provision,  or  some  one  of  a  similar  character,  was 


640  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

indispensable,  and  its  rejection  would  endanger  the  safety  of  the 
public  money,  embarrass  the  operations  of  the  treasury,  and  put 
in  jeopardy,  if  not  defeat,  the  successful  action  of  the  whole 
system. 

"  The  sixth  section  of  the  bill  was,  in  substance,  the  first  sec 
tion  of  the  bill  reported  by  the  committee  at  the  extra  session; 
the  only  alterations  being  those  required  to  make  it  conform  to 
the  provisions  which  were  before  it,  and  which  he  had  already 
noticed.  It  declared  what  officers  of  the  government  should  be 
depositaries,  embracing,  in  addition  to  those  named  in  the  former 
sections,  collectors  of  the  customs,  receivers  of  public  money  at 
the  land  offices,  postmasters,  and  some  other  classes,  and  assigned 
generally  the  duties  to  be  performed  by  them  in  this  capacity. 

"  He  would  now  pass  to  section  ten,  which  required  but  a 
single  remark.  It  conferred  a  general  power  upon  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  to  transfer  the  money  in  the  hands  of  any  depo 
sitary  to  the  custody  and  keeping  of  any  other  depositary,  as 
occasion  might  require.  This  provision  was  necessary,  as  well 
to  give  the  department  control  over  its  own  affairs,  as  to  enable 
it  to  consult  the  safety  of  the  public  money  and  the  calls  of  the 
public  service.  If  money  accumulate,  at  any  given  point,  to  an 
amount  which,  from  the  smallness  of  the  officer's  bond,  or  from 
any  other  cause,  the  Secretary  shall  have  reason  to  fear  is  or  may 
be  unsafe,  he  should  be  authorized  to  transfer  it,  or  any  portion 
of  it,  to  a  place  of  safety.  If  money  accumulate  at  points  where 
it  is  not  wanted  for  disbursement,  he  should  have  the  same 
authority  to  transfer  it  to  a  point  where  it  is  so  wanted.  If  a 
depositary  be  located  at  a  place  remote  from  any  bank  and  any 
office  of  safe-keeping,  similar  authority  will  be  required  to  trans 
fer  his  collections  for  deposit.  These,  and  many  other  occasions, 
will  arise  for  the  exercise  of  this  power  to  make  transfers. 

"The  twelfth,  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  sections  contained 
provisions  to  authorize  special  deposits  of  public  money,  for  safe 
keeping,  at  all  places  where  there  was  no  office  for  the  safe-keep 
ing  belonging  to  the  government.  The  only  parts  of  the  sections 
which  it  would  be  material  for  him  to  notice  were  those  which 
defined  the  character  of  the  deposits.  They  are  made  strictly 
special,  and  a  broad  discretion  is  given  to  the  Secretary  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  641 

Treasury  as  to  the  measures  he  will  adopt  to  secure  to  them  that 
character.  In  case  he  shall  think  it  wise  to  do  so,  he  is  author 
ized  to  provide  iron  safes  to  be  placed  in  the  vaults  of  the  banks, 
for  the  exclusive  keeping  of  the  public  money,  and  so  constructed 
that  they  may  be  under  the  joint  control  of  the  bank  and  the 
depositing  officer,  so  that  neither  can  gain  access  to  the  money 
without  the  consent  and  aid  of  the  other.  A  further  condition 
is,  that  nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  and  paper  issued  upon  the 
authority  of  the  United  States,  and  made  by  law  receivable  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues,  shall  be  offered  for  deposit  by  the 
depositaries,  or  received  on  deposit  by  the  banks.  It  is  further 
provided  that  all  deposits  shall  be  carried  upon  the  books  of  the 
bank  to  the  credit  of  the  officer  making  the  deposit,  and  not  to 
the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States;  that  neither  the 
Treasurer  nor  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  draw  upon  the 
bank  for  disbursements  or  transfers,  and  that  the  money  depo 
sited  shall  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  bank,  by  the  officer  to 
whose  credit  it  stands,  without  an  order  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  for  the  payment.  A  commission  upon  the  money 
deposited  is  proposed  to  be  allowed  to  the  banks  for  their  trouble 
and  risk,  but  as  the  committee  had  no  information  as  to  the  rate 
of  commission  which  it  would  be  safe  for  Congress  to  fix  as  a 
maximum,  and  not  incur  the  danger  of  so  limiting  this  compen 
sation  as  to  induce  the  banks  to  refuse  the  deposits  altogether, 
they  have  reported  the  bill  in  blank  in  this  respect. 

" These  provisions,  it  would  be  seen,  were  very  close;  and  it  had 
been  suggested,  as  well  by  some  of  the  friends  as  by  the  oppo 
nents  of  the  bill,  that  they  were  so  close  as  to  render  it  possible, 
if  not  probable,  that  the  banking  institutions  would  reject  them 
on  that  account,  upon  the  ground  that  they  carried  upon  their 
face  a  distrust  of  the  solvency  and  responsibility  of  the  institu 
tions,  or  of  the  integrity  of  their  officers  and  managers,  or  both. 
He  would  detain  the  Senate  a  few  moments  to  examine  these 
objections;  and,  first,  if  he  understood  the  matter  and  the  law 
of  the  case,  the  idea  of  distrust  as  to  the  solvency  and  responsi 
bility  of  the  banks  arising  from  these  provisions  seemed  to  him 
to  be  a  forced  and  unnatural  inference.  If  such  an  idea  could 
grow  out  of  any  part  of  them,  it  must  be  that  part  giving  to  the 
41 


642  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury  a  discretion  to  furnish  safes  for  the 
exclusive  keeping  of  the  public  money,  to  be  under  the  joint  con 
trol  of  the  bank  and  an  officer  of  the  government.  This  would 
constitute  the  deposit  entirely  special;  and,  as  he  understood  the 
law,  the  bank  would  not  be  responsible  for  such  a  deposit  beyond 
the  obligation  of  ordinary  care  and  vigilance  in  its  safe-keeping. 
In  the  incidents  of  property,  responsibility  and  risk  there  was 
scarcely  a  resemblance  between  a  deposit  of  this  character  and  a 
general,  open  deposit.  In  the  latter  the  property  is  changed  the 
moment  the  deposit  is  made.  The  money  becomes  the  absolute 
property  of  the  bank  as  much  as  its  own  capital,  and  the  govern 
ment  receives  its  credit  or  promise  to  pay  in  its  certificate  of 
deposit,  in  exchange  for  the  money.  No  matter,  then,  how  the 
money  be  lost,  if  it  be  lost,  the  indebtedness  of  the  institution 
upon  its  certificate  is  not  changed  thereby,  nor  can  it  be  dis 
charged  by  any  act  of  the  debtor  other  than  payment.  In  such 
deposits,  therefore,  the  solvency  and  responsibility  of  the  bank 
become  the  first  subjects  of  inquiry  and  examination  for  the 
depositor.  Not  so  in  cases  of  special  deposit.  There  the  pro 
perty  is  not  changed;  the  specific  thing  deposited  remains  the 
property  of  the  depositor.  If  it  be  money,  it  would  be  a  viola 
tion  of  the  law  and  rules  of  the  deposit  for  the  bank  to  exchange 
it,  for  any  purpose,  for  the  same  amount  of  money  of  an  exactly 
similar  character.  It  is  the  identity  of  the  article  and  the  pro 
perty  in  it  which  give  it  the  character  of  a  special  deposit;  and 
if  that  article  be  converted  by  the  bank,  although  instantly 
replaced  by  an  exactly  similar  article  in  every  respect,  the  iden 
tity  and  property  are  both  gone,  and  the  option  of  the  depositor 
alone  must  determine  whether  his  indemnity  shall  be  the  respon 
sibility  of  the  institution  or  the  article  tendered  in  exchange. 
Hence  the  different  liabilities  of  the  bank  in  the  two  cases.  In 
the  first  it  purchases  the  money  with  its  credit,  and  thus  con 
tracts  a  debt  which  it  is  unconditionally  liable  to  pay;  in  the 
second  it  derives  no  property  from  the  deposit,  and  is  a  simple 
bailee,  with  or  without  compensation  as  its  contract  of  deposit 
shall  determine;  but,  in  either  case,  only  liable  in  case  of  want 
of  ordinary  care  and  vigilance  in  the  safe-keeping  of  the  thing 
intrusted  to  its  keeping. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  643 

"  In  the  provisions  for  the  special  deposits  provided  for,  there 
fore,  the  government  only  proposes  to  hire  the  security  of  the 
vaults  and  safes  of  the  banks  for  the  keeping  of  its  money,  and 
the  ordinary  care  and  vigilance  of  its  officers  in  guarding  it 
while  there.  Beyond  these,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  capi 
tal,  solvency  or  responsibility  of  the  institutions.  How,  then, 
can  it  be  supposed  that  the  provisions  are  intended  to  carry  dis 
trust  upon  their  face  against  the  solvency  and  responsibility  of 
the  banks  ?  If  the  vaults  be  safe,  and  the  integrity  of  the  offi 
cers —  their  vigilance  and  care  —  tried  and  known,  an  insolvent 
bank  is  as  safe  a  place  for  a  special  deposit  as  a  solvent  one;  a 
bank  unable  to  pay  its  debts  as  a  bank  abundant  in  its  means 
beyond  its  liabilities.  Either  can  keep  as  safely  and  faithfully 
the  property  of  another  placed  in  its  vaults,  while  the  creditors 
of  neither  can  avail  themselves  of  a  special  deposit,  whatever  it 
may  be,  without  the  assent  and  aid  of  the  officers  of  the  institu 
tion.  How  unnecessary,  therefore,  to  declare  distrust  upon  the 
face  of  a  law,  when  almost  all  interest  in  the  just  grounds  for 
that  feeling  is  put  at  rest  by  the  nature  and  character  of  the 
deposit  to  be  made.  And  how  unnatural  to  infer  such  distrust 
from  language  which  does  not  necessarily  convey  it,  when  the 
character  of  the  contract  proposed  to  be  made  does  not  require 
the  inference. 

"  It  was  further  alleged  that  the  provisions  conveyed  imputa 
tion  against  the  integrity  of  the  officers  and  managers  of  the 
banks,  and  that,  therefore,  they  would  not  contract  with  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  for  the  deposits  proposed.  Was  this  a 
fair  construction  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill?  Was  it  an 
improper  or  ungenerous  distrust  of  the  integrity  of  those  who  had 
the  management  of  these  institutions,  and  the  care  and  custody  of 
the  property  placed  in  their  charge,  to  set  guards  over  their  con 
duct?  What  did  the  bill  propose  in  reference  to  the  officers  who 
were  to  be  intrusted  with  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  money  ? 
They  were  required,  not>only  to  give  bonds  for  the  faithful  per 
formance  of  their  trust,  but  a  breach  of  that  trust,  in  the  use  of 
the  money  for  investments,  loans,  or  in  any  other  manner  what 
soever,  was  declared  a  crime  which  should  subject  the  perpetrator 
to  indictment  and  infamous  punishment;  to  protracted  personal 


644  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

imprisonment,  and  to  a  fine  equal  to  the  money  embezzled,  and, 
consequently,  to  perpetual  disgrace  and  infamy.  Was  this  a 
suggestion,  upon  the  face  of  these  provisions,  of  distrust  of  the 
honesty  and  integrity  of  these  officers  ?  Was  every  honest  and 
honorable  citizen  of  the  country  bound  to  reject  these  offices, 
when  tendered  to  them,  because  the  law  under  which  they  must 
act,  in  providing  penalties  for  their  misconduct  or  guards  against 
it,  conveyed  to  the  public  a  distrust  of  their  integrity  ?  Had 
any  statesman  ever  supposed  that,  in  naming  penalties  and  pun 
ishments  in  a  law  for  violations  of  official  duty  or  official  trust, 
he  was  drawing  out  imputations  against  the  integrity  and  trust 
worthiness  of  the  officers  who  were  to  hold  places  under  it  ?  He 
could  not  so  suppose.  He  could  not  subscribe  to  this  doctrine ; 
and  he  would  ask  if  incorporations,  incorporeal  existences,  were 
to  be  treated  more  delicately,  in  our  legislation,  than  that  class 
of  citizens  who  would  be  selected  by  the  President  and  approved 
by  the  Senate  for  high  and  responsible  public  trusts  ?  All  must 
answer  no ;  and,  so  answering,  all  must  concede  that  there  was  no 
foundation  for  this  objection  to  the  provisions.  Incorporations 
could  not  be  subjected  to  indictment  and  punishment,  as  there 
was  no  real  person  upon  whom  the  punishment  could  be  inflicted. 
This  check  could  not  be  imposed  upon  their  officers  and  agents, 
because  it  would  be  impossible  to  determine  who  was  guilty  in 
form  only  and  who  in  fact,  when  every  act  must  be  that  of  an 
agent  who  may  have  no  discretion.  If,  then,  physical  restraints 
are  interposed  as  to  these  institutions,  to  accomplish  the  ends 
which  are  reached  by  penal  enactments  in  the  case  of  natural 
persons,  is  the  offense  to  delicacy  of  feeling,  the  affront  to  honor 
or  integrity,  greater  in  the  former  case  than  in  the  latter  ?  He 
could  not  see  that  it  was,  and  he  must  think  that  both  of  these 
objections  displayed  a  degree  of  overwrought  sensibility  toward 
the  banking  institutions  of  the  country  which  their  sagacious 
managers  would  see  should  not  govern  their  conduct. 

"There  was  a  single  other  view  of  this  subject  which  he  must 
present,  and  he  would  pass  on  to  other  provisions  of  the  bill.  It 
was  the  intention  of  the  committee  who  drew  and  reported  the 
bill  to  make  these  deposits  strictly  special,  to  prevent  the  banks 
from  any  use  of  the  money  deposited;  and  he  believed  the  pro- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  645 

visions  to  which  he  had  referred,  if  faithfully  executed,  would 
accomplish  that  intention.  If  the  banks  should  receive  the 
money,  under  this  understanding,  and  with  an  intention  on  their 
part  to  carry  it  out  in  good  faith,  what  would  be  their  true 
interest  in  this  matter  ?  Would  it  not  be  to  have  their  power  to 
use  the  money  placed  beyond  question;  to  have  physical  disa 
bilities  interposed  between  them  and  that  portion  of  the  public 
treasure  committed  to  their  charge  ?  Observation  and  experi 
ence  must,  already,  have  taught  them  that  the  distrustful  eye  of 
public  opinion  follows  the  public  treasure,  and,  unless  the  most 
efficient  guards  are  provided  by  the  government,  and  assented  to 
by  the  banks,  will  not  the  most  injurious  suspicions  of  a  breach 
of  their  trust  be  likely  to  rest  upon  them?  Ought  they  not,  for 
their  own  indemnity,  to  desire  that  the  use  of  these  moneys  should 
be  placed  beyond  their  power?  And  will  they  not  have  some 
just  reason  to  apprehend  that  objections  on  their  part  may  give 
rise  to  suspicions  as  to  their  disposition  faithfully  to  execute  the 
trust  in  conformity  with  its  intentions  ? 

"The  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  sections  provided  checks  upon 
the  various  depositaries  constituted  by  the  bill.  The  first  author 
ized  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  appoint  special  agents, 
whenever  he  may  find  it  necessary,  to  inspect  the  books,  accounts, 
money  on  hand,  and  other  business  of  any  depositary.  The 
principal  object  of  this  section,  as  he  understood  that  object, 
was  to  enable  the  Secretary,  whenever  the  returns  of  the  officer, 
information  communicated  by  third  persons,  or  any  other  infor 
mation,  should  authorize  a  suspicion  that  all  was  not  right  with 
any  one  of  the  officers  intrusted  with  the  safe-keeping  of  public 
money,  to  appoint  some  competent  citizen,  as  a  special  agent,  to 
present  himself,  unexpectedly,  with  authority  to  examine  the 
official  transactions  of  the  officer;  to  detect  and  correct  error,  if 
error  should  be  found  to  exist;  to  expose  fraud  and  bring  the 
officer  to  punishment,  in  case  dishonesty  should  be  detected,  and 
to  justify  innocence,  if  suspected  without  foundation.  It  was 
true  the  section  made  these  examinations  compulsory,  at  long 
intervals  of  one  year,  in  cases  where  the  amounts  collected  usually 
exceeded  a  just  proportion  to  the  amount  secured  by  the  bond 
of  the  officer;  but  this  part  of  the  section  he  considered  of  much 


646  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

less  importance  than  that  he  had  before  noticed.  He  considered 
its  principal  utility  to  consist  in  the  authority  to  appoint  an  agent 
unknown  to  the  officer,  and  who  might  come  upon  him  in  an 
unprepared  state.  If  the  agent  were  to  be  one  permanently 
appointed  and  publicly  known,  one  whom  the  officer  might  watch 
and  guard  himself  against,  he  should  consider  it  not  worth  retain 
ing.  He  was  aware  that,  in  its  present  shape,  it  was  objection 
able  to  some  of  the  friends  of  the  bill;  and,  with  this  exposition, 
he  submitted  its  adoption  or  rejection  to  the  sense  of  the  Senate. 
It  was  an  exact  transcript  of  a  section  contained  in  the  bill  which 
passed  the  body  at  the  extra  session,  and  as  it  was  inserted  upon 
the  suggestion  of  the  head  of  the  Treasury  department,  he  pre 
sumed  the  suggestion  had  proceeded  from  a  similar  provision 
contained  in  the  laws  which  regulate  the  Post-office  department, 
and  which  had  been  of  great  use  in  detecting  frauds  connected 
with  the  extended  operations  of  that  department ;  but  should  it 
be  thought  that  such  a  provision  would  not  be  beneficial,  as  con 
nected  with  this  bill,  he  should  not  consider  its  removal  as  mate 
rially  marring  the  system  intended  to  be  constituted. 

"  The  sixteenth  section  made  it  the  duty  of  the  surveyors  of 
the  customs,  naval  officers,  registers  of  the  land  offices,  directors 
of  the  mints,  and  some  other  officers,  at  the  expiration  of  each 
quarter,  to  examine  into  and  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  the  state  of  the  accounts  and  money  on  hand  of  the  deposi 
taries  in  their  districts,  or  immediate  connection.  These  were 
checks  obtained  through  the  instrumentality  of  existing  officers, 
were  wholly  without  expense  to  the  public,  would  evidently  be 
of  material  service  as  guards  upon  the  depositaries,  and  as  con 
tributing  to  a  uniformity  and  system  in  the  keeping  of  the 
accounts  of  those  officers,  and,  he  presumed,  would  meet  with 
no  objection  from  any  quarter. 

"  He  would  pass  now  to  the  twentieth  section,  which  required 
every  officer  charged  with  the  keeping  of  public  money  to  keep 
an  accurate  account  of  the  kinds  of  money  received  and  paid  out; 
the  object  of  which  was  to  prevent  these  officers,  without  detec 
tion,  from  receiving  and  paying  out  to  the  public  creditors  a 
depreciated  currency,  and  also  from  making  exchanges  of  the 
currency  received  in  a  manner  which  should  be  injurious  to  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  647 

public  interests,  or  to  the  rights  of  those  who  might  receive  pay 
ments  from  the  officer  of  demands  against  the  government.  The 
same  section  also  declares  that  any  use  of  the  money  in  his  hands 
by  any  depositary,  by  way  of  investment  in  any  kind  of  property 
or  merchandise,  or  of  loan,  with  or  without  interest,  or  in  any 
way  whatsoever,  shall  be  a  high  misdemeanor,  for  which  the 
officer  convicted  thereof  shall  be  imprisoned  for  a  term  of  not 
less  than  two  nor  more  than  five  years,  and  shall  pay  a  fine  equal 
to  the  amount  of  the  money  so  used.  He  believed  this  was  a 
new  feature  in  the  legislation  of  Congress.  He  had  not  found 
any  case  where  a  law  imposed  criminal  punishment  for  the  mis 
use  or  misapplication  of  money  by  a  public  officer  ;  but  still  he 
believed  the  provision  sound  in  principle,  and  that  it  would  prove 
salutary  in  practice.  He  had  examined  very  superficially  the 
legislation  of  other  countries  upon  this  point,  and  he  found  that 
many  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  from  which  we  had  copied  most 
of  our  public  laws,  made  this  act  a  felony,  with  much  more  severe 
punishment  than  is  here  proposed.  He  had  heard  no  objection 
against  this  feature  of  the  bill  from  any  quarter  of  the  House, 
and  he  hoped  there  would  be  none. 

"  The  twenty-first  section  might  not  be  considered  by  some  as 
peculiarly  appropriate  to  this  bill ;  but  he  trusted  to  be  able  to 
satisfy  the  Senate  that  it  connected  itself  with  its  provisions  in  a 
very  important  manner,  and  ought  to  form  a  part  of  it.  The 
section  made  it  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  when 
there  should  be  an  amount  upon  deposit  to  the  credit  of  the 
Treasurer  beyond  the  sum  of  four  millions  of  dollars,  to  invest 
such  surplus  in  stocks  of  the  United  States,  or  of  some  one  of  the 
States,  bearing  an  interest,  and  transferable  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  holder,  by  delivery  or  assignment ;  but  it  prohibited  the 
Secretary  from  becoming  a  subscriber  to  or  purchaser  of  any  new 
stocks  about  to  be  issued  by  any  State,  and  thus  prevented  him 
from  holding  out  any  inducement  to  any  State  to  issue  stocks 
with  a  view  to  these  investments.  It  also  directed  him,  when 
ever  the  money  in  the  treasury,  or  standing  to  the  credit  of  the 
Treasurer  with  the  several  depositaries,  should  be  less  than  four 
millions,  to  sell  so  much  of  the  stocks,  in  which  any  surplus 
should  have  been  invested^  as  would  keep  the  money  in  the  trea- 


648  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

sury  at  that  amount,  or  as  his  information  might  satisfy  him  the 
wants  of  the  treasury  would  require. 

"  Provisions  of  the  character  contained  in  this  section  were  not 
new  to  the  Senate.  They  had  been,  upon  a  former  occasion, 
introduced  there  by  himself,  as  a  means  of  disposing,  in  the  most 
safe  and  profitable  manner  to  the  treasury,  and  in  the  way  he 
thought  would  prove  most  convenient  to  the  business  interests  of 
the  community,  of  a  large  surplus  of  public  money  on  deposit  in 
the  banks.  A  different  disposition  of  that  subject  seemed  prefer 
able  to  the  Senate,  and  the  provisions  for  investment  did  not 
meet  with  favor.  He  entertained  a  strong  hope  that  their  natu 
ral  connection  with  this  bill,  and  with  the  salutary  workings  of 
the  system  for  the  management  of  the  public  finances  provided 
for  by  it,  would  give  to  it  a  different  reception  at  the  present 
time. 

"  It  was  found  that  the  wide-spread  operations  of  the  treasury 
required  about  four  millions  of  dollars  constantly  on  hand, 
including  the  amounts  in  transitu,  and  the  million,  or  therabouts, 
constantly  employed  at  the  mints;  but  that  accumulations  beyond 
that  sum  were,  at  all  ordinary  periods,  accumulations  to  be  kept, 
not  acted  upon,  for  the  time  being.  To  avoid,  then,  the  risks  of 
keeping,  which  formed  a  material  objection  with  those  who 
opposed  the  bill,  and  to  avoid  accumulations  of  money  to  be 
locked  up  from  use,  which  formed  another  and  much  more 
weighty  objection  against  the  system  in  the  arguments  of  those 
who  had  hitherto  opposed  it,  these  provisions  were  made  a  part 
of  the  bill  itself,  and  he  must  suppose  that  these  considerations 
would,  at  this  time,  and  in  this  connection,  render  them  accept 
able  to  many,  who,  upon  their  introduction  on  the  former  occasion 
alluded  to,  could  not  yield  them  support.  He  must  confidently 
believe  that,  to  those  whose  minds  had  been  influenced  by  the 
objections  he  had  repeated,  they  would  constitute  a  positive 
merit,  as  a  part  of  a  bill  otherwise,  in  their  estimation,  defective. 

"  There  was  another  aspect  in  which  he  wished  to  present  these 
provisions.  The  constant  experience  of  the  Treasury  depart 
ment,  since  the  final  extinguishment  of  the  national  debt,  had 
shown  the  necessity  of  some  elastic  provision  in  our  legislation 
upon  the  subject  of  the  public  revenue  and  expenditures,  which 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  649 

would  accommodate  itself  to  the  varied  conditions  of  the  treasury, 
or,  rather,  which  would  enable  the  head  of  the  Treasury  depart 
ment  so  to  manage  the  national  finances  as  that  the  treasury 
may  l>e  at  all  times  prepared  to  meet  the  calls  upon  it,  and  that 
an  amount  of  money  should  at  no  time  be  hoarded  therein,  to 
the  injury  of  the  business  of  the  country  or  its  citizens.  During 
the  existence  of  the  public  debt,  the  provisions  of  law,  and 
appropriations  of  money  connected  with  it,  furnished  this  regu 
lator  for  the  state  of  the  treasury.  The  applications  of  money 
upon  the  debt  were  at  all  times  governed  by  the  surplus  of  reve 
nue  over  the  expenditures,  while  all  the  unexpended  balances  of 
appropriations,  after  a  limited  period,  passed  to  the  Sinking  Fund, 
and  were  absorbed  in  the  debt.  A  troublesome  surplus  of  reve 
nue,  therefore,  could  never  exist,  while  that  application  remained 
open.  On  the  other  hand,  as  the  appropriations  for  the  year 
were  carefully  provided  for  before  any  application  upon  the  debt, 
it  was  scarcely  possible  that  any  contingency,  not  foreseen  during 
the  regular  annual  session  of  Congress,  could  occur  to  disenable 
the  treasury  to  meet  the  demands  upon  it,  arising  under  the  cur 
rent  appropriation  bills.  The  amount  of  revenue  intended  for 
application  upon  the  debt  would  always  be  sufficient  to  meet  any 
disappointment  in  the  accruing  receipts  into  the  treasury.  The 
time,  however,  had  now  past.  The  debt  was  paid  ;  and,  from 
the  necessity  of  the  case,  and  the  state  of  the  legislation  of  Con 
gress,  experiments  had  been  made  to  measure  the  actual  appro 
priations  by  the  estimated  revenue,  and  to  make  them  come  out 
even.  For  the  first  few  years  of  this  trial,  from  a  state  of  cir 
cumstances  not  at  the  time  sufficiently  considered,  but  now  clearly 
and  properly  estimated,  the  revenue  got  largely  the  better  of  the 
appropriations.  This  gave  rise  to  the  bill  directing  a  deposit  of 
the  surplus  with  the  States;  and  again  the  actual  appropriations 
and  the  estimated  revenues  were  attempted  to  be  equally  measured. 
A  revulsion  in  the  trade,  and  business,  and  banking  of  the  coun 
try  came ;  the  anticipated  revenue  was  cut  short,  and  that  por 
tion  of  it  which  rested  upon  credits  could  not  be  realized. 
Indeed,  the  very  money  on  deposit  in  the  banks,  to  the  credit  of 
the  Treasurer,  could  not  be  commanded,  and,  comparatively,  the 
whole  anticipated  means  of  the  treasury  were  either  not  realized, 


650  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

or  placed  beyond  its  control.  Still  the  appropriations  were  in 
force,  the  expenditures  were  going  on  under  them,  and  could  not 
be  arrested,  arid  a  special  convocation  of  Congress  became  neces 
sary,  to  preserve  the  faith  of  the  government,  and  enable  the 
public  treasury  to  meet  the  just  demands  upon  it.  What  followed 
was  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  the  Senate  and  the  country;  and 
he  would  not  consume  the  time  by  a  repetition  of  the  measures 
of  relief  to  the  country  and  the  treasury  adopted  at  that  session. 

"  He  had  mentioned  these  facts  to  show  the  necessity  of  some 
provision  to  guard  against  these  disappointments  in  the  accruing 
revenue,  as  well  as  to  prevent  the  evil  of  a  hoarding  of  money, 
when  the  revenue  should  overreach  the  appropriations.  In  either 
sense,  he  considered  the  provisions  of  the  section  of  the  first 
importance,  and  he  entreated  Senators  not  to  suffer  past  recollec 
tions  to  prejudice  their  minds,  but  to  examine  these  facts ;  to 
permit  our  late  experience  to  have  its  due  weight;  to  reflect  how 
frequently  similar  disappointments,  as  to  the  revenue,  might  be 
experienced  —  how  often  surplus  amounts  of  revenue  might  alarm 
the  public  mind,  as  to  the  safety  of  the  public  treasure;  and  then 
to  decide  upon  the  adoption  or  rejection  of  the  section. 

"  The  only  remaining  section  which  he  would  notice,  as  con 
nected  with  the  first  great  object  of  the  bill,  was  the  twenty- 
seventh.  This  section  authorizes  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States  to  receive,  at  the  treasury,  and  at  such  other  places  as  he 
shall  designate,  payments  of  money  in  advance  for  the  purchase 
of  public  lands,  and  to  give  a  receipt  for  each  payment,  which 
shall  be  current  at  any  of  the  land  offices  at  any  public  or  pri 
vate  sale  of  lands.  Since  the  bill  had  been  reported,  he  had 
become  convinced  that  the  section  was  too  loosely  drawn  and 
required  to  be  amended.  These  receipts  might  be  taken  and 
treated  as  negotiable  paper,  and  might,  as  the  section  now  stood, 
be  given  in  a  form  which  would  make  them  so  upon  their  face. 
This  would  subject  the  bill  to  the  imputation  of  authorizing  the 
emission  of  a  paper  currency  based  upon  the  public  lands,  a  thing 
by  no  means  intended  by  himself,  and  he  was  sure  not  by  any 
member  of  the  committee  who  assented  to  the  report  of  the  bill. 
He  had  therefore  prepared  an  amendment,  declaring  that  the 
receipts  to  be  given  by  the  Treasurer,  pursuant  to  the  provisions 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  651 

of  the  section,  should  not  be  negotiable  or  transferable  by  assign* 
ment  or  delivery,  or  in  any  other  manner  whatsoever;  but  that 
every  such  receipt  should  be  presented  at  the  land  office  by  or 
for  the  person  to  whom  it  was  given,  as  shown  upon  its  face.  In 
this  shape  he  hoped  the  section  would  not  be  objectionable  upon 
the  ground  above  stated,  while  he  thought  it  would  be  apparent 
that  its  general  provision  would  be  of  great  convenience  to  those 
purchasers  of  the  public  lands  who  were  to  emigrate  from  the  old 
States  and  to  carry  with  them  the  means  to  make  their  purchases. 
It  would  save  them  from  the  trouble  and  risk  of  transporting 
money  of  any  description,  and  also  from  the  danger  of  taking  to 
so  distant  a  portion  of  the  country  a  currency  which  would  not 
answer  their  purpose  when  there.  It  was  not  apprehended  that 
the  Treasurer  would  be  called  upon  to  select  many  points  as 
places  where  these  payments  might  be  made.  Perhaps  the 
points  at  which  it  was  proposed  to  keep  offices  for  the  deposit  of 
the  public  money  would  be  sufficient,  and  perhaps  a  few  other 
principal  places  might  be  selected  with  increased  convenience  to 
the  public.  A  certificate  of  the  deposit  of  the  money  at  any 
designated  point,  transmitted  to  the  Treasurer,  would  command 
the  required  receipt  from  him  as  well  as  the  actual  payment  of 
the  money  at  the  treasury  itself;  and  as  this  could  be  done 
through  the  mail,  the  party  making  the  payment  would  be  saved 
the  expense  of  a  journey  to  the  Treasurer's  office  in  this  city. 

"  A  further  and  material  advantage  to  the  banking  institutions, 
he  was  assured,  would  be  derived  from  the  adoption  of  this  sec 
tion.  The  notes  of  specie-paying  banks  are  now  authorized  to  be 
received  for  all  payments  except  for  lands,  and  if  this  bill  passed 
would  be  receivable  as  well  for  lands  as  other  public  dues,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  for  six  or  seven  years  yet  to  come.  Still, 
a  citizen  of  the  old  States  about  to  emigrate  to  the  new,  and  hav 
ing  the  money  for  the  purchase  of  his  lands  in  the  notes  of  specie- 
paying  banks  of  the  old  States,  would  not  venture  to  take  those 
notes  as  the  means  of  payment,  because  there  would  be  a  danger 
that  the  land  officer  to  whom  he  might  wish  to  make  payment 
would  not  receive  the  notes  of  even  specie-paying  banks,  so 
remote  from  the  place  where  alone  they  could  be  converted  into 
specie.  The  emigrant  would  be  compelled,  therefore,  to  present 


652  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  notes,  convert  them  himself,  and  take  the  specie  as  his  means 
of  payment,  unless  the  provision  now  proposed  or  some  one  of  a 
similar  character  should  enable  him  to  make  the  payment  before 
his  journey  is  commenced.  The  experience  of  the  past  had 
proved  that  this  was  the  course  pursued  by  the  emigrants 
toward  the  banks  in  the  vicinity  of  their  former  residences,  and 
pursued  from  compulsion;  but  he  had  been  informed  that  dur 
ing  the  short  period,  in  the  summer  of  1836,  when  payments  for 
lands  were  actually  received  at  the  office  of  the  Treasurer  in  this 
city,  large  amounts  were  paid  and  received ;  and  that  the  banks 
here,  and  in  the  adjoining  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  expe 
rienced  sensible  and  material  relief  from  the  practice. 

"He  would  here  close  his  examination  of  the  first  class  of  the 
provisions  of  the  bill,  and  give  a  very  brief  attention  to  the  sec 
ond:  those  relating  to  the  proposed  change  in  the  currency  to  be 
received  in  payment  of  the  public  dues. 

"The  principal  and  controlling  provision  upon  this  subject  was 
to  be  found  in  the  twenty-third  section  of  the  bill.  The  section 
was  long,  and  contained  much  detail,  but  the  principle  adopted 
by  it  was  simple  and  intelligible;  it  was  merely  a  gradual  change 
from  the  currency  of  specie-paying  bank-notes  to  the  legal  cur 
rency  of  the  country.  The  change  was  to  commence  after  the 
close  of  the  present  year,  and  was  to  cover  the  full  period  of  six 
years,  making  the  change  applicable  to  one-sixth  part  of  the 
accruing  revenue  of  each,  beyond  that  of  the  next  preceding 
year.  He  could  most  easily  make  the  Senate  acquainted  with 
this  section,  by  saying  that  it  was,  in  substance  and  principle,  the 
provision  offered  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
[Mr.  CalhounJ,  by  way  of  amendment  to  the  bill  reported  by  the 
committee  to  the  Senate,  at  the  extra  session,  in  September  last. 
The  only  material  change  made  by  the  committee  had  been  to 
extend  the  gradation  of  the  change  in  the  currency  from  fourths 
to  sixths,  so  as  to  require  six  instead  of  four  years  to  make  the 
change  entire.  The  section  might  not  be  drawn  in  the  same 
words  used  by  that  Senator  in  his  amendment,  but,  with  the 
exception  just  named,  the  substance  was  identical. 

"  This  was  a  feature  of  the  bill  which  former  experien.ce  assured 
him  would  be  more  strongly  contested,  perhaps,  than  any  other 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  653 

of  its  provisions.  It  would  be  recollected  by  the  Senate  that,  at 
the  extra  session,  the  committee  had  incorporated  into  their  bill 
no  provision  in  reference  to  the  currency  in  which  the  public  dues 
should  be  received,  and  that  their  opinion  had  been  then  expressed 
to  the  body,  that  it  would  be  most  expedient  to  legislate  upon 
each  of  these  great  points  separately,  and  by  separate  bills.  A 
different  opinion  was  stongly  expressed  at  the  time  by  several 
Senators,  and  different  amendments  touching  this  subject  of  the 
currency  were  early  offered  to  the  bill  which  the  committee  did 
report.  After  full  debate,  and  by  deliberate  votes,  the  amend 
ment  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  was  adopted 
and  made  a  part  of  the  bill.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
committee  had  felt  constrained,  in  making  their  report  at  this 
session,  to  include  this  provision  in  that  report,  and  to  make  it  a 
part  of  the  same  measure  which  should  separate  the  finances  of 
the  country  from  the  banking  interests  of  the  country.  Hence 
is  the  section  now  found  in  the  bill  presented  by  the  committee, 
although  it  was  not  a  part  of  their  former  report.  Still,  it  pre 
sents  a  question  of  deep  interest,  of  great  magnitude,  and  upon 
which  there  is  great  diversity  of  opinion  and  great  delicacy  of 
feeling,  as  well  throughout  the  country  as  in  this  and  the  other 
House  of  Congress. 

"  It  was  not  his  purpose,  at  this  time,  to  discuss  the  section  except 
in  one  aspect,  but  in  that  one  he  must  make  some  suggestions. 
The  alarm  taken  at  the  provision  had  relation  principally  to  the 
State  banks,  and  it  w^s  in  reference  to  the  interests  of  those  insti 
tutions  that  he  proposed  the  suggestions  he  was  about  to  make. 
The  proposition  is,  gradually,  and  after  the  term  of  some  six 
or  seven  years,  to  discontinue  the  receipt  of  their  notes  in  pay 
ment  of  the  public  dues,  although  they  may  be,  at  the  time, 
specie-paying  banks,  and  their  notes  may  be  convertible  into 
specie,  at  the  will  of  the  holder,  at  their  banking-house,  wherever 
that  may  be  located.  The  objection  is,  that  this  rejection  of  the 
paper  of  these  banks,  on  the  part  of  the  national  government, 
will  so  far  discredit  their  circulation  generally  as  to  cripple  their 
operations,  destroy  their  powers  of  usefulness  in  the  local  sphere 
of  their  legitimate  operations,  and  finally  annihilate  them.  Is 
there  ground  for  this  apprehension  ?  How  are  the  charters  of 


654  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  State  banks  obtained,  and  for  what  purposes  ?  Is  it  that  the 
circulation  of  their  notes  shall  extend  o.ver  the  whole  Union  ?  Is 
it  that  those  notes  shall  take  with  them,  wherever  they  may  go, 
the  faith  and  credit  of  the  United  States,  and  be  the  legal  cur 
rency  of  the  federal  government  at  every  point  and  place  in 
these  twenty-six  States  ?  No ;  no  such  idea  ever  entered  into  the 
mind  of  any  man,  who,  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  his 
State,  has  voted  for  a  local  bank  charter.  The  only  ground  upon 
which  those  applications  are  pressed  upon  the  State  Legislature  is, 
the  accommodation  of  the  commerce  and  business  in  the  imme 
diate  vicinity  of  the  proposed  location  of  the  bank.  Look  at  the 
statistics  which  are  always  made  a  part  of  the  argument  in  favor 
of  a  particular  State  charter.  Are  they  the  statistics  of  the 
Union?  No;  they  are  the  statistic?  of  the  village,  or  town,  or 
county  embracing  the  location  of  the  proposed  bank,  and  they 
are  intended  to  prove  the  necessity  of  the  banking  facilities  pro 
posed  to  be  furnished  by  the  charter  at  that  point.  Did  any 
man  ever  suppose,  then,  that  the  State  Legislatures,  to  which 
these  applications  are  so  constantly  and  perseveringly  addressed, 
considered  themselves,  in  their  very  liberal  grants  in  this  way, 
to  be  authorizing  a  currency  for  the  whole  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  especially  a  standard  of  currency  for  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States  ?  No.  Such  a  position  would  not  be  assumed 
by  any  man  here,  nor  would  it  by  any  man  in  the  country. 
Where,  then,  arose  the  obligation  of  this  government  to  receive 
the  notes  of  these  institutions,  thus  chartered,  and  for  such  pur 
poses,  in  payment  of  the  public  dues  ?  He  could  not  see  either 
the  obligation  or  the  duty;  and  certainly  no  one  would  contend, 
in  case  the  notes  were  to  be  received,  that  they  should  be  kept 
on  hand  as  the  money  treasure  of  the  whole  people. 

"  How,  then,  were  they  to  be  disposed  of  in  a  manner  to  con 
sult  the  safety  of  the  public  funds,  in  case  they  were  to  be  per 
petually  received  ?  This  question  admitted  of  but  one  answer. 
They  must  be  presented,  at  short  intervals,  to  the  banks  which 
issued  them,  and  converted  into  money,  into  the  legal  currency 
of  the  country.  In  conformity  with  this  manifest  principle,  the 
bill  provided  that  these  notes  should  not  be  made  matters  of 
deposit,  under  the  regulations  it  contains  for  special  deposits  in 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  655 

banks.  It  would  be  folly  to  deposit,  merely  for  safety,  the 
representative  of  value,  in  the  place  of  the  value  itself,  where  the 
open  option  existed  to  constitute  the  deposit  of  the  one  or  the 
other.  Which  would,  then,  be  most  useful  to  the  State  banks  : 
to  receive  their  notes  as  cash  at  the  treasury,  and  constantly 
convert  them  into  specie,  or  gradually  to  discontinue  that  receipt 
altogether,  and  collect  the  revenue  in  the  legal  currency  only  ? 
To  allow  them  from  six  to  seven  years  to  conform  themselves, 
their  business  and  their  conditions  to  the  changed  state  of 
things  ;  or  to  commence  immediately  to  receive  their  notes  for 
the  public  dues,  so  far  as  those  notes  are  redeemable  in  specie 
upon  demand  at  their  banking-houses,  and  to  present  them  for 
payment  at  short  intervals  and  in  large  masses  ?  For  himself, 
he  must  say  he  thought  the  provisions  of  the  section  in  question 
were  more  mild  and  more  favorable  to  the  State  banks  than  the 
alternative  he  had  contemplated.  The  subject,  however,  was 
before  the  Senate.  It  would  be  discussed  by  others,  who  had 
bestowed  more  thought  and  more  research  upon  this  particular 
point  than  he  had  ;  the  merits  of  the  question,  in  every  aspect, 
would  be  fairly  and  fully  presented,  and  he  would  content  him 
self  with  whatever  decision  should  be  made.  Should  this  propo 
sition  not  meet  with  favor,  he  should  ask  the  sense  of  the  Senate 
upon  the  alternative,  and  he  would  not  permit  himself  to  doubt 
that  the  one  or  the  other  would  be  adopted. 

"  The  twenty-fourth  section  was  merely  calculated  to  carry  out 
the  one  which  preceded  it,  by  making  it  imperative  upon  all  dis 
bursing  officers,  after  the  time  when  the  whole  revenue  should  be 
collectable  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States,  to  make 
all  their  disbursements  in  the  same  currency,  upon  penalty  of 
dismissal  from  office,  and  a  forfeiture  of  any  compensation  which 
might  be  due  to  them  at  the  time  of  their  violation  of  the  law. 

"  The  twenty-fifth  section  might,  perhaps,  be  considered  as 
somewhat  connected  with  those  which  have  gone  before  it,  as  it 
requires  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  prescribe  the  times 
within  which  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer,  drawn  upon  the  various 
depositaries,  according  to  their  respective  distances  from  the  seat 
of  government,  shall  be  presented  for  payment,  and  after  which 
time  they  shall  not  be  accepted  and  paid  by  the  depositary, 


656  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

without  new  directions  from  the  Secretary.  The  object  of  this 
section,  it  will  be  seen,  was  to  prevent  these  drafts  from  being 
made  a  currency  for  circulation,  based  upon  the  credit  of  the 
government.  Since  the  suspension  of  the  banks,  in  May  last, 
this  use  has  been  made  of  these  drafts,  to  some  extent,  and  it 
was  thought  desirable  to  check  the  practice  in  its  inception. 
The  section  was  copied  from  a  provision  of  the  bill  which  passed 
the  Senate  at  the  extra  session,  and  which  was  inserted  in  that 
bill,  as  an  amendment,  by  the  Senate  itself. 

"He  would  relieve  the  Senate  and  himself  from 'any  further 
observations  as  to  the  details  of  the  bill.  He  had  omitted  seve 
ral  of  great  importance,  and  among  them  he  would  mention  those 
which  made  provision  for  the  official  bonds  of  the  several  deposi 
taries.  He  believed  those  provisions  broad  and  ample,  and  such 
as  were  best  calculated  to  secure  the  public  treasure,  and  he 
thought  every  Senator,  upon  examination,  would  agree  with  him 
in  this  opinion.  He  would  not  attempt  to  particularize  the  other 
sections  which  had  not  been  noticed,  but  would  merely  remark 
that  none  of  them  introduced  any  new  principle  into  the  bill,  and 
that  he  thought  all  would  be  found  to  reach  the  object  intended 
by  them. 

"  Such,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  is  the  system  which  the 
majority  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  have  considered  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  present  to  the  Senate,  for  the  safe-keeping,  transfer 
and  disbursement  of  the  public  money  of  the  United  States. 
This  system  is  strenuously  opposed,  not  by  the  political  party 
uniformly  opposed  to  the  present  administration  only,  but  by 
some  of  the  respected  and  influential  individuals  among  those 
who  have  hitherto  been  its  friends  and  supporters.  What,  then, 
is  proposed  by  those  who  cannot  give  their  support  to  the  bill 
before  you  ?  The  system  of  State  bank  deposits  seems  to  be 
more  especially  urged  as  the  antagonist  proposition,  and,  under 
the  impression  that  there  was  to  rest  the  present  controversy,  so 
far  as  distinct  propositions  of  any  character  would  be  submitted 
to  the  Senate,  he  proposed  to  institute  a  comparison  between  the 
advantages  and  disadvantages  of  each  system,  as  connected  with 
the  prominent  objections  which  had  been  heretofore  urged  against 
the  provisions  of  the  bill. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  657 

"First,  then,  as  to  the  safety  of  the  public  money  under  the 
system  proposed  by  the  bill,  and  under  the  State  bank  deposit 
system. 

"  The  bill  proposes  to  require  ample  and  sufficient  bonds  and 
sureties  from  all  the  depositaries  constituted  by  it,  as  one  step 
toward  the  safety  of  the  money  intrusted  to  the  keeping  of  those 
agents. 

"  It  also  proposes  to  provide  vaults  and  safes  at  the  most 
important  points  of  collection  and  disbursement,  in  this  respect 
placing  itself  upon  a  par  with  banks,  so  far  as  physical  securities 
are  concerned. 

"  It  further  proposes  to  adopt  the  use  of  the  vaults  and  safes 
of  the  banks,  at  all  places  where  those  securities  are  not  provided 
by  the  government,  using  the  banks  for  safety  simply,  by  the 
system  of  special  deposits,  and  not  in  any  sense  as  fiscal  agents 
of  the  treasury. 

"  These  are  the  guards  which  the  system  constituted  by  the 
bill  holds  out  to  the  people  against  the  loss  of  their  treasure. 

"  The  State  bank  deposit  system  presents  the  capitals  of  the 
institutions  as  security  for  deposits,  in  the  same  manner  as  for 
all  other  liabilities  of  the  incorporation. 

"  It  also  presents  its  vaults  and  safes,  constructed  for  its  own 
security,  and,  it  is  fair  to  presume,  as  securely  constructed  as 
those  proposed  for  the  government. 

"It  next  presents,  as  we  have  heretofore  practiced  under  it, 
collateral  bonds,  with  sureties,  for  the  due  and  faithful  fulfillment 
of  its  engagements  on  the  part  of  the  bank. 

"  These  are  the  protections  to  the  public  treasure  offered  by 
the  State  bank  deposit  system,  supposing,  as  he  did,  that  the 
system,  if  continued,  was  to  remain  upon  the  plan  of  open  or 
general  deposits,  as  adopted  in  the  deposit  bill  of  1836.  Other 
wise,  as  he  had  shown  in  a  former  part  of  his  remarks,  the  capi 
tal  of  the  bank  would  not  be  liable,  except  for  gross  negligence 
in  the  keeping  of  the  money  placed  in  its  vaults. 

"  What,  then,  are  the  risks  under  each  system  ? 

"  Under  that  proposed  by  the  bill,  the  only  single  risk  is  that 
of  the  misconduct  and  dishonesty  of  the  officers  to  whom  the 
safe-keeping  of  the  money  is  intrusted,  and  that  conduct,  in  addi- 
42 


658  LIFE  AND  TIMES  01  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tion  to  all  other  legal  liabilities,  is  made  a  high  crime,  and  punish 
able  with  protracted  personal  imprisonment.  The  persons  to 
whom  this  trust  is  to  be  confided  are  such  citizens  as  the  Presi 
dent,  Avith  a  full  knowledge  of  the  duties,  responsibilities  and 
temptations,  shall  select  and  nominate  to  the  Senate,  and  as  the 
Senate,  upon  full  examination,  shall  advise  and  consent  that  the 
President  do  appoint  and  commission  to  execute  the  trust.  The 
risk  is  that  these  persons  will  be  dishonest;  that  they  will  become 
insensible  to  standing  and  character  ;  that  they  will  violate  their 
faith  to  their  sureties  and  their  country;  that  they  will  embezzle 
the  public  money  in  their  hands,  and  thus  subject  themselves  to 
infamous  punishment  —  to  imprisonment  with  rogues  and  felons 
for  a  term  of  not  less  than  two  years. 

"  One  of  the  risks  under  the  State  bank  deposit  system  is  the 
same  misconduct  and  dishonesty  of  the  officers,  agents  and  mana 
gers  of  the  banks,  and  they  are  numerous,  and  many  of  them 
selected  to  perform  subordinate  duties.  Without  any  imputation 
upon  the  institutions,  therefore,  or  their  principal  officers,  it  can 
not  be  unfair  to  assume  that  many  of  the  persons  who  must  have 
access  to  their  books,  accounts  and  money  will  not  be  persons  of 
that  standing  and  character  which  would  be  required,  by  all  con 
cerned,  in  the  selection  and  appointment  of  responsible  public 
officers.  In  the  case  of  the  bank,  too,  the  persons  who  must 
have  access  to  the  money  in  its  charge  are  numerous,  while  under 
the  other  system  the  single  depositary  alone  has  such  access. 
Again,  the  misconduct  and  dishonesty  of  the  officers  and  agents 
of  the  bank  are  not  made  criminal  and  punished  as  crimes.  If 
committed,  so  far  as  the  government  is  concerned,  they  are  mere 
breaches  of  trust,  and  incur  a  debt ;  they  lay  the  foundation  for 
a  suit  at  law  to  recover  the  money  embezzled.  Can  it,  by  possi 
bility,  be  supposed  that  these  risks  are  equally  balanced  ?  He 
knew  that,  upon  a  former  occasion,  when  this  same  subject  was 
under  discussion,  we  had  had  paraded  before  us  a  long  and  most 
unpleasant  list  of  defaulting  public  officers  ;  but  it  had  not  been 
stated  at  what  periods  those  defaults  had  occurred,  or  what  was 
their  aggregate  amount.  He  had  never,  upon  any  occasion, 
examined  the  list  with  much  care,  as  it  was  not  a  matter  of  enter 
tainment  to  him  to  see  these  evidences  of  unworthiness  in  those 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  659 

who  had  sought  and  obtained  public  patronage  and  public  trust. 
He  had,  however,  referred  to  the  list  sufficiently  to  learn  that 
nine-tenths  of  the  defaults  recorded  upon  it  had  happened  during 
the  prevalence  of  a  system  of  bank  deposits  of  some  sort;  and  he 
thought  it  would  be  found,  upon  careful  comparison,  that  a  large 
majority  of  them  had  taken  place  when  a  national  bank,  that 
great  security,  in  the  minds  of  many,  against  all  pecuniary  evils, 
was  the  sole  depository  of  the  national  treasure.  The  defaulters 
were  mostly  disbursing  officers  proper,  such  as  paymasters  of  the 
army,  pursers  in  the  navy,  and  the  like,  or  postmasters,  who  had 
never,  until  very  recently,  been  legally  connected,  in  any  way, 
with  the  treasury,  or  contractors  upon  the  public  works.  All  these 
classes  of  persons,  except  postmasters,  must  always,  and  under 
any  system,  have  the  same  opportunity  to  misapply  public  money; 
and  their  defaults,  therefore,  were  no  more  an  argument  against 
the  system  proposed  by  the  bill,  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  pub 
lic  money,  than  against  any  other  system  which  could  be  devised 
or  named.  He  had  already  said  the  amount  of  these  defaults 
had  not  been  stated.  He  did  not  know  the  amount;  but  this  he 
would  venture  to  affirm,  without  the  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
the  whole  amount  of  losses  to  the  government,  from  the  defaults 
of  public  officers,  since  its  organization  under  the  Constitution, 
would  be  but  a  fraction  of  the  losses  which  it  had  sustained  from 
its  connection  with  the  State  banks  alone,  setting  aside  the  forty 
years  of  the  period  when  a  national  bank  was  the  sole  fiscal  agent 
of  the  treasury.  Here,  therefore,  the  State  bank  system  gained 
no  advantage  in  the  argument.  He  was  most  happy  to  be  able 
to  say  that,  in  comparison  with  the  vast  amounts  which  had 
been  received  and  disbursed,  the  losses  under  any  system  hitherto 
adopted  had  been  very  small,  and  it  made  him  proud  of  his 
country,  and  of  her  citizens,  to  state  a  fact  which  had  been  given 
to  him  from  high  authority,  since  the  subject  of  intrusting 
the  money  of  the  people  with  their  own  officers  had  been  one  of 
discussion  before  the  country.  The  fact  to  which  he  alluded 
was  that  the  whole  disbursements  of  the  army,  from  the  year 
1821  to  the  year  1836,  both  inclusive,  amounting  to  several  mil 
lions  in  each  year,  had  been  made  through  the  hands  of  the  pub 
lic  officers  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  that  not  one  dollar  of 


660  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

loss  had  accrued  to  the  government  from  those  appropriations 
during  the  whole  of  that  period.  Ought  not  this  fact  alone  to 
inspire  confidence  in  the  trustworthiness  of  our  public  servants  ? 
It  seemed  to  him  so;  and  he  must  say  he  could  not  comprehend 
how  it  was,  after  all  the  experience  which  our  former  and  recent 
history  had  afforded,  that  gentlemen  of  the  most  unquestioned 
integrity  should  feel  and  manifest  so  much  distrust  against  the 
public  officers  of  the  government  —  men  of  elevated  standing 
and  character,  and  directly  accountable  to  the  people  and  their 
representatives,  as  well  as  to  the  civil  and  criminal  tribunals  of 
the  country  —  and  should  at  the  same  time,  and  in  reference  to 
the  same  subject,  repose  such  implicit  and  unmoved  confidence 
in  the  incorporated  banking  institutions  of  the  States,  and  in 
their  officers  and  managers.  Did  they  believe  that  the  transfer 
of  a  citizen  from  private  life  to  a  public  office  necessarily  poi 
soned  his  integrity,  while  a  similar  transfer  to  a  situation  in  a 
bank  rendered  him  worthy  of  all  trust?  No.  They  could  not 
so  believe.  The  fact  could  not  be  so.  The  honest  man  would  be 
honest  in  either  situation.  The  dishonest  man  would  be  honest 
in  neither.  He  knew  that  public  officers  sometimes  became 
defaulters;  and  he  must  be  permitted  to  ask  how  frequently  the 
public  sense  was  startled  by  announcements,  through  the  public 
press,  of  the  defaults  and  embezzlements  of  the  most  confiden 
tial  officers  of  banks?  All  were  frail  and  erring  men;  and  some, 
alike  in  both  classes,  would  prove  unequal  to  the  resistance  which 
the  temptations  of  their  situations  required  ;  but  he  could  not  see 
that  either  system  derived  any  advantage  over  the  other  from 
this  consideration ;  while  he  did  believe  that  the  bill  under  dis 
cussion  proposed  guards  against  this  risk  which  would  be  found 
more  beneficial  in  practice  than  any  hitherto  known  to  the  legis 
lation  of  Congress. 

"  So  far  as  vaults  and  safes  were  concerned,  he  had  already 
admitted  that  each  system  possessed  equal  advantages;  and  from 
what  had  been  said  it  would  be  seen  that,  to  a  very  great  extent, 
these  securities,  as  applied  to  both  systems,  were  identically  the 
same. 

"But  there  is  another  and  much  more  important  risk  con 
nected  with  the  bank  system.  It  is,  that  all  moneys  placed  with 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  661 

the  banks  for  safe-keeping,  upon  open  or  general  deposit,  are 
necessarily  subjected  to  all  the  hazards  which  attend  the  busi 
ness  of  the  banking  institutions.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
money  thus  deposited  becomes  at  once  the  property  of  the  bank, 
and  that  the  depositor  receives  in  exchange  for  his  money  the 
simple  credit  of  the  institution.  If,  then,  its  credit  be  subjected 
to  the  hazards  of  the  banking  business,  so  must  be  the  money 
placed  on  general  deposit  with  it.  as  that  money  is  merely  con 
verted  by  the  depositor  into  that  credit.  By  adopting  this  sys 
tem,  therefore,  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  national  treasure,  we 
embark  the  money  of  the  people  in  the  same  boat  with  the  capi 
tal  of  the  bank;  we  subject  it  to  all  the  hazards  to  which  that 
capital  is  subjected,  and  we  substantially  agree,  so  far  as  our 
reliance  is  upon  the  capital  of  the  institution  for  indemnity,  that 
if  the  adventure  be  fortunate  our  money  shall  be  safe,  but  that 
if  it  be  unfortunate  the  risk  and  the  loss  shall  be  ours.  We  are 
not,  however,  to  be  placed  in  the  condition  of  the  owners  of  the 
capital  of  the  bank.  We  are  not  to  share  in  the  profits  of  a  for 
tunate  hazard.  Our  only  object  is  safety  for  our  money,  and  to 
gain  that  we  take  our  share  of  the  risks,  without  any  interest  in 
the  contemplated  profits  from  them.  Who  will  contend  that 
these  risks  do  not  fully  balance  the  safety  we  derive  as  the  con 
sideration  for  incurring  them  ?  The  bank  system,  then,  derives 
no  advantage  in  the  argument  from  the  security  afforded  us  by 
its  capital,  so  long  as  it  subjects  us  to  all  its  risks  without  any 
share  in  its  gains. 

"  Let  us  now  balance  the  account,  as  far  as  we  have  gone,  and 
see  which  system  has  the  advantage.  In  the  security  of  vaults 
and  safes  both  are  equal.  The  security  afforded  by  the  capitals 
of  the  banks  is  counterbalanced  by  the  risks  it  compels  us  to 
take,  growing  out  of  its  banking  operations,  without  any  share 
in  the  profits  of  those  operations,  if  fortunate.  This  balances 
this  item  of  the  account.  In  the  risk  growing  out  of  the  miscon 
duct  and  dishonesty  of  officers,  managers  and  agents,  the  system 
proposed  by  the  bill  has  a  decided  advantage  in  the  number  of 
persons  to  be  trusted,  the  standing  and  character  of  those  who 
have  access  to  the  money,  and  the  guards  against  and  punish 
ment  of  embezzlement.  In  the  bonds  and  sureties  both  systems 


662  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

would  be,  prima  facie,  equal;  but  we  have  been  recently  told, 
by  a  distinguished  Senator  [Mr.  Webster],  that  the  collateral 
bonds  given  by  the  banks  are  useless  paper;  that  they  are  always 
signed  by  officers,  directors  and  stockholders  of  the  bank  for 
which  they  are  sureties,  by  persons  whose  business  and  fortunes 
are  interwoven  with  the  business  and  fortunes  of  the  bank,  and 
that  when  it  fails  the  sureties  upon  our  bond  must  fail  with  it. 
He  hoped  this  position  was  not  true  to  its  full  extent ;  but  he 
must  admit  that  it  was  likely  to  be  true  in  a  very  great  degree, 
for  who  would  become  security  for  a  bank  but  the  persons  inter 
ested  in  it  ?  These  institutions,  from  their  nature  and  character, 
could  neither  receive  nor  reciprocate  any  other  friendships  than 
those  of  interest,  and,  therefore,  they  could  only  look  to  the 
interested  to  find  sureties  for  their  engagements.  Not  so  with 
the  public  officer.  He  would  have  no  business  relations.  His 
official  duties  would  require  his  whole  time  and  whole  mind. 
The  discharge  of  those  duties  would  call  for  no  bank  facilities. 
His  sureties  would  be  friends,  men  wholly  disconnected  from  him 
in  business,  and  whose  properties  and  responsibilities  could  not 
be  affected  by  his  pecuniary  disasters,  any  farther  than  their  lia 
bilities  upon  his  bond  should  produce  that  effect.  The  system 
proposed  by  the  bill,  then,  derived  a  material  advantage  over  the 
bank  system,  in  the  safety  of  the  collateral  bonds,  and  thus  must 
be  admitted,  in  the  settlement  of  the  account,  to  have  two  advan 
tages  over  the  antagonist  system,  and  to  be  the  safer  of  the  two. 

"  Second.  He  would  now  carry  the  comparison  to  the  expenses 
of  the  antagonistic  systems. 

"And,  first,  of  the  expenses  under  that  proposed  by  the  bill. 
They  were  the  erection  of  the  two  offices  at  Charleston  and  St. 
Louis.  It  had  been  seen,  however,  that  the  erection  of  an  office 
at  Charleston  would  be  probably  avoided;  that  the  government 
now  owned  a  custom-house  at  that  place,  and  that  rooms  for  an 
office  for  the  receiver-general  of  public  moneys  there  might  be 
procured  in  that  building ;  that  the  necessary  vaults  would  be 
required  to  be  constructed,  and  the  rooms  fitted  up  and  prepared 
for  this  use,  which  would  be  the  whole  expense  at  that  point 
for  erections.  The  estimate  of  the  department,  for  these  pur 
poses,  was  $2,000.  For  the  expenses  of  a  site,  the  erection  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  663 

the  necessary  building,  and  the  construction  of  vaults  and  safes 
within  it,  at  St.  Louis,  the  department  supposed  an  expense  of 
from  $4,500  to  $5,000  would  be  incurred.  From  inquiry  made 
of  gentlemen  intimately  and  personally  acquainted  with  the 
prices  of  property  and  building  materials  at  that  place,  he  pre 
sumed  the  expense  might  be  above  the  estimate  of  the  depart 
ment.  It  was  said  that  the  cost  of  a  suitable  site,  at  a  proper 
location  within  the  business  part  of  the  town,  would  be  some 
three  or  four  thousand  dollars  at  the  least.  In  this  event,  the 
estimate  would  be  much  too  low,  and  it  was  just  to  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  to  say  that  the  estimate  of  the  department  was 
accompanied  with  a  declaration  that  no  local  information  was 
possessed,  such  as  was  required  to  approximate  toward  perfect 
accuracy.  The  estimates  were  from  $6,500  to  $7,000.  He 
would  suppose  they  were  too  low  by  $3,000,  and  that  an 
expenditure  of  $10,000  would  be  incurred  for  these  erections 
at  the  two  points.  He  had  been  more  particular  and  detailed 
upon  this  item  of  the  proposed  expenditures,  because  he  was 
well  advised  that  the  most  persevering  efforts  had  been  made, 
and  are  constantly  making,  to  represent  the  intention  to  be  to 
erect  palaces  and  splendid  edifices  for  these  humble  offices? 
He  had  no  other  answer  to  give  to  these  mistakes  than  to  pre 
sent  the  estimates  of  the  proper  department  of  the  government  — 
of  that  department  which  was  charged  by  the  bill  with  the  erec 
tion  of  the  buildings  not  only,  but  with  the  direction  of  the  plans 
upon  which  they  were  to  be  erected  —  thus  showing,  as  perfectly 
as  mere  intention  can  be  shown,  the  views  of  the  government  as 
to  the  scale  of  extravagance  or  economy  designed  by  it  in  this 
particular;  and  to  say  that  Congress  was  the  only  branch  of  the 
government  which  could  be  looked  to  for  the  means  to  make  any 
erections  whatsoever,  and  that  its  appropriations  must  measure 
the  expense  and  consequently  the  extravagance  or  economy  of 
the  executors  of  the  law. 

"  The  next  and  only  other  item  of  expense,  under  the  bill, 
would  be  the  pay  of  the  officers  and  clerks  employed.  The 
number  of  additional  officers  whose  appointments  were  provided 
for  was  four,  and  he  would  assume  that  their  combined  salaries 
would  not  be  less  than  eight  nor  more  than  twelve  thousand  dol- 


6(34  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

lars.  They  were  to  be  placed  in  responsible  trusts,  and  ought  to 
be  citizens  of  elevated  standing  and  tried  moral  integrity.  He 
could  not  suppose,  therefore,  that  any  one  would  wish  to  assign 
them  salaries  of  less  than  $2,000  each,  and  he  did  not  think  that 
the  salary  of  any  one  of  them  should  exceed  $3,000.  For  the 
sake  of  the  argument  he  would  call  this  expense  $12,000. 

"It  might  be  necessary  to  employ  from  six  to  twelve  addi 
tional  clerks  under  the  various  provisions  of  the  bill.  Their 
combined  pay  might  amount  to  from  six  to  ten  thousand  dollars. 
He  thought  the  estimate,  both  as  to  the  number  of  clerks  and  as 
to  the  amount  of  compensation,  very  high.  Both,  however,  were 
his  own,  as  he  had  asked  no  estimate  from  the  department  upon 
this  point,  and  he  was  willing  to  assume  the  highest  of  his  suppo 
sitions  to  be  the  true  standard  of  expense  for  these  two  objects. 

"  These  last  are  regular  annual  expenses,  and  are  therefore  to 
be  considered  as  the  constant  charge  upon  the  public  treasury 
of  the  system  proposed.  The  cost  of  the  erections  is  a  single 
expense,  which,  being  once  incurred  and  paid,  is  done  with. 

"What,  then,  are  the  expenses  of  the  State  bank  deposit  sys 
tem  ?  If  the  deposits  are  open  and  general,  and  the  banks  have 
the  use  of  the  public  money  as  a  compensation  for  their  agency, 
the  expense  is  nothing,  directly.  The  use  pays  for  the  keeping, 
as  it  most  assuredly  should,  when  the  money  is  not  in  fact  kept 
but  used.  He  should  have  occasion,  however,  very  soon,  to  hint 
at  the  indirect  expense  to  the  United  States  of  such  a  system  of 
bank  deposits. 

"  But  suppose  a  system  of  special  deposits  be  established,  and 
the  banks  be  effectually  prohibited  from  the  use,  for  any  pur 
pose,  of  the  money  of  the  people  in  their  keeping,  how  then  will 
stand  the  question  of  expense  ?  A  commission  upon  the  money 
deposited  must  be  paid  to  the  bank  for  its  trouble  and  risk.  He 
was  wholly  unable  to  say  what  that  commission  ought  to  be,  or 
what  Congress  would  be  compelled  to  make  it  to  induce  the 
banks  to  accept  the  trust.  He  had  found,  however,  from  a  com 
parison  of  various  rates  of  commission  with  the  ordinary  amounts 
of  revenue  collected  under  the  existing  laws,  and  with  the  esti 
mate  of  the  revenue  for  the  current  year,  that  one-eighth  of  one 
per  cent  would  amount  to  from  twenty-five  to  twenty-eight  thou- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  665 

sand  dollars,  as  the  constant  and  current  expenses  of  a  special 
deposit  system. 

"  How,  then,  stands  the  comparison  ?  It  had  been  seen  that 
the  annual  expenses  of  the  system  proposed  by  the  bill  would, 
in  the  payment  of  officers  and  clerks,  vary  from  fourteen  to 
twenty-two  thousand  dollars,  and  that  the  last  would  be  the 
highest  amount  to  which  those  expenditures  could  rise  under 
that  system  were  Congress  to  adopt  it  as  reported  by  the 
committee.  The  expenditures  for  erections  might  be  added, 
if  gentlemen  chose,  and  the  average  made  upon  any  given 
number  of  years  which,  in  the  judgment  of  any  member  of 
the  Senate,  would  afford  a  fair  trial  to  any  financial  system 
adapted  to  the  operations  of  the  national  treasury,  and  conform 
ing  as  strictly  to  the  great  mass  of  private  and  corporate  interests 
in  the  country  as  the  constitutional  powers  of  Congress  would 
permit  that  conformation  to  be  made.  He  could  not  see,  there 
fore,  that  any  system,  formed  upon  the  basis  of  special  deposits 
in  banks,  could,  in  point  of  expense,  possess  advantages  over  the 
bill  under  discussion.  He  had  not  forgotten  that  that  bill  adopted 
a  partial  system  of  special  deposits,  and  that  it  contemplated  a 
payment  of  a  commission  to  the  banks  which  should  keep  the 
public  money  pursuant  to  its  provisions;  but  he  assumed  that  the 
difference  of  amount  in  the  above  estimate  for  the  respective  sys 
tems  was  more  than  sufficient  to  cover  any  commissions  which  a 
fair  execution  of  the  provisions  of  the  bill  would  call  out  of  the 
public  treasury  to  be  paid  to  the  banks.  The  most  important 
points  in  the  country,  both  as  to  the  collection  and  disbursement 
of  the  public  money,  were  provided  for,  independently  of  the 
provisions  for  a  special  deposit.  The  commissions,  therefore, 
could  be  made  applicable  to  but  a  mere  fraction  of  the  whole 
revenue;  and,  at  any  contemplated  rate,  the  whole  amount  could 
never  exceed  a  few  thousand  dollars. 

"  He  had  made  a  reference  to  the  indirect  expenses  of  an  open 
and  general  State  bank  deposit  system,  where  the  services  and 
risks  of  the  banks  were  compensated  by  the  use  of  the  publ'c 
money.  Need  he,  at  this  time,  and  in  the  present  condition  of 
the  State  banks  and  of  the  public  funds,  define  his  meaning  in 
that  reference  ?  Why  was  the  special  convocation  of  Congress 


666  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

rendered  necessary  in  September  last  ?  Was  it  not  the  suspen 
sion  of  the  banks  to  pay  specie  for  their  paper,  and  the  consequent 
inability  of  the  public  treasury  to  obtain  from  them,  in  any 
currency  conformable  to  law,  the  millions  of  the  public  money 
intrusted  to  their  safe-keeping,  and  required  for  the  current 
expenditures  of  the  government  ?  No  one  would  deny  this  posi 
tion.  What  the  expense  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  was, 
for  that  single  extra  session  of  Congress,  he  had  not  taken  the 
trouble  to  inform  himself;  but  this  he  would  venture  to  assert 
with  perfect  confidence,  that  those  expenses  more  than  equaled 
the  money  required  to  carry  on  the  system  of  finance,  proposed 
by  the  bill,  for  any  period  of  ten  years.  He  would  not  now  bring 
into  notice  the  losses  which  might  yet  be  sustained  before  the 
experiment  of  the  late  State  bank  deposit  system  should  be  finally 
closed.  He  did  not  wish  to  say  anything  unfavorable  to  the 
eventual  solvency  and  safety  and  security  of  those  institutions. 
He  did  not  wish  to  bring  any  distrust  upon  them;  much  less 
would  he  repeat  here  the  daily  rumors  of  that  portion  of  the 
public  press  which  most  strenuously  opposed  this  measure,  of  the 
entire  failure  of  this  and  that  and  the  other  'pet  bank;'  of  the 
$60,000  here  and  $40,000  there,  and  untold  thousands  somewhere 
else,  lost  to  the  people  by  this  experiment-trying  administration, 
in  consequence  of  the  employment  of  these  State  banks  as  fiscal 
agents  of  the  public  treasury.  He  hoped  and  believed  these 
pictures  were  overdrawn  ;  he  was  content  to  suppose,  for  the 
purpose  of  this  argument,  that  not  one  dollar  was  to  be  thus  lost, 
and  yet  he  trusted  he  had  shown  that  the  system  proposed  by 
the  bill,  for  the  management  of  the  national  finances,  was  more 
economical  and  less  expensive  to  the  tax-paying  public,  than 
either  a  system  of  general  or  special  State  bank  deposits. 

"  Third.  His  next  point  of  comparison  should  be  the  patron 
age  conferred  upon  the  executive  branch  of  the  government  by 
the  antagonistic  systems. 

"  It  had  been  already  seen  that  the  system  proposed  by  the 
bill  required  the  appointment  of  four  additional  officers,  with 
salaries  of  from  two  to  three  thousand  dollars.  This  was  a 
direct  increase  of  the  executive  power  and  patronage ;  but  when 
it  should  be  recollected  how  many  officers,  with  equal  salaries, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  667 

already  existed,  and  with  how  much  facility  officers  were  added 
to  that  number,  at  almost  every  session  of  Congress,  and  in  almost 
every  one  of  the  executive  departments,  he  must  hope  that  no 
unreasonable  alarm  would  be  felt  in  any  quarter  of  the  House  by 
this  very  limited  addition  to  the  existing  number.  If  they  were  not 
to  be  constitutionally  appointed,  or  if,  being  so  appointed,  duties 
were  to  be  assigned  to  them  not  of  a  character  compatible  with 
our  civil  and  political  institutions,  then  the  offices  ought  not  to 
be  created  or  the  duties  assigned,  regardless  of  all  consequences 
which  the  rejection  of  the  proposition  might  bring  upon  the 
country.  If,  however  the  appointments  are  to  be  constitutionally 
made,  and  the  duties  of  the  officers  seem  to  be  necessary  to  the 
public  service,  he  must  be  permitted  to  say  that  he  reposed  too 
confidently  upon  the  intelligence  of  the  American  people  to  sup 
pose  they  would  condemn  the  measure  because  its  details  called 
for  such  an  accession  of  executive  strength  to  carry  out  their 
wishes.  He  would  not  permit  himself  so  far  to  distrust  the  con 
fidence  of  our  citizens  in  the  government  of  their  choice  as  to 
believe  that  they  would  not  feel  perfectly  safe  in  the  decisions  of 
Congress  as  to  the  offices  to  be  created,  and  in  the  President  and 
Senate  to  select  the  persons  to  fill  those  offices. 

"  Was  it,  could  it  be,  true  that  a  greater  or  safer  trust  was  to 
be  placed  in  local  banking  incorporations  than  could  be  placed 
in  the  constituted  authorities  of  our  government,  as  organized 
under  the  Constitution  ?  Were  the  tax-paying  citizens  of  our 
Republic  afraid  to  intrust  the  safe-keeping  of  the  national  trea 
sure  to  officers  of  their  own  choice  and  responsible  to  them  and 
to  the  laws  of  Congress,  and  anxious  to  confide  it  to  banks  not 
created  by  national  authority,  over  which  no  branch  of  the 
national  government  had  any  control,  and  in  the  management  of 
which  neither  the  people  nor  their  government  had  any  voice  ? 
He  did  not  believe  this  was  the  state  of  public  opinion.  He  did 
not  believe  that  distrust  toward  our  national  authorities  had  yet 
gained  this  extent.  He  was  not  ready  to  admit  that  banks,  such 
as  our  State  banks  now  are,  and  with  the  recent  experience  of 
the  danger  of  resting  the  operations  of  the  public  treasury  upon 
them,  were  more  the  favorites  of  the  people  of  this  country  than 
their  own  well-tried  and  faithful  servants. 


668  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  It  was  not  his  wish  or  design,  he  would  repeat  again,  to  say 
anything  unjust  or  injurious  to  these  institutions.  Within  their 
proper  spheres  they  were  convenient  and  useful,  but  recent  events 
had  perfectly  satisfied  his  mind  that  they  were  not  the  fit  keepers 
of  the  treasure  and  treasury  of  a  nation;  that  this  important  inci 
dent  to  national  independence  ought  not  to  be  committed  to  the 
charge  of  institutions  whose  interest  leaned  so  strongly  toward 
a  hazardous  misapplication  of  such  a  trust. 

"  Was  it,  could  it  have  been,  contemplated  by  the  f ramers  of 
our  system  of  government  that  they  had  provided  no  fit  and 
trustworthy  depository  of  the  national  finances;  that  banks  — 
incorporations,  private  incorporations,  chartered  for  private  uses, 
owned  by  private  individuals,  and  managed  by  persons  responsi 
ble  only  to  the  stockholders  —  must  be  called  in  to  sustain  the 
most  delicate  trust  under  any  government;  that  the  will  of 
these  institutions  must  be  consulted  as  to  the  terms  upon  which 
they  would  consent  to  accept  the  trust,  and  that  all  the  authori 
ties  of  the  country,  Congress  itself  included,  must  cater  with 
them  for  terms  upon  which  the  money  of  a  free  people  could  be 
kept  and  paid  out,  and  as  to  the  character  of  the  currency  which 
either  should  be  permitted  to  enjoy;  had  propositions  to  this 
effect  been  submitted  to  the  convention  which  framed  the  Consti 
tution,  what  would  have  been  their  fate  ?  Does  any  one  believe 
they  would  now  have  been  found  in  that  Constitution  which  is 
the  pride  of  freemen  everywhere?  No;  such  dependence  upon 
such  aid  would  have  found  no  countenance  there.  Can  it  find 
countenance  in  the  Senate  now  ? 

"  Could  any  one  doubt,  then,  that  the  people's  money  should 
be  confided  to  the  people's  servants,  to  their  officers,  responsible 
to  them  and  to  the  laws?  and  that  the  appointment  of  such  and 
so  many  officers  as  should  be  found  necessary  to  perform  this 
trust,  in  a  manner  safe  and  convenient  to  the  treasury  and  to 
the  people  themselves,  was  not  only  in  strict  conformity  with 
the  Constitution  and  the  very  nature  of  our  civil  institutions, 
but  an  imperious  duty  upon  every  Congress  ?  He  could  enter 
tain  no  doubts  upon  either  point. 

"  There  was  another  direct  grant  of  executive  patronage  and 
power  under  the  bill  —  the  authority  to  appoint  the  necessary 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  669 

clerks  to  perform  the  mechanical  duties  required,  when  they 
could  not  be  performed  by  the  officers  to  whose  keeping  the 
money  was  to  be  intrusted  —  and  it  had  been  seen  that  this  might 
involve  the  Selection  and  appointment  of  from  six  to  twelve 
clerks.  He  would  consume  no  time  in  commenting  upon  this 
grant  of  power;  the  mere  statement  of  the  fact  should  suffice. 

"These  two  were  the  only  direct  grants  of  executive  patron 
age  which  the  bill  proposed  to  make  ;  but  it  seemed  to  be  sup 
posed  that  the  power  and  influence  of  the  executive  was  to  be 
immensely  and  dangerously  increased  over  all  the  officers  charged 
with  the  keeping  of  any  portion  of  the  public  money,  and  this 
idea  formed  one  of  the  most  weighty  objections  against  the  sys 
tem.  How,  he  would  ask,  is  this  inference  derived  ?  Not  one 
cent  of  additional  compensation  is  proposed  to  be  given  to  any 
one  of  the  existing  executive  officers,  in  consequence  of  the  addi 
tional  duties  imposed  upon  them  by  this  bill.  They  were  all 
now  subject  to  removal  from  office  by  the  President,  at  his  plea 
sure.  Whence,  then,  was  he  to  derive  this  increased  power  over 
them?  Could  he  command  the  money  in  their  hands?  No  ; 
unless  he  was  ready  to  commit  a  direct  infraction  of  the  Consti 
tution,  and  the  officer  to  subject  himself  to  protracted  imprison 
ment  and  infamous  punishment.  The  bill  provides  that  all 
money,  in  the  hands  of  every  depositary,  shall  be  held  there  to 
the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  or,  in  other  words,  as  in  the  treasury; 
and  the  Constitution  declares  that  no  money  shall  be  taken  from 
the  treasury  but  in  conformity  to  appropriations  made  by  law. 
The  bill  makes  any  unlawful  use  of  the  money,  by  the  officer  in 
whose  charge  it  is,  punishable  by  imprisonment  for  a  term  not 
less  than  two  years.  To  let  the  President  have  the  money  would 
be  as  criminal,  under  the  law,  as  to  let  any  other  citizen  of  the 
country  have  it,  and  detection  would  be  as  certain  in  the  one  case 
as  the  other.  The  only  difference  would  be  that  the  President, 
if  he  were  to  make  himself  the  knowing  recipient,  would  subject 
himself  to  impeachment  for  the  violation  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  fraud  upon  the  treasury;  whereas  the  citizen  would 
incur  no  criminal  liability  whatsoever.  Where,  then,  is  the 
dangerous  increase  of  power  given  to  the  President  ?  Suppose 
he  remove  the  officer ;  the  money  is  still,  in  a  legal  sense,  in  the 


670  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

treasury.  He  gains  no  access  to  it  by  the  removal,  and  if  he  did, 
he  could  make  no  use  of  it  without  a  violation  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  this  system  would  impose  great 
additional  responsibility  upon  the  President,  as  he  must  select 
all  the  persons  who  are  to  be  intrusted  with  public  money,  and 
it  is  his  duty  to  see  that  they  all  obey,  observe  and  execute  the 
law.  He  would  venture  the  assertion  that  no  honest  man  who 
was  to  hold  the  office  of  President,  consulting  merely  his  personal 
interests  and  responsibilities,  separate  from  his  sense  of  the  pub 
lic  good,  would  desire  the  passage  of  this  law.  He  could  see 
nothing  desirable  to  that  officer  personally  to  grow  out  of  it, 
while  he  could  see  a  fearful  load  of  personal  responsibility  in 
every  feature  of  the  system. 

"  But  the  officers  who  were  to  keep  the  public  money  were  also 
executive  officers,  and  perhaps  it  was  here,  and  not  with  the 
President,  that  this  great  increase  of  executive  power  was  appre 
hended.  The  same  inquiries  were  alike  applicable  to  this  sug 
gestion.  How  could  the  possession  of  money  by  the  officer, 
which  he  could  only  use  in  pursuance  of  appropriations  made  by 
law,  without  subjecting  himself  to  the  severest  punishment, 
increase  the  power  and  influence  of  that  officer  with  his  fellow- 
citizens  ?  Suppose  he  should  become  corrupt  and  violate  the  law. 
Would  not  every  respectable  man  whom  he  should  approach 
shun  and  avoid  him;  arid  could  the  certainty  of  detection  give 
him  time  to  establish  an  influence,  based  upon  the  power  of  the 
money  embezzled,  which  would  be  dangerous  to  public  liberty  ? 
Most  certainly  not.  In  this,  as  in  the  case  of  the  President, 
the  responsibility,  not  the  power  and  influence,  of  the  officer 
would  be  increased. 

"  Such  was  the  view  he  was  compelled  to  take  of  the  charge 
of  executive  patronage  made  against  the  financial  system  pro 
posed  by  the  bill  in  its  present  form;  but  the  imaginations  of 
some  had  carried  them  beyond  the  present  propositions,  and 
induced  them  to  fear  that  this  was  the  mere  commencement,  the 
entering  wedge  to  a  multiplication  of  executive  officers,  until 
they  should  cover  the  whole  land,  like  the  locusts  of  Egypt,  and 
eat  out  the  substance  of  the  people.  Where  was  the  foundation 
for  this  apprehension  ?  With  whom  rested  the  power  of  increas- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  671 

ing  officers  of  any  character?  Not,  certainly,  with  the  execu 
tive.  He  can  act  in  selecting  men  for  office  when  the  offices 
are  created  by  Congress,  and,  with  certain  exceptions,  he  can 
remove  men  from  office  at  his  pleasure;  but  he  can  create  no 
office,  nor  can  he  multiply  the  number  of  officers  of  any  grade 
or  character.  This,  then,  is  not  an  objection  against  the  execu 
tive,  but  against  the  legislative  power  of  the  government;  it  is 
an  objection  which  implies  distrust,  not  of  the  President,  but  of 
ourselves.  And  are  we  afraid  to  trust  ourselves  in  this  matter, 
or  do  we  stand  in  so  much  fear  of  those  who  may  succeed  us  in 
these  seats  that  we  would  rather  commit  the  finances  of  the 
country  to  incorporated  banks  than  to  the  present  or  future 
representatives  of  the  people  and  the  States  ? 

"  But  how  stands  the  objection  of  executive  patronage,  as 
applied  to  the  State  bank  deposit  system?  The  first  step  in  this 
system  is  the  selection  of  some  twenty,  thirty  or  more  banks,  to 
do  which  the  direct  interest  of  all  their  officers,  directors  and 
stockholders  must  be  addressed,  and  when  selected  the  same 
interest  is  enlisted  in  whatever  contract  may  be  made.  Here  is, 
at  once,  an  army  of  new  persons  brought  within  the  reach  of 
executive  power,  not,  like  the  salary  officer,  upon  stipulated 
compensations,  btit  whose  interests  are  wholly  dependent  upon 
the  extent  of  the  patronage  bestowed  —  upon  the  amount  of 
money  intrusted  to  their  charge.  Then  come  up  the  competi 
tions  and  appliances  to  obtain  a  selection,  and  the  inducement  to 
a  vicious  executive  to  excite  hopes  and  create  expectations 
throughout  the  whole  line  of  banking  institutions  in  all  the 
States.  But  the  selections  are  made,  the  money  deposited  and 
passed  to  the  citizens  among  the  other  accommodations  of  the 
favored  banks.  This  creates  another  influence  far  more  extended 
and  fearful  —  the  influence  of  the  debtors  of  the  selected  banks; 
for  when  appropriations  are  made  by  law,  the  executive  officers  — 
those  who  are  charged  with  the  execution  of  the  law  —  must 
direct  the  drafts  which  are  to  bring  the  money  from  the  banks 
to  meet  them.  Let  any  unprejudiced  mind  compare  the  influ 
ences  here  embodied  with  the  executive  patronage  conferred  by 
the  bill  under  discussion,  and  can  the  decision  be  in  favor  of  the 
bank  system  in  this  respect  ? 


672  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  But  there  is  another  view  of  this  matter.  He  had  shown 
that,  under  the  system  proposed  by  the  bill,  the  executive  could 
not  reach  the  money  in  the  hands  of  the  depositary  without  sub 
jecting  both  to  a  condign  punishment.  How  is  it  here  ?  Sup 
pose  the  executive  corrupt,  and  the  bank  willing  to  be  corrupted, 
or  the  reverse,  and  what  is  to  hinder  his  obtaining  any  amount  of 
the  public  money  he  pleases  ?  He  takes  it  not  as  the  money  of  the 
people,  but  as  the  money  of  the  bank.  It  is  not,  in  form,  a  loan 
from  the  public  money  on  deposit,  but  an  accommodation  in  the 
usual  course  of  banking  business ;  and  still,  before  the  deposit 
ing  officer  shall  have  left  the  counter  of  the  institution,  the 
executive  may  take  the  money  he  deposits,  and  no  one  is  pun 
ishable.  The  depositing  officer  himself,  any  other  executive 
officer  of  the  government,  may  do  the  same  thing  with  equal 
impunity. 

"Has  the  system  provided  for  by  the  bill,  then,  anything  to 
fear  from  a  comparison  with  that  of  the  State  bank  deposit  sys 
tem,  as  to  the  dangers  of  an  increase  of  executive  patronage? 
He  could  not  so  suppose. 

"  Fourth.  He  would  now  institute  a  short  comparison  of  what 
he  thought  would  be  the  relative  effects  of  the  two  systems 
upon  the  State  banking  institutions  themselves.* 

"  The  system  proposed  by  the  bill  would  necessarily  operate 
as  a  check  upon  the  issues  and  expansions  of  those  institutions, 
in  either  shape  in  which  it  had  been  proposed  to  pass  it.  If  the 
notes  of  the  banks  continue  to  be  received  in  payment  of  the 
public  dues,  and  the  depositaries  are  directed,  as  in  that  case 
they  unquestionably  should  be,  to  call  frequently  and  at  short 
intervals  for  the  balances  against  the  banks,  and  to  demand  specie 
for  those  balances,  this  must  operate  as  a  powerful  check  upon  all 
the  banks  in  the  vicinity  of  those  depositaries  where  the  collec 
tions  are  large.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  receipt  of  the  bank 
notes  be  gradually  discontinued  in  the  collection  of  the  revenue, 
and  specie  collections  substituted,  while  the  change  will  create 
some  demand  upon  the  banks  for  specie,  the  disbursements  of 
specie  by  the  government  will  constantly  distribute  among  the 
people  a  broader  and  more  permanent  basis  for  the  paper  circula 
tion,  which  the  banks  will,  of  course,  continue,  growing  out  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  673 

their  private  operations.  That  the  demand  for  specie  may,  to 
some  extent,  diminish  the  profits  of  banking,  is  more  than  pro 
bable;  but  if  the  effect  shall  be  to  restrain  the  issues  of  the  banks, 
to  keep  upon  them  a  constant  sense  of  the  necessity  of  more 
specie  capital  to  meet  their  liabilities,  the  operation,  as  past  expe 
rience  abundantly  proves,  will  be  greatly  beneficial  to  the  com 
munity,  and  will  work  rather  a  benefit  than  an  injury  to  the 
institutions  themselves.  In  the  meantime,  the  disbursement  by 
the  government  of  the  specie  it  receives  cannot  fail,  not  only  to 
give  stability  and  confidence,  to  some  extent,  at  least,  to  the  gen 
eral  currency,  by  continuing  in  active  circulation  some  portions 
of  the  gold  and  silver  upon  which  the  whole  is  based,  but  must, 
to  the  extent  of  the  circulation,  have  a  tendency  to  strengthen 
the  banks  against  sudden  pressures  and  unfounded  distrusts,  by 
enabling  them  the  more  easily  to  arm  themselves  with  coin. 

"What  are  the  tendencies  of  the  opposite  system  upon  the 
banking  institutions?  Recent  experience  has  answered  this 
inquiry  more  forcibly  than  it  was  in  his  power  to  command  lan 
guage  to  answer  it.  The  effect  was  to  promote  fearful  expansions 
when  large  amounts  of  public  money  were  placed  upon  deposit, 
and  ruinous  contractions  when  the  necessities  or  the  policy  of  the 
government  required  its  payment.  The  effect  was  to  stimulate 
to  dangerous  excesses,  not  the  banks  only,  but  their  customers 
also,  when  money  was  abundant  in  the  treasury,  and  to  add  to 
the  pressure,  by  heavy  calls  from  the  treasury,  when  there  was  a 
scarcity.  In  short,  the  effect  of  the  latter  system  upon  the 
banks  had  proved,  upon  trial,  to  be  unmixed  evil,  while  the  influ 
ences  of  the  former  promised  to  be  rather  favorable  than  unfa 
vorable. 

"Fifth.  The  next  and  most  important  comparison  between  the 
two  systems  was  the  influence  of  each  upon  the  government  of 
the  country  and  its  finances.  The  proposed  system  would  place 
the  money  of  the  government,  at  all  times,  within  the  power  and 
control  of  the  government.  It  would  enable  the  government,  at 
all  times,  to  pay  its  debts  in  a  currency  not  depreciated,  a  cur 
rency  equal  to  the  standard  of  the  Constitution  and  the  law.  It 
would  render  the  government  financially  independent,  and  main 
tain  it  in  that  position.  Under  such  a  system  we  should  no  more 
43 


674  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

hear,  what  we  were  now  daily  hearing  in  this  hall,  that  honest 
citizens  had  been  defrauded,  by  being  paid  their  demands  against 
the  treasury  in  bank  paper,  which  was  depreciated  or  worthless, 
and  that  Congress  ought  to  indemnify  them  for  their  losses  thus 
occasioned.  These  were  some  of  the  benefits  certain  to  be 
derived  to  the  government  from  the  adoption  of  the  system  pro 
vided  for  by  the  bill;  but  there  was  another,  and,  in  his  judg 
ment,  far  greater  benefit,  equally  certain  to  flow  from  its  adop 
tion.  It  would  exempt  the  government  from  the  constan':  and 
innumerable  imputations  of  injuries  to  trade,  to  the  currency,  to 
credit,  to  the  private  affairs  of  individuals  and  banks,  from  its 
financial  movements.  Was  any  person  whom  he  addressed  insen 
sible  to  the  moral  and  political  evil  growing  out  of  these  com 
plaints;  to  their  strong  tendency  to  alienate  the  feelings  of  the 
people  from  our  most  valuable  institutions,  and  to  bring  them  to 
look  upon  all  government  as  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing,  as  calcu 
lated,  not  for  their  protection,  but  destruction  and  ruin  ?  He 
would  remind  the  Senate,  very  briefly,  of  the  course  of  these  com 
plaints  for  the  last  four  years. 

"  The  government  removed  the  public  money  from  one  single 
bank  and  placed  it  in  several  others.  A  clamor  followed  the  act; 
a  panic  was  excited;  banks  failed,  merchants  failed,  money  was 
made  scarce,  the  currency  was  disturbed,  credit  received  a  shock, 
and,  for  some  four  months  in  succession,  we  heard  nothing  here 
but  scenes  of  distress,  general  ruin,  and  almost  famine ;  and  all 
in  a  time  of  as  great  plenty  and  abundance,  not  of  the  necessaries 
of  life  only,  but  of  money,  as  our  country  had  ever  witnessed. 
The  panic  passed  off,  and  business  of  every  description,  and 
enterprise  of  every  character,  sprung  into  increased  life  and 
activity.  The  public  lands  commenced  to  sell  rapidly,  and  our 
revenues  became  excessive.  Then  came  the  second  complaint 
which  he  proposed  to  notice,  and  it  was,  that  the  whole  splendid 
public  domain,  that  rich  inheritance  from  our  fathers  of  the 
Revolution,  under  the  operation  of  the  '  pet  bank  system,'  was 
going  or  gone  —  was  being  exchanged,  for  what  ?  For  '  bank 
rags.'  That  complaint  lasted  us  for  the  most  of  one  session  of 
Congress,  but  nothing  was  done  by  legislation  to  remedy  the 
evil.  The  accumulations  of  revenue  had  by  this  time  come  to  be 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  675 

vast,  and  this  gave  rise  to  a  third  complaint.  It  was  double  in 
its  character  and  contradictory  with  itself,  arid  yet  it  entertained 
us  during  a  large  share  of  one  of  our  sessions,  and  finally  pro 
duced  legislation.  It  was,  to-day,  that  the  government  was  actu 
ally  locking  up  in  the  banks  all  the  money  of  the  country,  while 
the  honest  and  hard-working  citizens  were  suffering  for  its  use; 
to-morrow,  the  almost  countless  millions  were  loaned  by  the  pet 
banks  to  favorites  of  the  executive,  and  members  of  the  dominant 
political  party,  to  enable  them  to  make  speculations  in  the  public 
lands,  and  in  all  other  descriptions  of  property,  to  the  injury  of 
fair  business  men  and  the  ruin  of  the  poor.  So  far  were  these 
complaints  carried,  inconsistent  and  contradictory  as  they  were, 
as  to  make  a  sensible  impression  upon  the  public  mind,  and 
finally  to  induce  almost  all  the  members  of  this  body  to  vote  for 
the  deposit  law  of  1836,  which  was  to  dissipate  this  hoarded  fund 
and  place  it  in  safe-keeping  with  the  States.  The  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  commenced  the  necessary  measures  to  execute  this 
law,  and  very  soon  found  that  the  money  which  had  been  so 
injuriously  hoarded,  in  our  debates  here,  had  been  in  fact  rather 
too  much  dissipated  before  Congress  interfered  with  it.  This 
raised  another  complaint.  The  Secretary  was  wantonly  executing 
the  law,  because  he  did  not  like  its  provisions.  He  was  giving 
drafts  upon  the  banks  which  had  the  money,  for  acceptance  and 
payment,  as  the  law  required;  when,  if  he  had  given  them  for 
transfer  merely,  the  banks  would  not  have  been  injured.  During 
the  first  part  of  this  process  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  continued 
at  an  accelerated  pace;  and,  although  Congress  made  a  strenuous 
but  fruitless  effort  to  remedy  the  evil,  the  complaint  commenced 
again  that  the  public  domain  was  being  exchanged  for  irrespon 
sible  bank  paper.  The  President  took  up  the  subject,  after 
Congress  left  it,  and  directed  the  land  officers  to  receive  nothing 
but  gold  and  silver  in  payment  for  lands.  This  laid  the  founda 
tion  for  a  new  and  continuing  complaint.  The  payment  of  the 
immense  deposits  to  the  States  produced  the  necessity  for  equal 
collections  on  the  part  of  the  deposit  banks  from  their  customers. 
These  collections  occasioned  a  scarcity  of  money,  and  it  was  the 
'specie  circular'  which  had  done  it.  Their  foreign  debts  pressed 
upon  the  merchants,  and  the  calls  upon  them  from  the  banks  dis- 


676  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

enabled  them  to  pay ;  but  the  specie  circular  had  wrought  the 
mischief  by  marching  all  the  gold  and  silver  of  the  country 
to  the  west  to  purchase  lands.  Embarrassments  continued  to 
increase;  extensive  failures  of  merchants  and  others  took  place; 
and  finally,  in  May  last,  all  the  banks  of  the  country  suspended 
payment.  Still,  the  goverment  was  principally  in  fault ;  the 
specie  circular  had  taken  all  the  metallic  currency  to  the  interior, 
and  prevented  it  from  going  to  Europe  to  pay  our  foreign  debt; 
and  the  banks  could  not  pay  specie  until  that  debt  was  can 
celed.  Time  passed  on.  The  funds  of  the  treasury  were  in 
the  banks  and  could  not  be  commanded,  and  an  extra  call  of 
Congress  became  necessary  to  relieve  the  debtors  of  the  gov 
ernment  and  supply  the  treasury  with  funds.  The  banks  were 
complained  of  for  their  excesses  and  improvidence  ;  and  the 
fault  was  that  of  the  government,  for  having  placed  in 
their  hands  such  immense  deposits,  to  be  called  for  so  sud 
denly,  and  for  having  checked  their  excessive  issue  of  paper  by 
the  specie  circular.  Congress  was  convened,  and  the  present 
President  transmitted  his  message,  proposing  to  end  these  com 
plaints  by  an  entire  severance  of  all  business  connection  between 
the  national  treasury  and  the  banking  institutions.  This,  at  once, 
changed  the  face  of  things,  and  showed  the  President  and  the 
administration  hostile  to  the  banks  ;  and  now,  although  the 
foreign  debt  is  paid,  and  foreign  exchange  down  to  par,  the  banks 
cannot  resume  payment  for  fear  of  the  government. 

"  He  would  ask,  in  all  candor  and  in  all  sincerity,  if  any  his 
tory  of  facts  could  show  more  conclusively  the  impropriety  of 
this  connection  between  the  finances  of  the  country  and  the 
affairs  of  individuals  and  banking  incorporations;  if  there  was 
a  man  who  heard  him,  who  did  not  see  and  feel  the  necessity  of 
relieving  the  government  of  his  country  from  these  constant  and 
contradictory  complaints  ?  The  proposed  system  will  do  that, 
and,  in  his  judgment,  that  alone  would  be  one  of  the  greatest 
benefits  which  could  be  conferred  upon  the  nation. 

"  If  such  will  be  the  influences,  upon  our  finances  and  govern 
ment,  of  the  system  proposed,  what  influences  are  to  be  expected 
from  the  State  bank  system  ?  Certainly,  to  place  the  money  of 
the  people  beyond  the  control  of  the  servants  of  the  people,  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  677 

within  the  control  of  the  banks  ;  to  disenable  the  government 
to  pay  its  debts,  except  in  a  depreciated  currency,  whenever  tb«; 
notes  of  the  banks  are  depreciated;  or  to  abandon  its  money, 
collected  and  accumulated  in  the  banks  to  meet  its  debts,  as  a 
resource  for  that  purpose,  and  to  resort  to  its  credit  to  raise  the 
means  by  which  legal  payments  can  be  made  ;  to  render  the 
country,  at  all  times  —  under  all  circumstances  and  in  every  emer 
gency,  even  that  of  war  not  excepted,  and  after  the  money  for 
the  public  use  had  been  collected  from  the  people  —  financially 
dependent  upon  banks,  in  the  management  of  which  it  has  no 
voice,  and  over  which  it  has  no  control ;  to  subject  the  govern 
ment  to  all  the  complaints  which  have  been  recapitulated,  and 
volumes  of  others  of  a  like  character ;  in  short,  to  subject  the 
treasury  of  the  nation  to  all  the  fluctuations  to  which  an  ordinary 
banking  or  commercial  house  is  subject;  to  make  it  instrumental 
in  promoting  excesses  in  both,  and  then  chargeable  with  all  the 
evils  which  may  befall  either  itself  or  the  banking  and  mercantile 
interests.  Should  he  spend  the  time  of  the  Senate  to  prove  that 
these  were  the  necessary  consequences  of  the  system  of  State 
bank  deposits?  In  the  face  of  recent  and  severe  experience, 
both  to  the  treasury  and  to  the  country,  would  proof  of  these 
positions  be  called  for  ?  That  experience  furnished  the  clearest 
and  strongest  proof,  and  those  whom  it  had  not  convinced,  it  was 
in  vain  for  him  to  attempt  to  convince  by  fact  or  argument. 
Such,  to  his  mind,  were  the  comparative  influences  of  the  two 
systems  upon  the  government  of  the  country  and  its  finances. 

"  Sixth.  He  would  extend  his  comparison  to  a  single  other 
point,  the  influence  of  each  system  upon  the  general  currency, 
and  dismiss  this  part  of  the  argument. 

"  The  system  proposed  was  clear  and  certain  in  its  action  in 
this  particular:  It  would  secure  a  sound  and  standard  currency 
for  the  national  treasury,  whether  that  currency  should  be  gold 
and  silver  or  bank  paper,  and  it  would  exempt  that  treasury  from 
the  fluctuations  of  an  unregulated  and  varying  currency.  So  far, 
therefore,  as  the  money  operations  of  the  government  could  influ 
ence  the  currency  generally,  the  influence  exerted  by  this  sys 
tem  must  be  salutary;  as  it  must  be  to  sustain  a  general  currency 
equal  to  its  own  standard.  If  that  currency  should  come,  in 


678  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

time,  to  be  gold  and  silver  only,  the  system  would  exert  another 
beneficial  influence.  It  would  not  only  present  a  standard  of 
currency  worthy  of  imitation,  but,  to  the  extent  of  the  whole 
public  disbursements,  it  would  constantly  circulate  among  the 
people  a  basis  for  the  paper  currency  of  the  State  banks,  and 
thus  aid  them  in  keeping  their  representation  of  coin  stable 
and  firm,  and  equal  in  value  to  coin  itself.  Beyond  these 
influences,  it  would  leave  the  people  and  the  States  to  regulate, 
in  their  own  way,  and  without  the  interference  of  federal 
power,  that  portion  of  the  general  currency  which,  by  the 
division  of  power  under  our  system,  falls  within  their  juris 
diction  and  is  the  constant  subject  of  their  action.  It  would 
then  be  clear  to  all,  if  that  portion  of  the  currency  should  sink 
below  the  standard  of  currency  for  the  public  treasury,  that 
wrong  existed  somewhere  in  State  legislation,  or  in  the  manage 
ment  of  those  intrusted  by  State  legislation  with  the  regulation 
of  that  currency;  and  the  federal  authorities  would  be  free  from 
imputation  or  suspicion,  and  would  stand  before  the  whole  coun 
try  holding  up  the  true  standard  of  currency,  and  inviting  from 
the  State  authorities  a  correction  of  the  errors  which  should  at 
any  time  disturb  or  depreciate  that  portion  committed  to  their 
care. 

"  How,  in  this  respect,  does  the  opposite  system  act  ?  The 
State  banks  are,  to  much  the  greatest,  if  not  to  the  entire,  extent, 
private  institutions,  controlled  by  private  individuals  and  private 
interests,  and  owned  in  whole,  or  to  the  extent  of  a  majority  of 
the  capital,  by  private  citizens,  as  private  property.  Private 
gain,  then,  as  a  necessary  and  natural  consequence  of  the  very 
constitution  of  these  banks,  was  their  principle  of  government, 
and,  as  an  equally  necessary  and  natural  consequence,  they  would 
keep  that  portion  of  the  currency  which  they  were  authorized  to 
furnish  for  the  country  at  a  sound  standard  value,  when  private 
interest  and  the  prospect  of  private  gain  should  so  direct,  and 
they  would  suffer  it  to  depreciate  by  the  same  rule.  Give  them 
the  national  treasure,  and  permit  them  to  subject  it  to  the  fluctu 
ations  of  their  interest,  and  can  a  stable  currency  be  expected, 
either  for  the  treasury  or  the  people  ?  Who  are  the  legitimate 
customers  of  the  banks?  More  particularly  the  merchants. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  679 

Their  business  pervades  not  the  whole  of  their  own  country  only, 
but  the  whole  civilized  world.  The  laws  of  the  States  of  the 
Union,  therefore,  are  regulations  much  too  limited  for  them;  and 
even  the  laws  and  regulations  of  any  single  government,  as  to 
either  trade  or  currency,  are  but  municipal  in  their  character 
when  applied  to  their  operations.  Still,  they  themselves  have 
local  habitations  and  the  case  may  well  and  frequently  occur; 
when  it  is  vastly  more  important  to  them  that  they  should  be 
able  to  command  specie  to  export,  in  liquidation  of  their  foreign 
debts,  than  that  our  local  banks  at  home  should  redeem  their 
notes  in  specie.  What,  in  such  a  condition  of  trade  and  of  the 
mercantile  interest,  will  always  be  likely  to  be  the  condition  of 
our  local  banks  ?  Set  aside  the  consideration  that  the  merchants 
may  be  able  to  control  those  institutions  from  the  stock  they 
hold,  and  merely  assume  that  they  are  the  principal  debtors  to 
the  banks,  and  are  to  continue  to  be  their  principal  customers; 
let  the  argument  rest  here,  and  give  the  banks  the  possession  and 
control  of  the  national  treasure,  which  interest  would  prevail  ? 
Would  the  treasury  of  the  country  be  sustained,  and  the  pay 
ments  to  the  public  creditors  be  made  in  specie  or  its  equivalent, 
or  would  the  views  and  wishes  of  the  merchants  be  consulted, 
and  the  currency  be  made  to  bend  to  private  and  corporate 
interests  ?  Let  the  experience  of  the  last  year  answer  the  inquiry. 
He  would  express  his  confirmed  opinion  that,  under  such  a  sys 
tem,  the  currency  of  the  public  treasury  must  share  all  the 
reverses  and  fluctuations  of  foreign  and  domestic  trade,  and  all 
the  hazards  of  corporate  banking,  as  a  private  interest.  Hence 
the  operations  of  the  treasury  itself  must  be  suspended,  or  the 
law  of  Congress,  as  to  currency,  violated,  whenever  revulsions 
shall  oppress  the  country  and  the  customers  of  the  banks,  or  the 
alternative  be  resorted  to,  as  it  recently  has  been  by  the  national 
authorities,  to  convoke  Congress,  relieve  the  banks  and  the  pub 
lic  debtors,  and  resort  to  the  credit  of  the  nation  to  sustain  its 
treasury  until  the  natural  operations  of  healthful  business  shall 
again  restore  the  equilibrium. 

"  Such,  in  his  mind,  were  the  probable  influences  of  the  two 
systems  upon  the  general  currency  of  the  country. 

"He  would  now  proceed  to  answer  a  very  few  of  the  promi- 


680  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

nent  objections  made  to  the  bill,  and  pass,  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
to  his  conclusion.  The  first  of  these  objections  which  he  would 
notice  was  that  the  system  proposed  by  the  bill  was  an  attack 
upon  the  State  banking  institutions,  calculated  to  destroy  their 
credit  and  usefulness.  This,  if  true,  was  a  grave  charge,  and, 
therefore,  required  some  consideration.  An  attack  must  be  an 
infringement  of  some  vested  right,  or  a  course  of  treatment  so 
manifestly  against  the  public  good  as  to  partake  of  wantonness 
and  immorality,  or  a  spirit  of  revenge.  Was  any  right  of  these 
institutions  proposed  to  be  infringed  upon  ?  Did  their  charters, 
granted  by  the  States  for  fixed  and  specified  purposes,  include 
among  those  purposes  the  safe-keeping  or  profitable  use  of  the 
money  of  the  whole  country  ?  Was  there  a  provision  that  they 
should  be  fiscal  agents  of  the  national  treasury,  or  that  their 
credit  should  be  sustained  by  the  money  and  credit  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  ?  No.  No  such  provision  was  ever  heard 
of  in  the  charter  of  any  State  bank.  No  right  of  the  institu 
tions  was,  then,  infringed,  by  withholding  from  them  both  the 
keeping  and  use  of  the  public  money. 

"  Was  any  faith  or  confidence,  due  from  this  government  to  the 
States  or  to  these  institutions  of  their  creation,  violated  by  the 
proposed  separation  ?  The  States  had  chartered  banks  for  par 
ticular  locations,  with  capitals  such  as  the  locations  seemed  to 
demand;  but  would  any  one  pretend  that,  in  granting  these  char 
ters,  the  State  Legislatures  had  counted  upon  the  money  in  the 
national  treasury,  or  the  credit  of  the  federal  government,  to 
sustain  and  make  useful  the  banking  institutions  to  which  they 
were  giving  life  and  power  as  banks  of  issue  and  discount  ?  Did 
any  State  Legislature  ever,  by  word  or  deed,  cause  it  to  be  under 
stood,  either  by  the  people  or  the  institutions,  that  banks  of  their 
creation  were  mere  skeletons,  powerless  and  helpless,  and  that 
the  life  and  health-giving  principle  was  to  be  breathed  into  them 
by  an  extension  of  the  patronage  of  the  federal  government,  in 
the  shape  of  a  profitable  use  of  its  money,  and  a  command  of  its 
confidence  and  credit  ?  Never.  Had  the  federal  government, 
by  any  act  or  expression,  authorized  an  expectation  of  this 
patronage  and  confidence,  except  upon  conditions  which  had  been 
violated  by  the  banks,  and  had  thus  forced  a  separation  between 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  681 

them  and  the  treasure  of  the  country  ?  He  was  aware  of  no  such 
act  or  expression.  The  separation  exists,  and  has  been  forced 
upon  the  nation  by  the  banks  themselves,  and  the  simple  question 
is,  shall  we  renew  it  ?  In  what  sense  can  the  decision  of  that 
question,  however  that  decision  may  be  made,  be  an  attack  upon 
the  banks  ?  The  idea  was  a  mistaken  one,  and  the  objection,  in 
any  light  in  which  it  could  be  viewed,  was  unfounded  and  unjust. 
"  He  proposed,  however,  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the 
truth  of  this  conclusion  and  making  it  more  clear,  to  call  to  the 
minds  of  Senators  a  single  chapter  in  our  financial  history. 
During  forty  years  of  the  existence  of  the  government,  under 
the  federal  Constitution,  a  national  bank  had  been  in  existence, 
and,  he  spoke  from  recollection,  but  he  believed  the  national  bank 
had  been,  for  the  whole  period,  the  exclusive  depository  of  the 
public  money  and  the  exclusive  fiscal  agent  of  the  treasury.  He 
was  sure  it  was  so  during  the  twenty  years'  existence  of  the  last 
national  bank,  and  he  thought  it  was  so  under  the  old  bank. 
Then  the  State  banks  were  not  depositories  of  the  national 
treasure  nor  fiscal  agents  of  the  national  treasury,  and  had  it 
ever  been  asserted  that  this  legislation  was  an  attack  upon  these 
institutions,  or  that  their  credit  and  usefulness  were  thereby 
destroyed?  But,  again:  during  the  existence  of  the  last  Bank 
of  the  United  States  the  notes  of  the  State  banks  were  not  dis 
bursed  to  the  public  creditors  at  all,  and  were  not  receivable  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues  but  at  the  pleasure  of  the  national 
bank,  and  then,  as  every  bank  receives  the  notes  of  its  neighbor 
institution,  to  take  them  out  of  circulation,  and  return  them 
promptly,  to  be  converted  into  specie  or  specie  funds.  Did  these 
State  institutions  languish  and  die  under  this  congressional  legis 
lation  ?  Did  they  not  rather  take  root  and  flourish,  and  become 
sound  and  .  stable  and  useful  ?  Has  not  a  large  and  powerful 
political  party  in  this  country  ever  contended  that  the  checks 
and  restraints,  exercised  by  the  national  bank,  during  this 
period,  over  the  State  institutions,  were  salutary  and  proper? 
That  it  was  a  great  balance-wheel,  regulating  and  equalizing 
the  movement  of  the  whole  complex  machinery  ?  What  is 
proposed  by  the  bill  but  that,  to  the  extent  of  its  operations, 
the  national  treasury  shall  form  the  same  check  and  restraint 


682  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

upon  the  local  banking  institutions  ?  That  it  shall  keep  the 
public  money  independent  of  them?  That  it  shall  either  not 
receive  their  notes  in  payment  of  the  public  dues,  or,  receiving, 
shall  frequently  present  them  for  conversion  into  specie  or  specie 
funds  ?  The  only  difference  will  be  that  the  treasury  will  not 
enter  into  competition  with  the  local  banks  in  the  business  of 
banking;  that  it  will  leave  that  whole  field  to  them,  and  merely 
content  itself  with  a  sound  currency  for  its  transactions.  How, 
then,  is  it  possible  that  those  who  saw  such  benign  influences  to 
the  local  institutions  from  the  wholesome  restraints  of  a  national 
bank,  should  see  such  baneful  effects  to  follow  the  same  influ 
ences  when  flowing  from  the  public  treasury  ?  —  should  see  there 
an  attack  upon  the  institutions,  a  prostration  of  their  credit  and 
a  total  destruction  of  their  usefulness  ? 

"  He  was  aware  that  the  system  proposed  was  newT,  and  substan 
tially  untried,  so  far  as  the  legislation  and  the  practice  of  our 
government  was  concerned  ;  and  it  would  be  admitted  by  all, 
that,  as  a  new  measure,  it  had  met  the  full  share  of  denunciation, 
which  almost  all  changes  from  established  custom,  almost  all 
reforms,  however  valuable  and  useful,  are  destined  to  meet,  when 
presented  in  the  mere  shape  of  propositions  for  the  acceptance  of 
the  public.  It  was  not  his  habit  to  speak  disrespectfully  here  of 
the  actions  or  the  motives  of  any;  and  he  certainly  did  not  intend, 
in  the  remark  he  was  about  to  make,  to  express  any  want  of 
charity  toward  the  course  or  opinions  of  any  side  of  the  House, 
or  any  individual  in  it.  He  yielded  to  all  that  credit  for  purity 
of  purpose  and  sincerity  of  intention  which  he  wished  them  to 
award  to  him;  but  he  must  say  that  he  had  never  seen  more 
active,  zealous  and  persevering  efforts  to  forestall  public  opinion, 
upon  any  measure  of  legislation,  than  had  been  used  toward 
this,  from  the  appearance  of  the  message  of  the  President,  at  the 
extra  session,  to  the  present  hour.  He  had  seen  this  with  the 
more  deep  regret,  because  some  of  the  most  respectable,  intelli 
gent  and  influential  of  those  who  had  been  friends  and  supporters 
of  the  administration,  and  who,  he  trusted,  were  yet  so,  were 
among  the  most  active  in  opposition  to  this  measure.  They  so 
acted  because  they  so  felt  and  so  thought  ;  and  if  they  used 
efforts  to  prejudice,  the  bill  in  the  public  mind,  it  was  because 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  683 

they  deprecated  its  passage  as,  in  their  judgments,  injurious  to 
the  public  interests. 

"He  would  entreat  them,  however,  to  pause  and  reflect. 
Experience  had  tested  the  imperfections  of  the  State  bank  depo 
sit  system,  of  which  they  were  advocates,  while  experience  had 
done  little  to  approve  or  condemn  the  system  proposed  by  the 
bill.  It  had  been  in  substantial  operation  since  the  suspension 
of  specie  payments  by  the  banks,  in  May  last.  It  was  forced 
into  operation  by  that  suspension.  It  found  the  currency  of  the 
country  deranged,  the  credit  of  the  country  depressed,  and  the 
business  of  the  country  prostrate  and  at  a  stand.  He  would  not 
say  that  these  were  the  consequences  of  the  State  bank  deposit 
system.  He  had  said  upon  that  point  all  he  intended  to  say; 
but  it  was  matter  of  history  that  these  disasters  had  come  upon 
the  country  under  the  practical  operation  of  that  system.  What 
had  been  the  effect  of  the  operation,  for  two-thirds  of  a  year,  of 
the  system  which  it  was  supposed  would  destroy  credit,  depress 
property,  discourage  enterprise  and  exertion,  and  send  the  coun 
try  back  to  a  state  of  barbarism  ?  Foreign  exchanges  had  been, 
for  some  time,  down  to  and  below  par  in  our  commercial  mar 
kets;  thus  affording  conclusive  evidence  that  our  foreign  debt 
had  been  reduced  within  ordinary  limits  ;  domestic  exchanges 
were  rapidly  approximating  a  healthful  state,  furnishing  the 
same  evidence  that  internal  trade  was  gradually  and  steadily 
equalizing  itself ;  property  retained  a  fair  value,  and  found 
a  steady  market;  credit  and  confidence  were  gaining  strength; 
and  the  banks,  as  a  general  remark,  were  recovering  from  their 
late  excesses,  and  preparing  for  a  speedy  resumption  of  specie 
payments.  Such  seemed  to  be  the  history  of  our  business  pros 
pects  at  the  present  moment.  He  did  not  mention  these 
things  to  ascribe  them  to  the  operations  of  the  national  treasury, 
or  to  the  manner  in  which  those  operations  had  been  conducted 
since  the  suspension  of  the  banks,  but  to  prove  that  the  practical 
operation  of  a  system  for  the  management  of  our  finances,  such 
as  is  substantially  provided  for  by  the  bill,  had  not  had  the  effect 
to  retard  and  defeat  these  great  and  beneficial  business  results, 
nor  to  repress  the  immense  energies  and  to  cripple  the  vast 
resources  of  our  extended  country. 


684  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Surely,  then,  so  far  as  experience  has  afforded  evidence,  it 
offers  no  cause  for  discouragement  to  the  friends  of  the  measure; 
and  inasmuch  as  opinions  beyond  that,  whether  favorable  or  unfa 
vorable,  are  little  more  than  conjecture,  the  opposers  of  the  bill 
should  not  demand  of  us  to  surrender  our  favorable  judgment, 
though  thus  slightly  tested,  in  favor  of  a  measure  which  repeated 
experiment,  both  in  adversity  and  in  prosperity,  has  proved  to  be 
delusive  and  dangerous. 

"The  next  objection  he  proposed  to  notice  was,  that  the  opera 
tions  of  the  bill  would  be  to  separate  the  government  from  the 
people,  and  to  secure  a  sound  currency  for  the  public  officers  and 
a  base  currency  for  the  country. 

"This,  again,  was  a  startling  objection  and  required  examina 
tion.  Its  first  assumption  was,  that  the  tendency  of  the  measure 
under  discussion  would  be  to  separate  the  government  of  the 
country  from  the  people  of  the  country  —  to  elevate  the  former 
and  depress  the  latter;  and  the  second  was,  that  the  separation 
would  be  marked  by  a  difference  in  the  value  of  the  currency  to 
be  provided  for  and  secured  to  each.  Had  either  of  these  assump 
tions  any  foundation  in  fact,  or  even  in  fair  apprehension  ? 

"He  had  already  attempted  to  show,  and  thought  he  had  suc 
ceeded  in  showing,  that  the  financial  system  proposed  by  the  bill 
was  preferable  to  the  State  bank  deposit  system  in  the  following 
respects,  namely:  In  the  safety  it  afforded  to  the  public  moneys; 
in  the  expenses  and  risks  attending  its  administration;  in  its 
salutary  influences  upon  the  banking  institutions  themselves ;  in 
the  limitations  of  patronage  added  to  the  executive  branch  of 
the  government;  in  the  independence  it  secures  to  the  govern 
ment  financially,  and  the  exemption  it  confers  from  injurious 
imputations;  and  in  its  tendency,  to  the  full  extent  of  the  opera 
tions  of  the  national  treasury  and  of  the  exertion  of  all  the  con 
stitutional  power  of  this  government,  to  produce  and  maintain  a 
sound  and  stable  currency  for  the  whole  country.  If  he  had  suc 
ceeded  in  establishing  these  positions,  would  it,  could  it,  be  said 
that  a  system  possessing  such  advantages  was  calculated  to  pro 
duce  separation  and  alienation  between  the  people  of  the  country 
and  the  government  of  their  choice?  He  could  not  believe  it. 

"But  the  objection  assumed  that  this  separation  was  to  grow 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  685 

out  of  the  different  currencies  produced,  for  the  government  and 
the  people,  by  the  necessary  action  of  the  system.  That  the 
effect  of  the  bill  would  be,  and  was  intended  to  be,  to  produce 
and  maintain  a  uniform  and  sound  currency  for  the  national 
treasury  and  for  all  who  might  have  demands  upon  it,  as  well 
the  officers  of  the  government  as  others,  was  most  freely  admit 
ted.  Indeed,  this  was  claimed  as  one  of  the  principal  merits  of 
the  system.  But  did  it  follow  that,  because  the  bill  had  this 
tendency,  it  would  therefore  tend  to  debase  the  general  currency 
of  the  people?  Certainly  not.  No  such  consequence  followed. 

"  On  the  contrary,  it  had  been  already  shown  that,  so  far  as  it 
should  exert  any  influence  upon  the  general  currency,  that  influ 
ence  must  be  to  raise  that  currency  to  a  level  with  that  secured 
to  the  treasury.  If,  then,  the  people  were  to  have  a  base  cur 
rency,  they  were  to  have  it,  not  in  consequence  of  the  bill,  but  in 
defiance  of  it;  they  were  to  receive  it,  not  from  the  public  trea 
sury,  but  from  the  State  banks;  not  from  the  evils  of  the  legisla 
tion  of  Congress,  but  from  the  evils  of  State  legislation.  Did 
any  one  pretend  that  the  bill  could  exert  an  influence  to  debase 
any  portion  of  the  currency  upon  which  it  had  no  direct  action  ? 
He  had  not  heard  it  so  contended,  and  he  felt  sure  that  no  such 
position  would  be  assumed.  If  the  currency  upon  which  it  did 
directly  act  and  the  standard  of  which  it  regulated  were  to  be 
base,  then  it  might  be  well  apprehended  that  its  indirect  influ 
ence  would  be  to  draw  down  the  general  currency  to  its  level; 
but  as  the  gist  of  the  complaint  is  that  the  standard  of  currency 
it  assumes  for  the  government  is  higher  than  that  of  the  general 
currency,  so  it  follows,  by  a  parity  of  reasoning,  that  its  indirect 
influence  must  be  to  raise  the  general  currency  to  its  standard. 

"  In  all  this  he  was  constrained,  most  respectfully,  to  ask  where 
was  the  ground  of  complaint,  unless  gentlemen  were  ready  to 
take  the  position  that  a  sound,  uniform  and  standard  currency 
could  not  be  sustained  in  the  country,  and  that,  to  avoid  invidi 
ous  distinctions  between  the  government  and  the  people,  the 
national  Legislature,  possessing  the  power  to  fix  the  standard  of 
currency,  should  at  once  adopt  a  base  standard,  and  thus  conform 
the  currency  of  the  treasury  to  that  which  it  might  be  the  interest 
of  the  local  banking  institutions  to  maintain.  He  did  not  believe 


686  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

that  any  advocate  for  such  a  doctrine  was  to  be  found  here;  but 
if  such  a  one  should  appear,  he  had  only  first  to  deny  the  posi 
tion  wholly,  and  to  assert  that  a  sound  currency  could  be  sus 
tained  in  this  country,  without  an  infringement  upon  the  powers 
granted  to  Congress,  by  the  Constitution,  for  the  means  of  accom 
plishing  the  object ;  and  second,  if  the  position  should  be  granted, 
to  deny  the  inference,  and  contend  that  it  was  the  constitutional 
duty  of  Congress  to  keep  the  currency  of  the  national  treasury 
up  to  the  standard  of  gold  and  silver,  in  any  event. 

"  The  next,  and  only  other,  objection  he  proposed  to  notice 
was,  that  the  tendency  of  the  system  provided  for  by  the  bill 
would  be  to  withdraw  from  circulation  and  use,  and  to  hoard  in 
the  several  depositories,  too  great  a  portion  of  the  gold  and  silver 
of  the  country. 

"  He  had  but  a  brief  answer  to  this  objection.  It  never  could 
be  true  at  times  when  the  revenue  and  expenditures  of  the  govern 
ment  were  properly  adjusted.  If  they  were  equal,  as  they  should 
be,  the  receipts  of  revenue  would  be  taken  in  one  hand,  and  the 
disbursements  for  expenses  would  be  made  with  the  other. 
Nothing  could  be  hoarded  but  the  amount  which  the  widely 
extended  operations  of  the  treasury  compelled  it  to  keep  in 
transitu  •  and  that  was  just  as  much,  and  no  more,  hoarded  than 
the  money  of  the  merchant  at  a  distant  point,  either  during  the 
time  that  notice  of  its  collection  was  traveling  to  him  in  the 
mail,  or  his  draft  for  it  was  passing  back  to  the  point  where  the 
money  was  on  deposit.  This  amount  would  vary  from  three  to 
five  millions  of  dollars,  including  the  amount  constantly  retained 
in  the  mints  in  the  process  of  coinage;  and  he  would  repeat  that, 
when  the  revenue  and  expenditures  should  bear  a  just  proportion 
to  each  other,  as  they  always  should,  no  further  or  more  danger 
ous  hoarding  could  take  place  under  the  bill. 

"  But  suppose  that  a  time  should  again  come  when  overtrading 
and  speculation,  in  every  branch  of  business,  should  commence 
the  accumulation  of  another  surplus  revenue,  such  as  had  afflicted 
the  country  for  the  last  few  years,  then,  for  himself,  he  should 
consider  this  tendency  of  the  bill  one  of  its  most  valuable  fea 
tures.  Let  overtrading  go  on,  and  speculation  spread,  and  let  the 
amounts  paid  for  duties  and  lands  be  collected  in  gold  and  silver, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  687 

and  hoarded  in  the  public  treasury  and  by  its  depositaries,  except 
so  much  as  is  wanted  to  meet  the  fair  expenditures  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  how  far  does  any  man  believe  these  deranging  and 
injurious  business  excesses  would  proceed?  Not,  Mr.  President, 
to  the  prostration  of  business  and  credit,  and  the  currency  of  the 
country.  No,  sir ;  the  banks,  instead  of  promoting,  would  be 
compelled  to  arrest  them,  and  to  restore  business  to  its  legitimate 
and  proper  channel,  before  the  country  could  receive  a  shock,  or 
the  people  injury. 

"  It  was  wrong  for  him,  however,  to  spend  the  time  of  the 
Senate  in  the  discussion  of  this  objection,  as  it  was  expressly  met 
by  a  provision  in  the  bill.  He  referred  to  the  twenty-first  sec 
tion,  which  made  it  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
whenever  there  should  be  on  deposit  to  the  credit  of  the  treasurer 
a  sum  greater  than  four  millions  of  dollars,  to  dissipate  the 
money  so  hoarded  by  an  investment  in  national  or  State  stocks. 
This  must  relieve  the  apprehensions  of  all  upon  this  point,  as 
four  millions  was  the  greatest  amount  which  could,  at  any  one 
time,  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  possession  and  keeping  of  all 
the  depositaries  constituted  by  the  bill.  As,  however,  he  had 
discussed  the  provisions  of  this  section  somewhat  at  length,  in 
the  course  of  his  remarks  upon  the  provisions  of  the  bill  gene 
rally,  he  would  omit  any  further  remarks  here. 

"  He  had  now  closed  what  he  proposed  to  say,  having  particu 
lar  reference  to  the  system  of  finance  for  the  national  treasury 
recommended  by  the  committee,  or  as  to  the  ostensible  antagon 
ist  system  of  State  bank  deposits. 

"  But  there  was  a  third  alternative  —  a  national  bank  —  which 
he  must  not  omit  to  notice,  in  his  extended  discussion  of  this 
great  subject.  He  was  bound,  however,  after  having  so  long 
trespassed  upon  the  time  of  the  Senate,  to  relieve  the  members 
from  the  apprehension  that  he  was  now  to  enter  upon  this  inter 
minable  field  of  debate.  No:  nothing  in  this  field  presented  to 
him  matter  for  debate.  He  entertained  the  most  firm  convictions 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  conferred  upon 
Congress  no  power  to  charter  such  an  institution;  but  every 
argument  upon  that  great  question  had  been  again  and  again 
presented  to  Congress  and  the  nation  in  a  manner  much  more 


688  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

forcible,  and  from  sources  much  more  commanding,  than  any 
thing  which  could  be  advanced  by  him.  It  was,  therefore,  to 
him  a  question  not  for  discussion  but  for  action,  and,  unless  his 
present  views  upon  it  should  be  radically  changed,  for  negative 
action  only. 

"He  had  heard,  since  he  had  been  honored  with  a  seat  in  this 
body,  many  ingenious  arguments  in  favor  of  the  power,  but  all 
had  sought  to  derive  it  from  necessity  or  expediency;  and  it  was 
due  to  the  authors  of  these  arguments  to  say  that,  to  his  mind, 
no  very  nice  distinction  had  been  preserved  between  necessity 
and  expediency.  It  had  been  said  that  a  uniform  currency  was 
necessary  for  the  country;  that  such  a  currency  could  not  be 
produced  or  maintained  without  a  national  bank,  and  that,  there 
fore,  Congress  had  the  power  to  charter  such  an  institution. 
That  a  uniform  currency  was  expedient  and  highly  desirable  for 
our  wide-spread  country,  no  one  could  doubt;  but  that  the  coun 
try  could  get  on  very  comfortably  without  such  a  currency,  had 
been  proved  by  the  actual  experience  of  several  periods  in  our 
history.  That  a  sound  and  standard  currency  was  necessary  to 
the  existence  of  commerce;  that  such  a  currency  could  not  be 
established  and  sustained  in  our  country  but  by  congressional 
legislation,  and  that,  therefore,  Congress  had  the  power  to  create, 
as  well  as  to  regulate,  such  a  currency,  has  been  contended  here. 
No  one  will  be  disposed  to  question  the  position  that  a  sound 
and  standard  currency  is  very  desirable  to  a  commercial  country; 
but  that  commerce  can  be  carried  on,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
without  money  of  any  description,  is  a  fact  not  to  be  questioned. 
These  instances  are  mentioned,  not  to  question  the  expedient  and 
useful  tendency  of  the  arguments,  so  far  as  they  go,  to  show  that 
a  uniform  currency  is  highly  important  to  every  civilized  country, 
and  that  a  sound  medium  of  exchange  is  of  the  first  utility  in 
commerce,  but  to  question  how  far  the  argument  of  necessity,  in 
either  case,  can  be  safely  relied  upon  as  the  basis  of  a  grant  of 
constitutional  power,  and  to  show  that,  in  either  argument,  there 
is  no  little  difficulty  in  settling  the  dispute  as  to  where  expediency 
and  utility  end  and  necessity  begins.  For  himself,  he  repudiated 
all  such  arguments,  and  all  arguments,  of  every  character,  founded 
upon  simple  necessity,  as  establishing  grants  of  power  under  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  G89 

Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  favor  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States. 

"A  single  remark  upon  the  question  of  chartering  a  national 
bank,  as  a  mere  matter  of  expediency,  if  all  questions  of  consti 
tutional  power  were  out  of  the  way,  and  he  would  dismiss  this 
topic.  The  experience  of  his  own  time,  the  late  proceedings  of 
the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States,  had  satisfied  his  mind  that 
the  dangers  to  our  political  and  civil  institutions  from  such  an 
organized  money  power  vastly  overbalance  any  anticipated  bene 
fits,  and  that,  as  a  simple  question  of  expediency,  such  an  institu 
tion  ought  not  to  be  chartered  by  Congress.  Neither  the  hour 
of  the  day,  the  patience  of  the  Senate,  nor  his  own  strength, 
would  permit  him  to  enter  upon  a  further  discussion  of  this  point 
at  present;  and  his  only  purpose  having  been  to  pronounce  the 
opinion  he  had  pronounced,  he  would  pass  to  his  conclusion. 

"  The  three  alternatives  had  been  presented.  The  condition  of 
the  public  treasury,  of  the  currency,  of  the  business  of  the  coun 
try  and  general  public  expectation,  demanded  action  from  Con 
gress.  The  committee  of  which  he  was  a  member  had  presented 
to  the  Senate  the  bill  upon  the  table,  as  the  action  which  a 
majority  of  its  members  proposed.  This  bill  was  to  be  opposed 
from  two  sides  of  the  House.  The  friends  of  the  State  bank 
deposit  system,  and  the  friends  of  a  national  bank,  were  alike,  and 
together,  to  be  met  and  overcome,  or  the  bill  could  not  pass. 

"  In  this  condition  of  the  question,  and  of  the  Senate,  he  con 
sidered  it  to  be  his  indispensable  duty  to  present,  w^hathe  believed 
to  be  the  real  and  true  issue,  fairly  and  fully  to  the  Senate  and 
the  country.  And  what  was  that  ? 

"  In  his  judgment,  it  was  the  adoption  of  some  system  based 
upon  the  principles  of  the  bill  under  discussion,  or  a  national 
bank.  He  saw  no  prospect  of  success  for  any  middle  ground. 
What  were  the  evidences  of  our  senses  upon  this  subject  ?  Look 
at  the  divisions  in  this  body.  The  party  friendly  to  a  national 
bank  had  always  repudiated  the  State  bank  deposit  system  as 
dangerous  in  its  additions  to  executive  power,  as  inefficient  as  to 
the  currency,  and  as  unsafe  as  to  the  public  money.  Was  there 
any  evidence  that  those  members  of  that  party  here  had  changed 
their  opinions  as  to  that  system?  He  knew  of  none;  and  were 
44 


690  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

he  to  judge  from  the  language  of  that  portion  of  the  public 
press  which  was  supposed  to  reflect  their  opinions,  or  from  what 
had  but  recently  passed  here  in  relation  to  the  failure  of  a  deposit 
bank  in  Boston,  he  should  be  compelled  to  say  that  no  change  in 
that  quarter  had  taken  place.  But  he  would  appeal  to  the  gen 
tlemen  themselves,  and  ask  if  recent  experience,  as  to  that  finan 
cial  system  for  the  national  treasury,  had  changed  their  feelings 
toward  it  —  had  endeared  it  to  them  as  one  they  were  now 
desirous  to  make  their  own  ?  Are  they  willing  to  surrender  their 
favorite  project  of  a  national  bank  for  this  alternative  ?  Will 
they  not  tell  us,  in  frankness  and  candor,  that,  with  one  or  two 
solitary  exceptions,  perhaps  every  man  of  them  is  for  a  national 
bank,  as,  in  their  judgments,  the  only  effectual  remedy  for  the 
financial  difficulties  of  the  country  ? 

"  If  such  continues  to  be  the  feeling  of  the  party  which 
opposed  the  late  administration,  and  equally  opposes  the  present, 
what  is  the  condition,  in  this  respect,  of  those  who  have  hitherto 
supported  both  ?  Is  there  not,  numerically  speaking,  a  very  great 
degree  of  unanimity  of  sentiment  with  them,  in  favor  of  the  bill, 
at  least  so  far  as  a  practical  and  bona  fide  separation  from  the 
banks  is  concerned  ?  He  supposed  that  to  be  the  fact,  and  he 
referred  to  this  division  of  feeling  here,  upon  this  subject,  with 
no  pleasure.  He  knew  and  felt  that  those  with  whom  he  had 
long,  intimately  and  pleasantly  associated,  personally  and  politi 
cally,  were  to  differ  with  him  upon  this  measure.  He  regretted 
the  difference  as  much  as  any  one  of  them  could.  He  entertained 
no  unkindness  of  feeling  toward  them  on  account  of  this  differ 
ence  of  opinion  upon  a  particular  bill.  He  yielded  to  them  all 
the  sincerity  of  convictions  of  public  duty  which  he  claimed  for 
himself;  and  he  assured  them,  one  and  all,  that  no  remark  which 
he  had  made,  or  was  about  to  make,  had  been  or  should  be,  on 
his  part,  intended  to  wound  their  feelings  or  censure  their  course. 
They,  like  himself,  were  responsible  to  their  constituents  and  the 
country  for  their  acts  here,  and  he  did  not  entertain  a  doubt  that 
that  accountability  would  be  discharged  by  them  according  to 
their  most  firm  convictions  of  right.  Yet  he  must  appeal  to 
them  to  say  if  they  did  not  believe  the  public  opinion  of  the 
country  was  very  justly  reflected  in  the  two  House  of  Congress 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  691 

upon  the  three  alternative  propositions  he  had  discussed?  If 
they  had  seen  any  evidence,  from  recent  political  results  any 
where,  to  authorize  the  belief  that  the  State  bank  system  of 
deposits,  to  which  they  still  adhered,  was  gaining  favor  in  any 
quarter?  If  they  did  not  perceive  that  the  two  other  systems 
were  dividing  the  great  mass  of  the  public  mind  of  the  whole 
country  ?  If  they  did  not  feel,  in  the  recent  history  and  present 
condition  of  the  State  banks,  that  public  confidence  could  not 
again  be  restored  to  that  system  of  deposits  by  legislative  enact 
ments  ?  If  they  did  not  fear,  in  assuming  the  positions  they 
were  compelled  to  assume,  that  banks  were  necessary  to  the  suc 
cessful  and  proper  administration  of  the  finances  of  the  federal 
government ;  that  it  is  within  the  power,  and  is,  in  some  sort 
and  to  some  extent,  the  duty  of  this  government  to  regulate  the 
whole  currency  of  the  country;  that  the  regulation  of  exchanges, 
too,  if  not  directly,  was  incidentally  a  matter  for  which  the 
government  should  be  held  responsible,  and  that  the  custody  and 
safe-keeping  of  the  public  treasure  should  be  committed  to  banks, 
and  not  to  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  government;  did 
they  not  fear,  he  would  repeat,  that,  in  assuming  these  positions, 
they  were  merely  aiding  and  strengthening  the  friends  of  a 
national  bank  ?  That  they  were  furnishing  what  might  be  con 
sidered  as  evidence,  to  those  who  could  listen  to  such  an  argu 
ment,  to  prove  that  a  national  bank  was  necessary  under  our 
system  ?  He  did  not  put  these  inquiries  from  anything  which 
had  been  advanced  here,  but  they  were  suggested  from  the 
course  of  argument  which  he  saw  constantly  used  in  the  public 
press  and  elsewhere,  to  sustain  the  ground  which  these  friends 
had  assumed,  and  he  must  say  that  it  seemed  to  him  like  yield 
ing  the  whole  field  to  the  advocates  of  a  national  bank  ;  that  it 
was  making  such  an  institution,  and  some  system  founded  upon 
the  principles  of  the  bill  under  discussion,  the  real  alternatives 
before  the  country,  and  bringing  the  contest,  if  not  here,  else 
where,  to  that  issue. 

"  He  was  sorry  to  have  detained  the  Senate  so  long,  and,  as 
the  best  atonement  he  could  make,  he  would  resume  his  seat  and 
trouble  them  no  farther." 


692  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

The  bill  finally  passed  the  Senate  on  the  26th  of  March, 
1838  —  yeas  27,  nays  25  —  and  was  sent  to  the  House, 
where  it  was,  on  the  next  day,  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote 
of  ayes  106,  nays  98.  No  further  proceedings  appear  to 
have  been  taken  on  this  subject  during  the  twenty-fifth 
Congress.  The  matter  was  revived  in  the  twenty -sixth 
Congress,  and  a  similar  bill  passed  both  Houses  and 
became  a  law  on  the  4th  of  July,  1840. 

A  bill  had  been  reported,  of  a  similar  character,  in  the 
House  by  Mr.  Cambrelling,  which  was  rejected  in  the 
House  on  the  25th  of  June,  1838,  by  a  vote  of  111  to  125. 
A  motion  to  reconsider  was  rejected  —  ayes  21,  nays  205. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  Lucius  MOODY. 

"  SENATE  CHAMBER,          ] 
"WASHINGTON,  12th  February,  1838.  j 

"My  DEAR  BROTHER. — Your  favor  came  to  us  some  days  since. 
I  will  be  frank  and  tell  you  that  my  first  effort  was  to  persuade 
Clarissa  to  give  you  an  answer  and  save  me  the  time  and  labor, 
as  I  have  on  hand  here  constantly  more  than  I  can  possibly 
attend  to  well.  Yet  my  persuasion  failed,  and  I  was  thinking 
about  attempting  to  use  authority  and  compulsion  when  along 
came  a  note  of  invitation  to  us  to  dine  with  the  President  on 
Saturday.  We  accepted,  of  course,  and  all  answer  to  your  letter 
was  swallowed  up  in  preparation  for  the  dinner.  It  came.  We 
attended.  Mrs.  Wright  was  led  to  the  table  by  the  President 
himself,  seated  at  his  right  hand,  by  a  caution  very  proper  to 
the  occasion,  did  not  get  under  the  table,  and  went  through  the 
whole  ceremony  in  fine  style.  We  got  home  at  ten  o'clock.  I 
did  not  get  locked  out  again,  because  I  did  not  leave  the  bed 
room  for  a  time  long  enough  to  permit  of  turning  the  key.  Not 
that  I  would  insinuate  that  a  disposition  existed  in  any  quarter 
to  lock  me  out,  but  that  having  once  had  my  fears  excited  in 
that  direction  I  was  a  little  sceary  upon  that  point. 

"However,  the  night  passed  well,  and  the  morning  found  Cla 
rissa  in  fine  health  and  in  as  fine  spirits;  but  I  observed  in  the 
course  of  the  day  that  she  was  rather  particular.  The  rocking 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  693 

chair  or  my  full-stuffed  and  cushioned  chair  were  the  only  seats 
which  seemed  to  be  convenient,  and  dresses  and  dinners  and 
agreeable  parties  and  such  like  subjects  seemed  to  be  matters  of 
greater  moment  than  on  any  day  before. 

"From  this  you  will  see  that  we  are  well  and  getting  better, 
although  there  were  forty-five  candles  lighted  upon  our  dinner 
table,  and  the  olives  were  served  at  the  usual  time  and  in  the 
usual  profusion. 

"  As  to  that  boy,  Lucius  Horace  or  Horace  Lucius,  we  would 
prefer  his  personal  presentment  to  your  brags  about  him, 
although  we  acknowledge  his  polite  note,  and  his  aunty,  when 
she  gets  down  from  the  dinner,  will  send  him  some  evidence  of 
her  relationship  and  affection. 

"Tell  Julia,  if  she  will  write,  Clarissa  will  be  compelled  to 
answer  her,  and  that  nothing  could  give  us  more  pleasure  than 
to  hear  from  her. 

"  In  the  meantime,  when  you  shall  be  willing  to  write,  I  will 
give  you  nonsense  if  I  cannot  give  you  sense,  and  if  I  cannot 
find  any  other  time  will  write  as  I  do  now,  from  my  seat  and 
under  the  hearing  of  fervent  speeches  upon  various  important 
subjects,  and  then  you  must  not  hold  me  personally  responsible 
for  anything  I  write. 

"  I  am  most  happy  to  say  to  you  that  Clarissa's  health  is  regu 
larly  though  slowly  improving,  and  that  our  hopes  strengthen 
every  day  that  she  will  eventually  recover  sound  health  again. 

"  Most  truly  yours, 

"  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  Capt.  Lucius  MOODY." 

LETTER  FROM  MR.  WRIGHT  TO  JOHN  LESLIE  RUSSELL. 

"  WASHINGTON,  19th  April,  1838. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR. — At  my  request  Mr.  Croswell  has  sent  me  a 
number  of  the  inclosed  report,  to  the  number  of  our  towns,  and 
I  have  sent  one  to  some  active  friend  in  each  House.  I  send  one 
to  you,  though  I  doubt  not  he  will  send  some  copies  to  you  him 
self.  I  think  it  important  that  these  subscriptions  should  be 
extended,  as  far  as  practicable,  in  our  county,  as  we  are  to  have  a 


694  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

desperate  fight  in  the  fall,  and  so  much  do  the  allied  opposition, 
and  the  conservative  platoon  in  particular,  think  of  breaking  in 
upon  our  county  and  congressional  district,  that  they  will  spare 
no  efforts  to  effect  it.  Can  you  not  induce  some  few  persons  in 
the  vicinity  of  North  and  South  Canton  post-offices  to  subscribe, 
so  as  to  get  some  five  or  six,  or  more,  copies  sent  to  each  of  those 
offices  ? 

"  Then  will  not  our  friend  Col.  Barker  get  a  few  subscribers  for 
his  neighborhood,  and  our  friend  Whitney  for  the  Rapids? 
Suppose  you  suggest  to  Harrison  the  propriety  of  subscribing 
for  ten  copies,  to  be  directed  to  the  proper  names  at  the  Rapids, 
and  sent  to  the  North  Canton  office. 

"  If  you  see  Mr.  Church,  do  me  the  favor  to  tell  him  that  I 
have  this  morning,  for  the  first,  received  information  of  the  pay 
ment  of  the  first  installment  of  Mr.  Loyd's  estate,  one-third,  and 
that  the  legacies  will  be  paid  soon.  Nothing  can  be  paid  to  the 
residuary  legatees  until  the  debts  and  other  legacies  are  all  ascer 
tained  and  paid  off,  but  the  person  I  have  substituted  to  transact 
the  business  there  tells  me  that  he  expects  there  will  be  a  small 
sum  out  of  this  one-third  coming  to  them.  I  wrote  to  New 
York  by  this  mail  for  information  as  to  the  best  mode  of  remitting 
the  funds.  My  agent  writes  that  the  payment  has  been  made  in 
the  funds  of  the  New  Orleans  banks,  which  is,  of  course,  in  the 
notes  of  those  banks,  and  that  the  payment  will  be  made  to  him 
in  the  same  medium,  and  he  requests  instructions  as  to  what  he 
shall  do  with  the  money.  I  have  written  to  him  this  morning, 
telling  him  I  will  give  him  directions  in  a  few  days.  He  advises 
me  to  let  him  send  a  certificate  of  deposit,  because  he  says  a 
draft  on  New  York  will  cost  a  high  premium,  but  he  does  not 
say  how  high.  My  object  in  writing  to  New  York  is  to  learn 
how  I  can  sell  a  certificate  of  deposit,  and  what  premium  I  ought 
to  pay  for  a  draft.  Tell  Mr.  Church  I  will  get  the  business  done 
at  the  lowest  rate  I  can,  but  that  he  must  prepare  his  mind  for  a 
severe  charge  of  premiums  and  commissions,  etc. 

"  In  great  haste,  most  truly  yours, 

"  SILAS  WRIGHT,  JR. 
"  JOHN  LESLIE  RUSSELL,  Esq." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  695 

•  CHAPTER  LXVIII. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY  BILL  AND   MR   TALLMADGE. 

When  the  independent  treasury  bill  was  called  up,  on 
the  8th  of  February,  1838,  Mr.  Tallmadge,  Mr.  WRIGHT'S 
colleague,  made  a  demonstration  against  it,  and  took  the 
bank  side  of  the  question,  and  assumed  that  he,  and  not 
Mr.  WRIGHT,  truly  represented  their  constituency.  Mr. 
WRIGHT  thus  defended  his  position  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  rose  more  because  he  supposed  the  Sen 
ate  would  expect  him  to  reply  than  because  he  was  disposed  to 
do  so.  The  remarks  of  his  colleague  had  been  principally  con 
fined  to  questions  belonging  to  the  State  which  they  had  the 
honor  to  represent  here,  and  its  citizens,  and  not  to  questions 
involved  in  the  discussion  before  this  body. 

"  It  had  been  his  object,  and,  he  believed,  his  habit,  to  confine 
himself  to  the  debate  before  the  Senate,  and  he  could  not  be 
induced  now  to  vary  from  a  rule  which  he  had  found  so  salutary. 
In  the  part  he  had  taken  in  those  debates,  he  had  endeavored  to 
discuss  every  topic  with  temper  and  moderation,  and  to  respect 
the  feelings  and  courtesy  due  to  every  member  of  the  body, 
whatever  opinions  he  might  hold. 

"  That,  too,  he  intended  to  do  now.  And  as  it  was  certain  that 
any  discussion  between  himself  and  his  colleague  upon  questions 
which  did  not  pertain  to  our  duties  here,  which  related  to  the 
action  of  their  common  constituents,  and  to  the  results  of  elec 
tions  and  the  like,  would  be  almost  certain  to  throw  them  into 
conflict,  to  develop  a  radical  difference  of  opinions  and  views 
between  them,  and  perhaps  to  excite  personal  feeling,  he  declined 
all  such  discussions  wholly. 

"  He  had,  as  he  had  occasion  to  say  upon  a  very  recent  occa 
sion,  intended  to  treat  his  honorable  and  respected  colleague 
with  every  kindness,  and  he  could  not  follow  him  into  a  debate 
which  might  place  the  full  execution  of  that  intention  beyond 
his  power. 


696  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  They  could  yet  both  agree  in  one  opinion :  that  they  repre 
sented  a  people  as  intelligent,  as  free,  as  uncorrupted  and  incor 
ruptible,  as  the  constituency  of  any  two  Senators  upon  the  floor. 
Whatever,  then,  might  be  their  opinions  of  the  causes  which 
influenced  a  particular  election,  or  to  which  its  results  were  attri 
butable,  or  whatever  they  might  think  of  the  influence  of  pend 
ing  questions  upon  future  elections,  they  could  not  claim  that 
their  opinions  or  wishes  would  materially  influence  that  constitu 
ency.  If  they  were  free  and  intelligent  and  uncorrupted  this 
inference  was  not  authorized. 

"  The  only  question,  then,  which,  as  between  themselves,  they 
could  properly  debate  was,  in  cases  in  which  they  were  com 
pelled  to  differ,  which  represented  that  constituency  truly.  This 
was  a  question  which  he  could  not  discuss  with  his  colleague  here. 
It  might  be  interesting  to  an  audience,  but  it  could  not  be  useful 
to  the  country  to  hear  them  wrangle  upon  such  a  point. 

"  He  had  not  another  single  remark  to  make  in  reply  to  his  col 
league.  He  [Mr.  Tallmadge]  had  understood  the  late  annual 
message  of  the  President  to  cast  an  imputation  upon  the  inde 
pendent  electors  of  the  State  of  New  York  of  corruption  at  the 
November  election  in  that  State.  This  was  the  first  construc 
tion  of  that  character  which  had  been  put  upon  that  document 
in  any  quarter.  He,  Mr.  W.,  did  not  so  understand  it.  The 
President  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  election  was  exclusively 
for  State  and  not  at  all  for  federal  officers.  He  also  referred  to 
the  immense  State  and  local  and  corporate  and  private  interests 
which  must  be  presented  to  the  State  Legislature  then  to  be 
elected,  and  ventured  to  infer  that  the  action  of  the  people  at 
the  polls  might  be  supposed  to  have  been  influenced  by  these 
considerations,  and  not  by  the  questions  of  a  national  character 
then  depending  before  the  country  and  which  might  come  before 
the  present  Congress.  This  was  his  understanding  of  the  senti 
ments  of  the  message ;  but  the  document  was  before  the  country, 
and  was  as  well  understood  by  the  constituents  of  his  colleague 
and  himself  as  by  them.  A  large  portion  of  those  constituents 
were  as  capable  of  placing  a  proper  construction  upon  the  lan 
guage  of  the  President  as  they  were ;  and  he  must,  therefore, 
decline  any  further  discussion  of  that  point  with  his  colleague 
here. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  697 

"  He  must  say,  however,  that  he  felt  the  deepest  consciousness, 
and  he  knew  his  colleague  ought  to  feel  the  same,  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  incapable  of  making  a  charge  of  corruption  against  the 
people  of  his  native  State  —  that  he  had  not  done  it  in  fact  and 
certainly  had  not  in  intention." 

Here  Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  came  to  the  assistance  of 
Mr.  Tallmadge,  and  thanked  him  for  his  criticisms  on  the 
President' s  message,  which  Mr.  WRIGHT  refused  to  dis 
cuss,  because  it  was  not  the  subject-matter  before  the 
Senate.  Mr.  Clay  said,  in  relation  to  this  refusal,  that 
Mr.  WRIGHT  "  showed  that  he  acknowledged  the  truth  of 
the  maxim  that  '  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor.' ' 
Mr.  WRIGHT  made  the  following  appropriate  reply  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay]  was 
over  kind  to  his  colleague;  that  if  a  controversy  must  arise 
between  him  and  his  colleage  here,  he,  Mr.  W.,  should  have 
more  than  he  could  well  attend  to,  to  meet  upon  equal  terms  his 
colleague  alone,  without  the  weight  of  the  distinguished  Senator 
in  the  scale  against  him.  It  was,  therefore,  wholly  unnecessary 
that  the  patriotic  gentleman  should  have  interposed  himself  as  a 
shield  to  his  colleague  upon  the  present  occasion. 

"He  could  not,  however,  forbear  one  remark  in  reply  to  the 
Senator  himself.  That  distinguished  and  experienced  statesman 
had  told  him  that,  in  declining  the  controversy  with  his  colleague, 
he  had  illustrated  the  maxim  '  that  discretion  is  the  better  part 
of  valor.'  This  was  a  sound  maxim,  and  he,  Mr.  W.,  had 
intended,  in  all  his  actions  here,  to  bear  it  constantly  in  mind. 
Since  hearing  the  views  of  the  Senator  upon  that  part  of  the 
message  of  the  President  to  which  his  honorable  colleague  had 
alluded,  and  his  declaration  as  to  the  resolution  in  censure  of  the 
President,  which  he  says  he  was  inclined  and  prepared  to  offer, 
but  which  he  finally  omitted  to  present,  he  must  say  that,  upon 
one  single  occasion,  the  gentleman  had  consulted  the  rule  which 
he  had  so  promptly  complimented  him  for  following.  In  this 
case  discretion  was,  most  clearly,  the  better  part  of  valor  in  his 
action." 

To  this  Mr.  Clay,  good  humoredly,  replied  :  "All  pretty 
fair;  very  fair,  sir." 


698  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STL  AS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER   LXIX. 

NEW  YOEK  CITY  REMONSTRANCE  AGAINST  THE  INDEPEN 
DENT  TREASURY. 

Mr.  Tallmadge,  on  the  7th  of  March,  1838,  presented  a 
remonstrance,  signed  by  npwards  of  8, 000  legal  voters,  as 
he  stated,  against  the  passage  of  the  independent  treasury 
bill.  He  said  the  proposed  system  was  destructive  to  all 
the  great  leading  interests  of  the  country,  and  the  measure 
the  most  dangerous  ever  presented  to  an  American  Con 
gress.  He  said,  "we  had  now  an  empty  treasury;  the 
sources  of  revenue  were  dried  up  ;  commerce  and  inland 
trade  were  languishing  to  the  last  degree,  and  if  this  Con 
gress  adjourn  without  doing  something  for  the  relief  of 
the  people,  the  consequences  would  be  disastrous  in  the 
extreme." 

Mr.  Webster  made  remarks  to  a  similar  effect.  Mr. 
WKIGHT  presented  his  own  vindication  and  that  of  the 
friends  with  whom  he  acted,  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  should  at  this  time,  as  upon  all  former 
occasions,  enter  into  one  of  these  incidental  morning  debates, 
arising  upon  the  presentation  of  a  petition,  with  extreme  reluc 
tance.  After  the  remarks  of  his  colleague  [Mr.  Tallmadge],  how 
ever,  and  those  which  had  fallen  from  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  [Mr.  Webster],  he  felt  himself  compelled  to  enter  his 
respectful  dissent  from  the  positions  taken  by  those  gentlemen, 
lest  his  silence  might,  by  possibility,  be  deemed  an  assent  to 
them. 

"  The  petition  was  from  the  common  constituents  of  his  col 
league  and  himself.  It  was  numerously  signed,  and  he  doubted 
not  the  petitioners  were  as  respectable  as  any  other  body  of  citi 
zens,  of  equal  numbers,  who  had  addressed  Congress  upon  this 
interesting  subject.  He  was  happy  to  see  th3ir  expressions  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  699 

opinion  meet  this  marked  attention  from  the  Senate.  These,  like 
all  the  other  citizens  of  the  State,  had  a  right  to  claim  for  their 
opinions  and  interests  the  most  respectful  and  faithful  considera 
tion  of  himself  and  his  colleague.  From  his  colleague  they 
would  certainly  receive  that  attention,  and  it  was  his  firm  deter 
mination  that  they  should  receive  it  from  him  also.  He  rejoiced 
that  they  possessed  an  equal  right  with  himself  to  speak  here. 
They  had  spoken,  and  they  should  be  faithfully  and  patiently  lis 
tened  to  by  him,  and,  so  far  as  his  convictions  of  duty  would 
permit,  their  wishes  should  be  binding  upon  him. 

"  Still,  it  could  not  be  new  to  the  Senate  or  to  his  respected  col 
league,  and  it  certainly  was  not  new  to  himself,  now  to  learn  that 
there  were  many,  very  many,  among  his  constituents  who  differed 
from  him  radically  upon  questions  of  political  principle  and  ques 
tions  of  political  policy.  This  petition  was  but  one  of  many 
proofs  which  had  come  before  the  Senate,  since  he  had  been  a 
member  of  it,  to  prove  that  fact.  It  had  been  his  design  upon  all 
former  occasions  to  treat  such  petitioners  with  every  respect, 
and  to  give  to  their  opinions  and  wishes  every  aid  which  princi 
ple  and  duty  would  permit.  The  same  design  actuated  him  upon 
this  occasion,  and  he  must  not,  therefore,  in  anything  he  should 
say,  be  understood  as  indulging  the  language  of  complaint  or 
censure  because  this  respectable  portion  of  his  constituents  had 
condemned,  in  advance,  a  measure  which  he  had  aided  in  bring 
ing  before  the  Senate,  and  the  adoption  of  which  he  considered 
essential  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  On  the  contrary, 
he  commended  them  for  their  free  expressions  of  opinion  upon 
this  and  all  other  great  measures  of  national  policy,  and  it  was 
not  to  make  a  single  remark  in  relation  to  anything  embodied  in 
the  petition  for  which  he  had  risen.  It  was,  as  he  had  before 
stated,  to  express  his  dissent  from  the  remarks  of  his  colleague, 
made  upon  the  presentation  of  the  petition. 

"  His  honorable  colleague  had  assumed,  in  the  broadest  terms, 
that  the  present  derangement  of  business  and  distresses  in  the 
country  had  arisen  from  the  acts  of  this  government.  This,  in 
his  opinion,  was  a  mistaken  assumption.  The  immediate  cause  of 
the  derangement  and  distresses  was  the  present  condition  of  the 
banks  of  the  country;  their  inability  to  meet  their  obligations 


700  LIFE.  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  perform  their  chartered  duties  ;  in  short,  their  universal  sus 
pension  of  specie  payments.  Was  there  a  member  of  this  body, 
was  there  a  person  within  the  hearing  of  his  voice,  who  would 
deny  this  proposition  ?  He  could  not  suppose  there  was.  He 
knew  well,  however,  that  there  was  a  wide  difference,  and  a  great 
variety  of  opinion,  about  the  causes  which  had  produced  the 
suspension  by  the  banks.  It  was  not  now  his  intention  to  go 
into  that  discussion.  He  had,  upon  a  former  occasion,  given  to 
the  Senate,  briefly  and  partially,  his  views  upon  that  subject, 
and  others  had  given  theirs.  He  was  satisfied  that  the  causes 
assigned  upon  all  sides  had  had  their  influence  upon  that  result,  but 
in  very  unequal  proportions,  and  that  any  acts  of  any  department 
of  this  government  were  among  the  secondary  of  those  causes. 
All  this,  however,  was  not  very  material  to  his  present  purpose, 
which  was  to  compare  the  declarations  of  the  banks  and  their 
friends,  at  the  time  of  the  suspension,  with  subsequent  events 
and  present  representations. 

"  What  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  suspension,  as  given 
by  the  banks  and  bankers,  at  the  time  it  took  place  ?  Not,  as 
all  will  recollect,  the  ulterior  inability  of  the  banks  to  pay  their 
debts.  No;  this  was  strenuously  denied,  and  the  banks  declared 
as  perfectly  sound  and  solvent  as  they  had  ever  been ;  but  it  was 
said  that  we  had  overtraded,  had  imported  beyond  the  proceeds 
of  our  exports,  and  had  thus  accumulated,  in  the  hands  of  foreign 
ers,  a  fearful  amount  of  debt  against  our  merchants  ;  that  this 
foreign  debt  was  making  pressing  and  insupportable  demands 
upon  our  banks  for  specie  for  exportation  ;  and  that  the  banks 
were  forced  to  suspend  specie  payments,  to  prevent  an  entire 
drain  of  the  specie  from  the  country,  and  give  time  for  the  crop 
of  1837  to  be  applied  to  the  reduction  of  that  foreign  debt.  A 
resumption  was  promised  so  soon  as  the  foreign  demand  for 
specie  should  cease. 

"  What  results  have  time  and  the  healthful  action  of  a  prudent 
business  produced?  How  are  foreign  exchanges  at  this  moment, 
and  how  have  they  been  for  about  a  month  now  last  past  ?  Bills  on 
England  are  actually  below  par  in  the  principal  commercial  cities. 
They  have  been  at  and  below  this  point  for  some  weeks.  Will 
it,  then,  be  pretended  that  there  is  yet  a  foreign  demand  for 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIUHT.  701 

specie?  —  that  if  the  banks  unclose  their  vaults,  the  specie  will 
be  exported  and  the  country  drained  of  it?  No;  the  indications 
are  strong  and  universal  of  a  large  influx  of  specie,  growing  out 
of  the  present  state  of  the  exchanges.  Such  was  the  information 
he  derived  from  the  public  press,  and  especially  from  several 
commercial  papers  opposed  to  him  in  politics.  Still,  the  banks 
had  not  resumed  specie  payments;  and  were  they  soon  to  resume? 
This  was  a  question  of  the  highest  interest,  of  the  most  vital 
importance  to  the  business  and  prosperity  of  the  country.  He 
was  most  happy  to  be  able  to  say  he  had  new  hope  upon  this 
point.  He  had  seen,  within  the  last  few  days,  that  the  banks  in 
the  city  of  New  York  had  resolved  to  resume,  and  make  the 
attempt  to  sustain  themselves  in  the  full  and  perfect  discharge  of 
all  their  corporate  duties  and  obligations  on  and  after  the  tenth 
day  of  May  next.  He  had  not  a  doubt  as  to  the  ability  of  those 
banks,  with  possibly  the  exception  of  two  or  three,  which  were 
unusually  involved,  to  sustain  and  carry  out  this  just  and  praise 
worthy  resolve,  if  they  could  receive  the  countenance  and  co-ope 
ration  of  their  neighbors  in  the  other  principal  commercial  towns; 
nay,  he  would  go  farther  and  say,  if  they  were  not  warred  upon 
by  those  neighboring  institutions. 

"  Still,  at  such  a  moment,  when  the  first  dawn  of  light  begins 
to  show  itself  in  the  east,  we  see  the  distinguished  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Webster]  rising  in  his  place  and  calling 
for  further  agitation  of  the  public  mind;  inviting  petitions  from 
the  people  against  a  settlement  here  of  a  question  which  must 
continue  injuriously  to  influence  the  public  interests  and  to  agitate 
the  public  feeling  until  it  is  settled  by  Congress  by  positive  legis 
lation.  They  had  seen  panics  here  before.  His  honorable  col 
league  and  himself  had  seen  rolls  of  petitions  upon  former 
occasions  as  large  as  at  that  now  upon  the  table.  They  had  seen 
them  from  the  same  city,  of  which  they  and  their  State  were 
justly  so  proud.  They  had  heard  invitations  given  here  for  agi 
tation,  for  getting  up  meetings,  petitions  and  remonstrances, 
almost  in  the  words  which  the  honorable  Senator  had  used  in  the 
morning.  Who  had  forgotten  the  scenes  of  1834  in  this  cham 
ber?  Who  had  forgotten  the  excitement  which,  from  those 
scenes,  was  infused  into  the  public  mind  in  every  part  of  the 


702  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

country  during  that  memorable  winter?  Who  had  forgotten  the 
deep  and  painful  responsibility  under  which  we  all  then  acted  ? 
Still,  we  were  not  then  frightened  from  our  sense  of  propriety  or 
duty.  Both  himself  and  his  colleague  then  stood  firmly  on  in 
what  they  believed  to  be  the  path  of  principle  and  of  duty,  and 
neither  could  have  forgotten  what  was  the  influence  of  the  month 
of  May  upon  that  panic.  It  melted  it  away  as  it  did  the  ice  and 
snows  of  the  winter,  and  all  was  seen  to  have  been  false  and 
illusory  —  the  phantom  of  excited  minds,  which,  when  reason 
returned,  gave  place  to  unexampled  prosperity. 

"  Did  either  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  or  his  colleague, 
wish  to  renew  those  scenes  upon  the  present  occasion  ?  Did  they 
hope  that  confidence  in  affairs  of  credit  and  money  was  to  be 
established  by  universal  and  continued  agitation  —  by  a  panic  ? 
It  was  proposed  to  postpone  the  bill  to  which  the  petition  related 
until  the  next  session  of  Congress,  thus  preventing  any  action  in 
reference  to  the  currency,  either  of  the  treasury  or  of  the  country, 
during  the  present  session,  and  both  the  gentlemen  had  declared 
that  the  motion  should  receive  their  support.  Did  they  believe 
that  pecuniary  benefits  to  the  country  would  result  from  carrying 
these  deeply  agitating  questions  to  the  polls  of  election  ?  If  not, 
why  invoke  agitation  now  ?  Why  attempt  to  increase  an  excite 
ment  already  rendered  sufficiently  deep  and  extensive  by  the 
depressed  condition  of  our  monetary  affairs  ?  And,  above  all, 
why  attempt  to  delay  action  for  another  year,  and  thus  force  an 
uncertainty  upon  the  country,  for  that  length  of  time,  more  inju 
rious  than  almost  any  proposed  action  could  be  ? 

"  The  banks  of  New  York  deserved  not  only  the  thanks  but 
the  countenance  and  support,  to  every  possible  extent  to  which 
it  could  be  given  consistently  with  paramount  national  interests, 
of  all  men  and  all  interests.  They  deserved  the  co-operation  of 
all  the  other  banking  institutions  of  the  country,  and  most  espe 
cially  of  those  in  the  large  commercial  cities,  in  their  earnest 
attempt  to  resume  and  sustain  specie  payments.  This  counte 
nance  and  support  he  was  sure  his  colleague  and  himself  must 
feel  the  disposition  to  extend  to  them,  as  far  as  a  conscientious 
discharge  of  their  public  duties  would  permit,  and,  as  the  first 
and  most  important  step  they  could  take,  in  his  judgment,  they 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  703 

should  use  their  every  effort  to  secure  speedy,  positive  and  final 
action  by  Congress  upon  the  subject  of  the  currency  and  the  safe 
keeping  of  the  money  of  the  nation,  to  secure  the  permanent 
settlement  of  this  exciting  question  of  finance,  that  credit  and 
confidence  might  have  facts  and  certainties  to  rest  upon ;  not  a 
postponement  of  action,  which  would  leave  only  hopes  and  fears 
dangerous  to  credit  and  destructive  to  confidence. 

"  He  admitted  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  banks  in  the  city  of 
New  York  to  lead  in  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  as  they 
had  led  in  the  suspension.  He  admitted  that  their  location,  also, 
and  the  commanding  business  importance  of  that  great  city,  made 
this  duty  upon  those  banks  more  strongly  binding.  But  as  they 
were  most  promptly  followed  by  all  the  banks  of  the  country  in 
the  suspension,  so  ought  they  to  be  followed  with  equal  prompt 
ness  and  unanimity  in  the  resumption.  Would  they  be  so  fol 
lowed?  Painful  doubts  seemed  to  hang  around  the  answer  to 
this  important  inquiry.  He  hoped,  howrever,  that  they  would 
discharge  their  duty  to  themselves,  to  their  State  and  to  their 
country,  and  time  would  show  whether  the  other  banks  would 
come  forward  and  sustain  and  cheer  them  on  or  would  attempt 
an  exterminating  war  upon  them. 

"  The  most  which  Congress  could  do  was  to  act  promptly  upon 
the  great  subject  now  before  it,  and  thus  settle  the  public  mind 
as  to  the  course  of  policy  which  the  government  was  to  pursue. 
Entertaining  most  deeply  this  conviction,  he  was  rejoiced  to  hear 
it  said  here  this  morning,  by  the  opponents  of  the  bill,  that  there 
was  the  prospect  of  its  final  passage.  He  hoped  their  apprehen 
sions  were  well  founded.  He  believed  that  the  very  best  interests 
of  the  country  required  that  the  bill  should  become  a  law.  He 
believed  that  the  highest  and  most  essential  interests  of  these 
respected  constituents  of  his  who  had  remonstrated  against  it 
would  be  best  served  by  its  speedy  passage.  He  therefore 
entreated  Senators  to  turn  their  minds  to  action  here,  not  to  agi 
tation  elsewhere;  to  the  settlement  of  this  unprofitable  contro 
versy,  not  to  the  influences  which  may  be  exerted  through  its 
further  discussion  before  the  people  of  the  country." 


704  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Tallmadge  again  addressed  the 
Senate  on  this  subject,  to  whose  remarks  Mr.  WRIGHT 
made  this  reply : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said,  but  for  the  necessity  of  correcting  an  essen 
tial  error  into  which  his  colleague  had  fallen,  in  the  reply  he  had 
thought  proper  to  make  to  his  former  remarks,  he  should  not 
have  occupied  the  time  of  the  Senate  further  in  the  course  of  this 
debate.  His  colleague  had  considered  it  to  be  his  duty,  with 
what  particular  relevancy  to  any  of  the  topics  involved  in  the 
discussion  he  had  not  yet  been  able  to  discover,  to  allude  to  the 
subject  of  the  distribution  of  portions  of  the  public  revenue  to 
the  States,  and  to  the  acts  and  opinions  of  the  late  President  of 
the  United  States  and  of  himself,  and  the  friends  who  had  acted 
with  him  politically  in  their  own  State.  He  had  spoken  of  their 
opinions  upon  the  power  of  Congress  over,  and  the  policy  of, 
these  distributions,  and  had  made  them  all  out  to  have  been, 
constitutionally  and  politically,  friends  of  the  system.  This  was 
the  error. 

"  It  was  true  that,  some  years  since,  the  republicans  of  his 
State  became  alarmed  at  the  rapid  strides  which  the  doctrine  of 
prosecuting  works  of  internal  improvement  within  the  several 
States,  not  only  at  the  expense,  but  under  the  authority,  and  by 
the  agents,  and  as  the  property  of  this  government,  was  making 
here.  They  also  saw  that  a  rapidly  accumulating  surplus  revenue 
was  giving  to  the  doctrine  dangerous  strength  and  force,  and  that 
some  means  must  be  devised  to  avert  a  result  so  destructive  to  our 
institutions  as  the  adoption  of  such  a  doctrine  and  the  extension 
of  such  a  policy  would  necessarily  prove.  They  saw  attempts 
made  in  Congress  to  reduce  the  revenue  to  the  wants  of  the  govern 
ment  without  success ;  and  as  the  less  dangerous  of  the  two  alter 
natives,  considering  both  as  fearful  evils,  they  did  repeatedly, 
through  their  Governor,  through  committees  of  the  Legislature, 
and,  he  believed,  on  one  or  more  occasions,  through  expressions  of 
the  Legislature  itself,  give  a  preference  to  the  plan  of  distribution 
over  that  of  a  direct  expenditure  of  the  money  by  this  government 
upon  works  of  internal  improvement  within  the  States.  If  the 
funds  of  this  government  were  to  be  applied  to  the  construction 
of  roads  and  canals  within  the  States,  they  preferred  that  the  appli- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  705 

cation  should  be  made  by  State  authority,  and  that  the  works 
should  be  the  property  of  the  States,  and  under  their  jurisdiction, 
rather  than  that  this  government  should  force  its  authority  and 
its  jurisdiction,  and  extend  its  property,  its  power  and  its  patron 
age  within  the  limits  of  those  sovereignties  for  any  such  pur 
pose.  They  did  not,  however,  attempt  to  assume  or  express  the 
opinion  that  Congress  possessed  the  constitutional  power  to  make 
the  distribution  to  the  States  without  an  amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  for  that  purpose.  In  every  message  from  a  Governor, 
in  every  report  from  a  committee,  even  including  the  report  made 
by  his  colleague  to  which  he  had  referred,  and  in  every  legisla 
tive  resolution,  the  question  of  constitutional  power  in  Congress 
to  make  the  distribution  to  the  States  would  be  found  to  have 
been  expressly  reserved,  as  he  verily  believed.  He  spoke  upon 
this  point  with  great  confidence,  because  it  had  repeatedly  been 
his  duty  to  examine  those  proceedings  of  his  State  since  he  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Senate.  Indeed,  he  believed  he  had  now 
in  the  drawer  of  his  desk  a  printed  copy  of  every  document 
which  would  be  found  upon  the  journals  and  files  of  their  Legis 
lature.  He  well  recollected  that  the  first  mention  made  of  this 
subject  was  to  be  found  in  one  of  the  messages  of  Governor 
Clinton,  and  that  he  reserved  the  constitutional  question  in 
express  terms.  He  did  not  recollect  that  but  one  other  Governor 
(Governor  Throop)  had  ever  brought  the  subject  to  the  attention 
of  the  Legislature,  and  he  knew  he  had  followed  in  this  respect 
the  example  of  Governor  Clinton.  It  was  during  his  administra 
tion  that  his  colleague  made  the  report,  as  chairman  of  the  Canal 
Committee  of  the  Senate,  to  which  he  alludes,  and  he  was  sure, 
when  that  question  was  carefully  guarded  in  all  the  other  docu 
ments,  he  could  not  have  committed  himself  upon  it  in  his  report. 
In  any  event,  as  his  colleague  had  done  him  the  honor  to  refer  to 
his  opinions,  and  to  say  that  they  and  all  their  political  friends  in 
the  State  were  then  agreed  as  to  the  policy,  he  could  assure  him 
and  the  Senate  that  he  had  never  himself  entertained  or  expressed 
but  one  opinion  upon  the  point,  and  that  opinion  was  that,  with 
out  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  Congress  could  not  make 
the  distribution  proposed.  That  opinion  had  governed  all  his 
actions  in  Congress  upon  questions  of  such  distribution,  and  con- 
45 


706  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

trolled  his  vote  against  the  deposit  bill  of  1836  in  the  form  in 
which  it  passed  the  Senate,  as,  in  that  form,  he  considered  it  a 
distribution  bill. 

"As  to  the  expressions  and  communications  of  the  late  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  to  which  his  colleague  had  so  confi 
dently  alluded,  he  had  only  to  say,  if  that  distinguished  statesman 
had  ever  anywhere  contended  for  the  power  of  Congress  to  dis 
tribute  the  surplus  revenue  among  the  States,  without  an  amend 
ment  of  the  Constitution  —  had  ever  admitted  that  power  or  had 
ever  expressed  an  opinion  that  it  did  exist  —  he  had  not  seen  the 
document ;  and  he  was  confident  a  review  of  his  communications 
to  Congress  would  satisfy  his  colleague  that  he  had  mistaken 
their  purport  and  meaning. 

"  As  he  was  up,  he  would  reply  to  one  single  other  remark  of 
his  colleague,  and  he  begged  him  to  believe  that  he  made  the 
reply  without  any  personal  ill-feeling.  No  such  feeling  had 
existed  in  his  mind  toward  his  colleague,  and  he  earnestly  hoped 
no  occasion  would  ever  be  given  for  the  existence  of  such 
a  feeling.  His  colleague  had  remarked,  speaking  of  his  own 
political  course,  that  he  had  been  all  his  life  a  straightforward 
man,  and  that  he  could  not  now  turn  a  right  angle,  or  an 
acute  angle,  at  the  command  of  political  leaders.  He  must  have 
a  curve,  a  railroad  turn  —  or,  as  the  boys  at  school  sometimes 
called  it,  a  sweep  of  sixty  —  to  turn  in.  He,  Mr.  W.,  did  not 
doubt  that  his  colleague  had  intended  to  be  a  straightforward 
man  in  his  political  course,  and  he  thought  it  likely  he  had  con 
vinced  himself  that  he  had  been  so.  He,  too,  had  intended  to 
be  a  straightforward  politician,  to  govern  himself  by  certain 
fixed  principles,  and  to  carry  them  out  in  all  his  actions  ;  but  he 
dare  not  say  for  himself  what  his  colleague  claimed,  that  he  had 
been  straight  upon  all  occasions.  One  of  them  must  have  turned 
the  angle  or  the  curve,  as  they  were  very  recently  together,  pur 
suing  the  same  course,  and  entertaining  the  same  opinions,  and 
now  they  seemed  to  him  to  be  very  nearly  opposites  in  opinion 
and  action.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  much  preferred  to 
leave  to  their  common  constituents  the  decision  of  the  question, 
which  had  turned  and  which  had  kept  '  straightforward.' 

"  He  thought  he  had  kept  straightforward  ;  but  he  was  aware 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  707 

that  a  man  lost,  when  intending  to  pursue  a  straight  line,  would 
almost  invariably  describe  a  circle.  It  was  evident  that  either 
himself  or  his  honorable  colleague  were  now,  and  had  been  for 
some  months  past,  lost,  and  that  one  of  them  had  got  just  about 
half  round  the  circle;  and,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  their  con 
stituents,  and  not  themselves,  should  settle  the  question  which 
was  the  lost  politician. 

"In  justice  to  himself,  however,  he  must  claim  that  he  had 
some  marks,  some  guide-posts,  to  direct  his  way  and  determine 
his  course.  He  came  into  this  body  the  friend  of  the  late  admin 
istration,  of  its  principles  and  of  its  measures.  He  was  selected, 
by  those  who  sent  him  here,  because  such  were  known  to 
be  his  feelings  and  opinions.  Finding  no  cause  to  change 
either,  he  had  remained  the  friend  and  supporter  of  that  admin 
istration  during:  its  continuance,  and  during:  the  whole  of  the 

O  *  O 

period  he  found  the  talented  and  distinguished  body  of  opposi 
tion  Senators  upon  his  right  uniformly  opposed  to  him.  A 
change  of  administration  came,  and  he  contributed  his  humble 
efforts  to  place  at  its  head  the  present  President.  He  had  long 
.known  that  individual,  and  they  had  long  been  personal  and 
political  friends.  He,  therefore,  became  a  supporter  of  his 
administration,  and  still  remained  so.  He  was  daily  told  by  the 
opposition  Senators  that  the  present  administration  was  but 
carrying  out  the  principles  and  measures  of  the  last,  and  elabo 
rate  speeches  had  been  recently  made,  and  were  now  daily 
making,  to  prove,  not  only  to  the  Senate,  but  to  the  country, 
that  this  was  the  fact.  Could  he,  then,  be  inconsistent  in  sup 
porting:  this,  as  he  had  done  the  last,  administration  ?  But, 
again,  he  found  the  same  distinguished  Senators  who  had,  during 
the  whole  eight  years,  led  the  opposition  in  the  political  warfare 
against  the-  late  administration,  equally  leaders  in  opposition  to 
this.  They  occupy  the  same  seats  and  use  precisely  the  same 
weapons  in  the  fight.  Upon  all  questions,  they  met  him,  as  for 
merly,  in  open  and  powerful  opposition.  If,  then,  he  had  been 
lost  and  traveling  the  circle,  so,  necessarily,  must  they  have  been 
upon  the  whirl,  too,  for  the  distance  between  them  and  himself 
remained  precisely  the  same.  They  were  exactly  opposite  at  the 
start,  and  they  were  exactly  opposite  now  ;  nor  had  there  been 


708  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

any  armistice  within  which  they  could  have  met  and  crossed 
each  other.  And,  again,  he  now  found  himself  surrounded  by, 
and  acting  with,  almost  all  (he  was  sorry  he  could  not  say  all)  of 
those  who  had  ever  been  political  friends.  They  too,  therefore, 
had  been  lost  if  he  had  been,  and  yet  continued  to  pursue  the 
course  with  him,  whether  direct  or  circular.  These  considera 
tions  would  certainly  not  only  palliate  his  error,  if  he  was  in 
error,  but  would  furnish  him  some  apology  for  being  somewhat 
confident  that  his  was  not  the  circular  course. 

"  A  single  word  as  to  a  remark  of  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Massachusetts,  and  he  had  done.  That  Senator  had  said  that,  in 
1834,  he  had  no  confidence  in  the  system  of  State  bank  deposits, 
but  that  I  had,  and  that  time  has  shown  that  his  opinions  upon 
that  subject  were  then  right  and  that  mine  were  wrong.  I  had 
then  confidence  in  that  system,  and  I  expressed  it  freely,  fully 
and  honestly.  The  trial  of  the  system  was  made,  and  in  less 
than  four  years,  and  that  too  during  a  period  of  the  most  abun 
dant  plenty  and  prosperity,  it  failed.  This  experience  destroyed 
my  confidence,  and  convinced  me  that  the  system  was  bad  both 
for  the  public  and  the  banks.  I  cannot,  by  volition,  restore  that 
confidence.  I  cannot  believe  that  to  be  good,  and  safe,  and 
beneficial,  which  has  been  proved,  before  my  own  eyes,  to  be 
bad,  and  dangerous,  and  injurious.  Has  this  experience  changed 
the  former  opinions  of  the  Senator  ?  No.  He  tells  us  this  day 
that  he  has  no  confidence  in  the  State  bank  deposit  system.  Still, 
this  is  the  system  which  my  honorable  colleague  urges  upon  us, 
and  desires  us  to  force  upon  the  country,  against  the  recent  and 
positive  experience  of  every  business  man  in  it.  I,  for  one,  can 
not  bring  myself  to  such  a  course  of  action." 

The  remonstrance,  after  short  remarks  from  Mr.  Tall- 
madge,  was  laid  on  the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  709 


CHAPTER   LXX. 

ISSUING   TREASURY   NOTES. 

An  act  was  passed  at  the  called  session  of  1837,  author 
izing  the  issue  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  in  treasury 
notes.  These  being  issued,  and  the  treasury  needing 
further  funds,  another  bill  was  reported,  authorizing 
the  issue  of  others  in  place  of  those  redeemed,  not  to 
exceed  the  amount  of  the  former  issue.  This  bill  passed 
the  House,  on  the  sixteenth  of  May,  by  106  to  99,  and, 
on  coming  to  the  Senate,  became  the  subject  of  discus 
sion,  on  the  18th  of  May,  1838,  in  which  Mr.  WRIGHT, 
being  in  charge  of  the  measure,  took  a  leading  part  in 
its  defense. 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  observed  that  he  should  endeavor,  so  far  as  was 
in  his  power,  to  discharge  what  was  his  duty  in  regard  to  this 
bill,  without  protracting  debate. 

"  Still,  some  portion  of  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  seemed  entitled  to  some  attention.  One  was  his  com 
mendation  of  the  sound  and  valuable  principle  of  paying  the 
public  creditor  in  what  was  equivalent  to  specie ;  and  he  was 
gratified  to  find  that  the  Senator  would  go  with  him  in  favor  of 
the  principle,  that  was  not  less  valuable,  that  of  preserving  the 
faith  of  the  government.  The  report  of  his,  Mr.  W.,  to  which 
the  Senator  alluded,  was  an  argument  to  show  that  it  was  highly 
improper  for  this  government  to  make  tender  in  payment  of  its 
debts  of  the  paper  of  local  corporations ;  and  he  confessed  that 
to  some  extent  that  argument  might  be  applied  to  paper  issued 
upon  the  authority,  faith  and  credit  of  the  government  itself. 
He  was  among  that  class  wTho,  if  it  were  not  necessary  for  the 
operations  of  the  treasury  itself ,  would  not  adopt  even  that  expe 
dient.  So  much  for  that.  Then  the  gentleman  would  ask  him, 
why  did  he  urge  this  bill  ?  He  answered,  because  he  believed 


710  LIFE  AND  TIMES  01  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  necessity  existed  for  it.  We  are  told  by  the  head  of  thb 
Treasury  department  that  even  in  means  of  this  character  the 
treasury  is  so  limited  that  it  is  in  danger  from  day  to  day  of 
being  compelled  to  turn  its  creditors  from  the  door.  The  public 
funds  of  other  descriptions  are  postponed,  and  placed  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  treasury,  by  law,  and  the  want  of  authority  to 
reissue  the  treasury  notes  puts  it  out  of  the  power  of  the  Secre 
tary  to  offer  payment  even  in  this  description  of  funds. 

"  The  gentleman  had  contended  that  there  was  no  eminent 
necessity  for  passing  this  bill.  Would  the  gentleman  tell  him 
why  there  was  not  ?  He  says  the  Senate,  so  far  as  it  is  concerned, 
has  given  authority  to  sell  the  bonds  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  He,  Mr.  W.,  remembered  that  the  only  voice  raised 
against  that  measure  was  that  of  the  Senator  himself,  on  the 
ground  that  we  could  not  sell  these  bonds  upon  the  terms  pre 
scribed  in  this  country,  and  that  there  was  not  time  to  send  them 
abroad  for  sale.  He,  Mr.  W.,  felt  the  force  of  that  suggestion, 
and  submitted  to  the  Senator  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  Con 
gress  to  provide  sufficient  means  for  the  wants  of  the  government, 
by  authorizing  an  issue  of  treasury  notes,  or  by  a  loan,  and  added 
that,  if  the  bonds  did  sell,  it  would  supersede  the  issue  of  treasury 
notes  to  the  amount  they  might  sell  for. 

"  We  have  been  told  that  the  bill  before  us  is  not  broad  enough 
to  accomplish  its  object.  He,  Mr.  W.,  did  not  apprehend  any 
difficulty  on  that  score.  But  he  spoke  with  great  distrust  of  his 
own  judgment,  as  to  constructiou  of  law,  when  the  distinguished 
authority  of  the  Senator  was  against  him.  He  found,  however, 
the  bill  to  read  : 

"  '  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
with  the  approbation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  is  hereby 
authorized  to  cause  treasury  notes  to  be  issued,  according  to  the  provisions 
contained  in,  and  subject  to  all  the  conditions,  limitations  and  restrictions 
of  an  act  entitled  "An  act  to  authorize  the  issuing  of  treasury  notes," 
approved  the  twelfth  day  of  October  last,  in  place  of  such  notes  as  have 
been  or  may  be  issued  under  the  authority  of  the  act  aforesaid,  and  which 
have  been  or  may  hereafter  be  paid  into  the  treasury  and  canceled.' 

"  Now,  as  far  as  his  comprehension  extended,  the  clause  just 
read  brings  the  whole  of  the  act  of  the  extra  session  forward, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  711 

and  makes  it  applicable  to  this  bill.  Would  it  be  pretended  that 
under  this  law  a  note  could  be  issued  bearing  more  than  six  per 
cent  interest  ? 

"Mr.  Webster  —  No. 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  —  Would  it  be  pretended  that  they  could  issue 
more  than  ten  •millions  ? 

"Mr.  Webster  — Yes. 

"  [Mr.  WRIGHT  here  read  from  the  bill,  to  show  that  notes  can 
only  be  issued  in  place  of  those  that  came  in.] 

"Again,  the  notes  issued  under  the  authority  of  this  law  are 
made  receivable  in  payment  of  all  dues  to  the  government. 
Was  there  any  doubt  of  this  ? 

"Mr.  Webster  — No. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  —  Then  it  appears  that,  with  one  exception,  all 
the  substantive  provisions  of  the  law  of  the  extra  session  are 
made  applicable  to  this,  except  the  penal  enactments.  As  a 
lawyer,  he  should  as  confidently  say  that  these  enactments  were 
brought  forward  as  the  others.  But  this  was  not  material.  I 
find,  said  he,  that,  as  far  as  the  action  of  the  Senate  is  concerned, 
the  case  is  already  provided  for  independently,  by  a  bill  just 
passed  to  punish  the  counterfeiting  of  these  notes,  and  by  a 
general  law  of  Congress  in  relation  to  the  punishment  of  crimes, 
passed  in  1825,  enumerating  the  counterfeiting  of  treasury  notes 
as  one  of  the  crimes  to  be  punished.  That  law  was  yet  in  force. 
Again,  at  the  present  session  the  Judiciary  Committee  have  pro 
vided  for  a  supposed  casus  omissus  found  in  both  laws,  which 
was  that  there  was  no  provision  made  to  punish  persons  who 
should  have  in  their  possession  counterfeit  treasury  notes  with 
intent  to  pass  them.  The  Senate  had  passed  this  bill  and  sent  it 
to  the  other  House,  so  that  the  criminal  provisions,  as  far  as  this 
body  is  concerned,  are  complete,  without  reference  to  this  bill  or 
the  law  of  October. 

"But  the  Senator  suggests  that  there  are  no  statements,  and 
that  therefore  we  do  not  know  that  the  treasury  needs  this  sup 
ply.  Could  this  be  said  after  what  had  passed  here  within  the 
last  few  days?  And  yet  perhaps  this  body  had  been  made  to 
know  less  upon  the  subject  than  it  ought,  as  most  of  the  commu 
nications  had. been  transmitted  to  the  House.  But  his  memory 


712  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

told  him  that  the  wants  of  the  treasury  were  so  imperious  as  to 
require  a  special  communication  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States;  that  that  communication  was  made  to  both  Houses,  and 
was  accompanied  by  one  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury; 
that  that  message  recommended  this  mode  of  providing  for  the 
exigency,  and  it  seemed  to  him  emphatically  to  be  the  correct 
one.  Did  any  member  of  that,  body  believe  that  the  treasury 
was  not  in  immediate  want?  His  information,  as  late  as  yester 
day  morning,  was  that  there  were  but  $50,000  of  treasury  notes 
authorized  by  the  act  of  October  that  remained  to  be  issued;  and 
that  there  were  but  some  $200,000  in  the  treasury  scattered  over 
the  whole  country.  Could  there  be  any  doubt,  then,  as  to  the 
immediate  and  pressing  necessity  for  passing  this  bill  ?  Why, 
asked  Mr.  W.,  are  we  brought  to  this  state  of  things  ?  The  Sen 
ator  told  us  that,  after  passing  the  law  of  October,  it  was  under 
stood  that  one  of  this  character  would  not  be  called  for  again. 
But  the  Senator  did  not  recollect  the  change  that  was  given  to 
that  act  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  passed  this  House 
without  any  provision  as  to  a  reissue  of  the  notes,  but  it  came 
back  from  the  House  with  an  interdiction  on  such  reissue;  and 
he,  Mr.  W.,  remembered  well,  in  moving  for  a  concurrence  with 
this  amendment,  that  he  said  that  the  bill  thus  amended  would 
answer  till  the  next  session  of  Congress,  when  further  provision 
could  be  made  if  necessary.  By  making  these  notes  receivable 
for  the  dues  of  the  government  nearly  six  of  the  ten  millions  had 
been  redeemed,  and  all  our  revenue  coming  in  comes  in  that  paper. 
The  revenue  is  as  large  as  was  anticipated,  but  there  was  no 
money  coming  in;  and,  though  they  had  issued  $10,000,000  of 
paper  within  $50,000,  they  were  now  but  $4,000,000  in  debt, 
the  balance  of  the  notes  having  been  already  redeemed  and  can 
celed.  It  was  not  by  this  bill  that  they  were  incurring  one  dol 
lar  more  of  debt  than  was  authorized  by  the  act  of  October  last. 
This  bill  did  not  authorize  the  reissue  of  a  single  note  which  has 
not  been  canceled  under  that  act.  He  would  make  a  single 
remark  more,  which  he  hoped  would  be  the  last.  We  have  been 
told  of  the  depreciated  character  of  this  paper.  He  believed  that 
some  of  the  prices  current  had  put  it  below  bank  paper,  though 
that  was  at  one  single  point  of  the  Union  only,  New  York;  but  it 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  713 

was  now  quoted  there  and  at  Philadelphia  three  or  four  per  cent 
higher  than  that  paper  (United  States  Bank  notes)  which  is 
held  in  such  high  estimation  by  the  gentleman  and  his  friends. 
His  information  told  him  that  treasury  notes  were  higher  at 
the  South  than  any  bank  paper.  In  Philadelphia  it  was  also 
higher,  though  in  New  York  it  might  be  quoted  a  trifle  lower. 
That,  however,  was  not  the  point.  The  question  was,  what  were 
they  to  do  ?  We  cannot,  by  our  fiat  here,  place  money  in  the 
treasury  at  a  moment's  warning.  Then,  can  we  do  anything  better 
than  to  give  to  the  creditors  of  the  government  the  best  paper 
in  our  power — that  issued  upon  the  faith  and  credit  of  the 
government  itself?  The  limitation  proposed  by  the  Senator's 
amendment  would  not  answer.  Who  could  tell  how  soon  it 
would  come  back  again  ;  and  how  long  would  $2,000,000  last, 
when  in  the  single  port  of  New  York  it  comes  in  at  the  rate  of 
$300,000  per  week  ?  How  long  would  it  be  before  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  would  be  compelled  to  come  before  Congress 
with  another  statement  showing  a  deficiency  of  means  ?  What 
danger  could  there  be  in  issuing  this  amount  ?  Would  it  run  the 
government  in  debt  a  dollar  beyond  the  amount  authorized  by 
the  act  of  October  last  ?  Not  one  dollar." 

Mr.  WRIGHT  subsequently  made  the  following  remarks  : 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  observed  that,  holding  as  he  did  the  particular 
position  in  reference  to  this  bill,  he  was  yet  bound,  out  of  respect 
to  the  body,  and  his  anxiety  for  a  speedy  decision,  to  deny  him 
self  the  privilege  of  replying  to  the  many  misrepresentations  of 
the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side.  He  had  yet  hopes  that  the 
question  would  be  taken  this  evening,  and  in  that  hope  he  would 
refrain  from  consuming  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  answering 
either  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  spoken  against  the  bill.  It  was 
not  necessary  to  take  up  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  answering  all 
the  misrepresentations  which  had  been  made.  Some  of  them 
were  well  understood,  and  would  be  easily  corrected.  For 
instance,  we  have  been  told,  said  he,  that  ten  millions  of  debt 
were  contracted  by  the  bill  of  the  extra  session,  and  that  ten 
millions  more  were  asked  for  now.  Now,  every  gentleman  knew 
that  ten  millions  could  not  be  exceeded,  and  that  not  one  dollar 


714  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  treasury  notes  could  be  issued,  under  this  bill,  except  to  supply 
the  place  of  a  note  that  had  been  redeemed  and  canceled.  With 
reference  to  the  amendment  proposing  to  reduce  the  issue  of  trea 
sury  notes  to  two  millions,  he  would  observe  that  there  were  the 
expenditures  under  the  general  appropriation  and  navy  bills  to  be 
provided  for;  and,  in  addition  to  that,  a  bill  to  meet  the  expense  of 
the  Florida  war  must  soon  be  expected  here, —  and  from  informa 
tion  they  had,  at  least  two  millions  had  been  expended  on  that 
object  alone,  and  that  drafts  to  a  large  amount  for  that  service 
were  waiting  here  for  the  necessary  appropriation  to  pay  them. 
Could  it,  then,  be  expected  that  two  millions  would  be  enough  ?" 

At  the  close  of  the  debate  the  bill  was  passed  by  ayes 
27  to  nays  13,  and  became  a  law  on  the  21st  of  May,  1838. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  715 


CHAPTER   LXXL 

RESTRAINING  THE  BANKS  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 
FROM  ISSUING  SMALL  BILLS. 

It  was  a  subject  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  had  deeply  at  heart, 
to  prevent  the  issue  of  small  bills.  Most  of  his  political 
party  participated  in  that  feeling.  Congress  having  full 
power  over  this  subject  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  a 
bill  restraining  the  issue  of  such  bills  was  reported,  and 
fully  discussed  on  both  sides.  It  was  ordered  to  be 
engrossed  for  a  third  reading  by  a  vote  of  27  to  14.  Mr. 
WRIGHT  participated  in  this  debate,  and  said : 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  rose  and  inquired  of  the  Vice-President  if  the 
amendment  offered  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Young]  had 
been  adopted.  [The  answer  was,  that  it  had  been  adopted  by 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Senate.]  He  then  said  he  had 
hoped  not  to  be  compelled  again  to  trouble  the  Senate  with  any 
remarks  upon  this  bill ;  but  the  charges  against  the  committee 
which  had  reported  it  to  the  Senate  were  such  and  so  various 
that  it  seemed  to  be  his  duty  again  to  notice  them.  On  the  last 
day  of  the  session  of  the  Senate  they  had  proceeded  from  various 
quarters,  and  then  partially  from  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 
[Mr.  Clay].  He  was  himself  a  member  of  that  committee  (the 
Committee  on  Finance),  and  had  been  honored  by  the  Senate 
with  a  conspicuous  place  upon  it.  He  had,  upon  that  day, 
repelled  some  of  those  charges;  but  they  now  came,  with  addi 
tions  and  aggravations,  from  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay], 
and  he  must,  therefore,  again  repel  them. 

"  He  would  do  this  by  recounting,  as  briefly  as  possible,  the 
charges  which  had  been  made,  and  the  facts  and  history  of  the 
bill  and  its  progress.  The  Senate,  upon  an  early  day  of  the 
present  session,  he  thought  the  eleventh  December,  by  an  express 
resolution,  instructed  the  Committee  on  Finance  to  consider  the 


716  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

subject  of  the  currency  in  this  District,  and  to  report  such  bills 
as,  in  their  judgment,  should  be  required  for  the  improvement 
thereof.  The  resolution  reached  the  committee  on  the  day  after 
its  passage.  There  were  then  but  three  members  of  the  commit 
tee  in  town,  the  member  from  Missouri  [Mi.  Benton],  from  New 
Hampshire  [Mr.  Hubbard]  and  himself.  The  members  from 
Massachusetts  [Mr.  Webster]  and  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  Nicholas] 
had  not  then  reached  the  city.  In  the  judgment  of  the  members 
of  the  committee  present,  the  suppression  of  the  small,  individual 
and  worthless  notes  which  were  circulating  as  money  in  the  Dis 
trict,  and  especially  in  this  city,  was  one  indispensable  prerequisite 
to  the  improvement  of  the  currency.  In  this  they  supposed  they 
were  supported  by  the  already  expressed  judgment  of  the  Senate, 
as  a  bill  to  accomplish  this  object  had  passed,  at  the  session  of 
the  Senate  of  September  and  October  last,  without  a  dissenting 
vote.  The  three  members  of  the  committee,  therefore,  acted 
upon  the  order  of  the  Senate,  and  promptly  reported  that  bill, 
in  the  words,  letters  and  figures  in  which  it  had  passed  the 
Senate  at  its  last  session. 

"They  were  not  a  little  surprised,  upon  the  very  appearance 
of  the  bill  in  the  chamber,  to  find  themselves  sharply  reproved 
by  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay],  and  the  propriety  strongly 
questioned  of  so  few  members  of  a  committee  of  the  body,  in  the 
absence  of  their  colleagues,  assuming  to  report  bills  of  so  high 
importance  ;  bills  touching  the  great  and  interesting  subject  of 
the  currency  of  the  country.  An  explanation  was  then  made, 
and  the  Senator  requested  to  raise  the  question  he  had  suggested, 
that  the  sense  of  the  Senate  might  be  taken  upon  it.  This  was  not 
done,  and  the  matter  rested  until  the  bill  came  up  for  considera 
tion  in  the  Committee  of  the"  Whole  of  the  body,  on  Friday  last. 

"Then  new  charges  were  preferred  against  the  committee. 
They  had  gone  out  of  their  way  to  introduce  this  bill.  They 
had  encroached  upon  the  province  of  another  important  commit 
tee  of  the  body,  that  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  These  charges 
were  met ;  the  order  of  the  Senate  instructing  the  Committee  on 
Finance  to  take  up  the  subject  was  produced,  and  the  fact  that 
the  bill  was  an  exact  copy  of  one  which  had  passed  the  Senate 
at  its  last  session,  in  October,  was  again  stated. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  717 

"  The  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay],  however,  then  over 
stepped  these  trifling  charges,  and  announced  to  the  Senate  and 
the  audience  that  the  bill  was  a  '  picayune '  bill,  a  trifling  affair, 
and  that  the  committee  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  have  introduced 
such  a  measure  before  the  Senate.  Mr.  W.  said  he  felt  mortified 
and  humiliated  at  a  declaration  of  this  strong  character  corning 
from  so  distinguished  a  source;  from  a  Senator  whose  legislative 
experience  was  superior  to  that  of  almost  any  individual  in  the 
country;  whose  standing  has  long  been  such  as  to  give  weight 
to  his  declarations  here  or  elsewhere,  and  whose  sense  of  justice 
ought  to  moderate  those  declarations  upon  all  occasions,  and 
most  especially  when  made  upon  this  floor.  He  could  not  fail 
to  see  the  wide  discrepancy  in  the  complaints  against  the  com 
mittee,  coming  from  the  same  source,  upon  the  two  occasions. 
In  the  first  instance,  it  was  an  important  bill,  touching  the  great 
and  delicate  question  of  the  currency  of  the  country,  and  ought 
not  to  have  been  reported  without  a  full  committee  ;  and  in  the 
second,  it  was  a  sixpenny  business,  of  which  a  committee  of  the 
Senate  ought  to  be  ashamed.  Yet,  so  direct  were  the  censures, 
and  such  the  weight  of  their  authority,  that  silence  was  imposed 
upon  him  and  his  colleagues,  and  he  felt  bound  to  wait  until  the 
sense  of  the  Senate  should  be  expressed  upon  the  measure,  before 
he  entirely  surrendered  himself  to  self-condemnation.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  his  duty  to  confess  that,  censured  as  the  com 
mittee  were,  and  from  such  authority,  and  trifling  and  sixpenny 
in  character  as  the  measure  was  pronounced  in  so  high  a  quarter, 
it  was  some  consolation  to  his  feelings  to  see  the  interest  and  the 
spirit  it  elicited  from  the  opposition;  to  see  that,  humble  and 
shameful  as  was  the  bill,  it  opened  the  strongest  batteries  from  the 
opposing  benches,  and  drew  forth  their  hottest  and  heaviest  fire. 

"  The  decisive  vote  at  length  came,  and  what  were  the  feelings 
of  relief  on  the  part  of  those  humble  members  of  the  Committee 
on  Finance,  who  had  thus  ventured  to  give  back  to  the  Senate  a 
measure  of  its  own,  when  they  found  not  one  solitary  vote  against 
it  ?  Would  it  be  doubted  that  their  apprehension  of  shame  was 
at  an  end,  and  they  were  compelled  to  conclude  that,  all  the  high 
complaints  notwithstanding,  they  had  presented  to  the  body  a 
salutary  and  acceptable  bill  ? 


718  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

"  Here  he  supposed  all  debate  as  to  this  much-abused  measure 
would  have  terminated;  but  the  experience  of  the  morning  had 
shown  his  mistake.  The  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay]  had  again 
come  to  the  assault,  not  upon  the  bill,  but  upon  the  committee, 
and  had  accused  them  of  a  culpable  neglect  of  the  more  important 
business  before  them,  that  they  might  hasten  on  measures  of 
oppression  upon  this  poor  and  helpless  District.  He  had  demanded 
why  the  important  bills  of  the  session  were  not  brought  forward, 
instead  of  this  trifling  measure. 

"The  honorable  Senator  had,  in  this  instance  also,  run  himself 
into  an  inconsistency  of  complaint  which  demanded  correction. 
His  first  charge  was  that  the  committee  were  arrogating  powers 
unsafe  to  legislation,  by  reporting  important  bills  while  their 
number  wras  not  full.  In  addition  to  the  public  explanation 
made  in  answer  to  that  charge,  a  private  one  was  made  to  the 
Senator  himself,  and  he  was  assured  that  the  great  public  mea 
sures  of  the  session  would  not  be  pressed  upon  the  attention  of 
the  committee  until  its  members  should  have  arrived  in  town 
and  have  an  opportunity  to  attend  its  meetings.  He  called  upon 
the  Senator  to  do  him  the  justice  to  recollect  that  this  assurance 
was  given  to  him  in  person  and  in  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 

"What,  then,  was  the  condition  of  the  committee  in  this 
respect  at  this  moment?  The  member  from  Louisiana  had 
arrived  since  the  last  regular  meeting  of  the  committee,  but  the 
member  from  Massachusetts  —  the  great  leader  of  that  party 
whose  interests  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay]  upon  all  occa 
sions  so  ably  and  eloquently  espoused  —  had  not  yet  reached  the 
city.  Were  the  members  of  the  committee,  then,  who  were  pres 
ent,  and  especially  those  who  had  been  present  from  the  hour 
of  the  appointment  of  the  committee,  to  expect  this  censure  for 
not  having  proceeded  further  in  the  absence  of  this  distinguished 
colleague?  Were  they  to  have  entertained  this  expectation, 
after  the  complaints  which  had  been  heaped  upon  them  for  hav 
ing  simply  reported  a  '  picayune '  bill  during  the  absence  of  that 
member  of  the  committee  ?  Was  he  to  have  expected  complaints 
of  this  character  from  the  very  individual  to  whom  he  had  given 
assurances  that  the  important  measures  of  the  session  should  not 
be  hastened  in  the  committee  until  the  arrival  of  its  absent  mem- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  719 

bers  ?  All  these  were  questions  which  necessarily  suggested 
themselves  in  consequence  of  the  course  which  the  honorable 
Senator  had  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  pursue  upon  the  passage  of 
the  bill  under  discussion.  They  were  propounded  to  himself,  to 
the  Senate  and  to  the  country ;  and  he,  as  a  member  of  that  com 
mittee  against  which  this  singular  course  of  complaint  had  been 
pursued,  was  willing  to  leave  the  answers  to  that  sense  of  justice 
which  governs  the  decisions  of  every  upright  man.  He  would 
ask,  however,  and  he  would  even  make  the  appeal  to  the  Senator 
himself,  whether  it  was  just,  whether  it  was  fair,  to  put  the  com 
mittee  in  the  hopeless  dilemma  in  which  his  complaints  had 
placed  them  ?  If  they  did  act,  to  complain  of  them  for  transact 
ing  important  business  in  the  absence  of  some  of  their  number; 
if  they  did  not  act,  to  complain  of  them  for  neglecting  the 
important  business  of  the  session  ?  To  characterize  the  same 
bill,  at  one  moment  as  an  important  measure  touching  the  cur 
rency  of  the  country,  and  the  next  moment  as  a  sixpenny  affair, 
'a  picayune  bill,'  of  which  the  committee  should  be  ashamed? 
In  short,  whether  the  committee  advanced,  stood  still  or  receded, 
to  make  their  course  equally  the  subject  of  such  high  censures  ? 
[Mr.  Clay,  in  reply,  intimated  that  Mr.  WRIGHT  had  rested 
for  days  upon  remarks  from  him  which  he  had  chosen  to  consider 
personal,  although  they  were  not  so  intended,  and  had  now  come 
forward  to  reply  to  them.  He  also  urged  objections  to  the  bill 
and  to  the  course  of  the  committee  in  reporting  it;  because,  he 
said,  it  was  evident  that,  while  the  terms  of  the  bill  limited  its 
action  to  the  District  of  Columbia,  it  was  intended  that  it  should 
have  a  much  broader  influence,  and  should  discourage  the  circula 
tion  of  the  description  of  currency  upon  which  it  acted  in  the  sur 
rounding  country.]  Mr.  WRIGHT  rejoined.  He  said  the  Senator 
had  entirely  misconceived  him  if  he  had  supposed  he  viewed 
any  of  his  remarks  of  Friday  as  personal  to  himself,  or  intended 
at  this  time  to  reply  to  them  as  such.  He  had  made  the  reference 
to  those  remarks  now  simply  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the 
measure  before  the  Senate  and  of  its  treatment  by  the  honorable 
Senator.  In  that  sense,  and  in  that  sense  alone,  had  he  referred 
to  those  remarks. 

"  The  Senator  now  proceeds  with  a  new  objection  to  the  bill, 


720  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  a  new  complaint  against  the  committee.  It  is  that  the  bill  is 
intended  to  exert  an  influence  and  power  not  apparent  upon  its 
face;  that  while  it  purports  to  act  upon  the  circulation  of  small 
notes  in  this  District  only,  the  intention  is  palpable  that  it  should 
act  upon  and  discourage  the  circulation  of  that  same  description 
of  notes  in  the  adjacent  States.  To  these  complaints  he  had 
merely  to  say  that  the  provisions  of  the  bill  were  plain  and 
simple;  that  they  were  limited,  in  explicit  terms,  to  this  District, 
and  that,  if  it  became  a  law,  its  whole  legal  and  binding  force 
would  be  in  this  District,  and  nowhere  else.  If,  then,  there 
existed  any  intention  on  the  part  of  the  committee,  or  any  mem 
bers  of  it,  that  it  should  have  the  broad  operation  ascribed  by 
the  Senator,  that  intention  can  only  be  made  effective  through 
the  example  of  the  legislation  and  the  moral  influence  of  the 
measure.  So  far  as  influences  of  this  sort  were  to  be  exerted  by 
the  passage  of  the  bill,  however  objectionable  they  might  be  to 
the  honorable  Senator,  they  were  in  no  sense  objectionable  to 
himself.  He  would  rejoice  if  the  example  of  the  legislation 
should  be  followed  by  every  State  Legislature  in  the  whole  Union. 
He  should  increase  vastly  his  estimate  of  the  importance  of  the 
measure  and  of  its  public  utility,  if  he  could  persuade  himself 
that  its  moral  influence  would  banish  from  circulation,  through 
out  the  United  States,  every  note  such  as  it  proposed  to  suppress 
in  the  District  of  Columbia." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  721 


CHAPTER   LXXII. 

REPORT  ON  THE  CURRENCY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

The  currency  to  be  used  by  the  government,  after  the 
banks  refused  to  redeem  their  notes  in  specie,  in  1837, 
became  the  all-absorbing  subject  among  the  people  and 
in  Congress.  On  the  2d  of  May,  1838,  Mr.  Clay,  of  Ken 
tucky,  moved  a  joint  resolution  on  the  subject  of  the 
receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  treasury,  which,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  WEIGHT,  was  referred,  after  a  stirring 
debate,  to  the  Committee  on  Finance  by  a  vote  of  28  to 
19.  On  the  sixteenth  of  May,  Mr.  WEIGHT  made  the 
following  report : 

"  The  Committee  on  Finance,  to  which  was  committed,  on  the 
second  instant,  the  joint  resolution  '  relating  to  the  public  revenue 
and  dues  to  the  government,'  in  the  following  words: 

' '  '  Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That  no  discrimination  shall  be  made  as 
to  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment  in  the  several  branches  of  the  pub 
lic  revenue,  or  in  debts  or  dues  to  the  government ;  and  that,  until  other 
wise  ordered  by  Congress,  the  notes  of  sound  banks,  which  are  payable 
and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States,  under  suit 
able  restrictions,  to  be  forthwith  prescribed  and  promulgated  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  shall  be  received  in  payment  of  the  revenue  and  of  debts 
and  dues  to  the  government,  and  shall  be  subsequently  disbursed,  in  a  course 
of  public  expenditure,  to  all  public  creditors  who  are  willing  to  receive 
them,' 

respectfully  submit  the  following  report  : 

"  The  resolution  had  three  distinct  objects :  first,  to  prohibit 
any  discrimination  in  '  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment '  in 
which  all  public  dues  shall  be  collected  and  received;  second,  to 
establish,  by  the  force  of  law,  that  '  currency  or  medium  of  pay 
ment  '  to  be  '  the  notes  of  sound  banks,  which  are  payable  and  paid 
on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States ;'  third,  to 
46 


722  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

compel  the  disbursement  of  those  bank-notes  '  to  all  public  credi 
tors  who  are  willing  to  receive  them.'  The  various  parts  of  it, 
therefore,  relating  to  these  several  objects,  will  be  considered  in 
the  order  they  hold  in  the  resolution. 

"  The  first  clause,  prohibiting  discrimination  in  the  currency  or 
medium  of  payment  for  the  public  dues,  in  these  words: 

"  '  That  no  discrimination  shall  be  made  as  to  the  currency  or  medium  of 
payment  in  the  several  branches  of  the  public  revenue,  or  in  debts  or  dues 
to  the  government.' 

"  In  so  far  as  any  public  interest  may  be  supposed  to  be  involved 
in  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  this  branch  of  the  resolution,  it 
would  seem  to  the  committee  to  be  sufficient  to  say  that  this  body 
has  already  adopted,  and  sent  to  the  House  of  Representatives, 
as  a  part  of  a  law,  a  provision  supposed  to  have  the  same  gereral 
object,  though  not  in  the  form  here  presented.  The  journal  of 
the  Senate  shows  that,  on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  March  last, 
a  bill  entitled  'An  act  to  impose  additional  duties,  as  depositaries, 
upon  certain  public  officers,  to  appoint  receivers-general  of  public 
money,  and  to  regulate  the  safe-keeping,  transfer  and  disburse 
ment  of  the  public  moneys  of  the  United  States,'  being  under 
consideration,  an  amendment,  to  stand  as  the  twenty-third  section 
of  that  bill,  was  offered  in  the  words  following,  viz. : 

"  '  SEC.  23.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  make,  or  to  continue  in  force,  any  general 
order  which  shall  create  any  difference  between  the  different  branches  of 
revenue,  as  to  the  funds  or  medium  of  payment,  in  which  debts  or  dues 
accruing  to  the  United  States  may  be  paid.' 

"  The  same  jonrnal  shows  that  this  amendment,  as  here  given, 
was,  on  the  same  day,  adopted  by  the  Senate,  by  a  very  strong 
vote,  was  thus  made  a  part  of  the  bill  to  which  it  was  proposed 
as  an  amendment,  and  that  the  bill,  including  this  amendment  as 
its  twenty-third  section,  finally  passed  the  Senate  on  the  twenty- 
sixth  day  of  March  last,  and  was  sent  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  with  a  request  that  that  House  would  concur  therein. 

"  That  these  provisions  are  similar  in  the  influence  proposed  to 
be  exerted  upon  the  currency  of  the  public  treasury,  in  the  object 
proposed  to  be  accomplished,  will  not  be  questioned ;  and  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  Senate  are  favorable  to  the  principle 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  723 

embraced  in  both  is  proved  by  the  references  to  the  Senate  jour 
nal  which  have  just  been  made.  With  this  evidence  before  them, 
the  committee  would  not  consider  it  proper  in  them,  were  they 
otherwise  disposed  to  do  so,  to  offer  arguments  against  this 
strongly  expressed  opinion  of  the  body  ;  but,  when  the  principle 
has  been  adopted,  when  it  has  been  put  in  form,  and  made  a  part 
of  a  law,  and  when  the  Senate  has,  in  this  manner,  done  all  it 
can  do,  without  the  action  of  the  other  legislative  branches  of  the 
government,  to  make  it  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land,  they  would 
not  feel  excusable  in  omitting  to  bring  this  fact  to  its  notice,  nor 
can  they  believe  that  doing  so  will  be  construed  into  a  disposi 
tion  to  resist  its  ascertained  sense  and  feeling. 

"The  necessity  for  this  legislation  has  been  referred,  in  the 
debates  in  the  Senate,  and  elsewhere,  to  the  existence  of  the 
treasury  order  of  the  llth  of  July,  1836,  making  a  discrimina 
tion  between  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment  to  be  received 
for  the  public  lands  and  that  to  be  received  in  other  branches  of 
the  public  revenue,  and  for  other  dues  to  the  government.  This 
order  is  believed  by  the  committee  to  have  been  the  first  and 
only  discrimination,  by  the  order  of  the  Treasury  department, 
made  either  permanent  or  general,  as  to  the  currency  or  medium 
of  payment  receivable  between  the  different  branches  of  the 
public  revenue;  and  hence,  no  doubt,  the  order  has  engrossed 
attention,  and  its  repeal  has  been  considered  the  sole  object  and 
purpose  of  the  provision  under  consideration. 

"As,  however,  the  reference  calls  upon  the  committee  for  a 
careful  examination  of  the  laws  in  any  way  affecting  the  currency 
of  the  public  treasury,  and  any  medium  of  payment,  made  receiv 
able  by  law,  in  any  branch  of  the  public  revenue,  and  as  the 
legislation  in  relation  to  the  public  lands  is  found  to  contain 
various  and  important  provisions  relative  to  the  media  of  pay 
ment  in  this  branch  of  the  revenue,  they  have  considered  it  pro 
per  to  review  those  laws  under  this  head,  and  see  how  far  any  of 
their  provisions  may  be  material  to  this  part  of  the  inquiry. 

"  The  first  general  law  to  regulate  the  sale  of  the  public  lands, 
which  has  met  the  notice  of  the  committee,  is  an  act  passed  on 
the  18th  day  of  May,  1796,  entitled  'An  act  providing  for  the 
sale  of  the  lands  of  the  United  States  in  the  territorv  north-west 


724  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  River  Ohio,  and  above  the  mouth  of  the  Kentucky  river.' 
This  act  fixed  the  price  of  the  public  lands  at  two  dollars  per  acre, 
but  did  not  specify  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment  in  which 
purchases  were  to  be  made.  The  law  of  1789,  therefore,  which 
required  all  payments  derivable  from  the  customs  to  be  made  in 
gold  and  silver  coin,  and  the  tenth  section  of  the  charter  of  the 
old  Bank  of  the  United  States,  passed  in  1791,  which  declared 
that  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  corporation,  payable  on  demand  in 
gold  and  silver  coin,  should  be  receivable  in  all  payments  to  the 
United  States,  must,  as  the  committee  suppose,  have  been  held 
to  prescribe  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment  for  the  public 
domain,  as  well  as  other  public  dues. 

"On  the  3d  March,  1797,  another  act  was  passed,  entitled  'An 
act  to  authorize  the  receipt  of  evidences  of  the  public  debt  in 
payment  for  the  lands  of  the  United  States.'  This  act  provided 
1  that  the  evidences  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States 
should  be  receivable  in  payment  for  any  of  the  lands  which 
might  be  sold  in  conformity  to  the  act  entitled  "An  act  providing 
for  the  sale  of  the  lands  of  the  United  States  in  the  territory 
north-west  of  the  Ohio  river,  and  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ken 
tucky  river," '  being  the  act  of  1 796,  last  above  referred  to.  Here, 
then,  evidences  of  the  public  debt  were  added  to  gold  and  silver 
coin,  and  the  bills  and  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
payable  on  demand  in  gold  and  silver  coin,  as  the  currency  or 
media  in  which  payment  might  be  made  for  the  public  lauds. 

"  The  next  act  which  seems  to  be  material  to  this  point,  was 
passed  on  the  10th  day  of  May,  1800,  and  was  entitled  'An  act 
to  amend  the  act  entitled  "An  act  providing  for  the  sale  of  the 
lands  of  the  United  States  in  the  territory  north-west  of  the 
Ohio,  and  above  the  mouth  of  Kentucky  river." '  This  act  pro 
vided  for  the  establishment  of  land  offices  within  the  land  dis 
tricts  ;  for  the  appointment  of  registers  of  the  land  offices  and 
of  receivers  of  public  money  for  lands  ;  for  the  sale  of  the  lands 
within  the  land  districts,  both  at  public  and  private  sale,  and  in 
sections  and  half  sections ;  and  in  many  other  respects  established 
what  is  the  present  land  system  of  the  United  States.  The 
first  clause  of  the  fifth  section  of  this  act  is  in  the  following 
words  : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  725 

41  '  SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  lands  shall  be  sold  by  virtue 
of  this  act,  at  either  public  or  private  sale,  for  less  than  two  dollars  per  acre, 
and  payment  may  be  made  for  the  same,  by  all  purchasers,  either  in  specie, 
or  in  evidences  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States,  at  the  rates  pre 
scribed  by  the  act  entitled  "An  act  to  authorize  the  receipt  of  evidences  of 
the  public  debt  in  payment  for  the  lauds  of  the  United  States."  ' 

"  Here  is  a  new  enumeration  of  the  currency  or  medium  in 
which  payments  were  to  be  made  for  the  public  lands,  and  which 
does  not  include  the  bills  or  notes  of  banks  of  any  description. 
It  is  confined  to  '  specie '  or  '  evidences  of  the  public  debt  of  the 
United  States?  If,  therefore,  any  other  medium  of  payment  was 
received  while  this  continued  to  be  the  law  of  the  case,  it  must 
have  been  so  received,  as  the  committee  suppose,  upon  the  respon 
sibility,  and  at  the  risk,  of  the  officer  receiving  the  payment,  and 
not  because  it  was  sanctioned  by  the  law. 

"On  the  18th  of  April,  1806,  an  act  was  passed  entitled  'An 
act  to  repeal  so  much  of  any  act  or  acts  as  authorize  the  receipt 
of  evidences  of  the  public  debt  in  payment  for  lands  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  other  purposes  relative  to  the  public  debt.' 
The  first  clause  of  the  first  section  of  this  act  is  in  the  words 
following : 

"  '  SEC.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That  so  much  of  any  act  or 
acts  as  authorize  the  receipt  of  evidences  of  the  public  debt,  in  payment 
for  the  lands  of  the  United  States,  shall,  from  and  after  the  thirtieth  day  of 
April,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  six,  be  repealed.' 

"  This  section  proceeds  with  two  provisos,  saving  the  rights  of 
persons  who  had  purchased  lands,  with  the  right  to  make  the 
payments  therefor  in  evidences  of  the  public  debt,  prior  to  the 
passage  of  the  act,  and  holding  out  inducements  to  those  indebted 
for  lands  to  make  the  payments  in  advance,  and  in  money,  but 
in  no  way  affecting  the  repeal  above  quoted.  After  the  30th 
day  of  April,  1806,  therefore,  with  the  exception  as  to  purchases 
which  had  been  previously  made,  evidences  of  the  public  debt 
of  the  United  States  were  not  a  medium  in  which  payments  for 
public  lands  could  be  made,  but  the  law  of  ]  800,  above  referred 
to,  with  this  modification,  continued  to  be  the  law  regulating 
these  payments.  If,  then,  the  committee  have  been  correct  in 
their  construction  of  that  law,  and  its  influence  upon  the  cur- 


726  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

rency  or  medium  of  payment  for  the  public  lands,  this  modifica 
tion  reduced  that  currency  or  medium  to  c  specie '  only. 

"  No  further  change  is  found  to  have  been  made  in  the  laws, 
in  this  respect,  until  the  year  1812.  On  the  thirtieth  day  of  June, 
of  that  year,  a  law  was  passed,  entitled  'An  act  to  authorize  the 
issuing  of  treasury  notes.'  The  first  clause  of  the  sixth  section 
of  that  act  is  in  the  following  words  : 

" '  SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  treasury  notes,  wherever 
made  payable,  shall  be  everywhere  received  in  payment  of  all  duties  and 
taxes  laid  by  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  and  of  all  public  lands  sold 
by  the  said  authority.' 

"This  law  added  a  new  medium  of  payment  for  the  public 
lands,  to  wit,  treasury  notes,  issued  by  the  government  itself, 
and  for  the  payment  of  which,  with  the  interest  thereupon,  its  faith 
was  'solemnly  pledged.  From  this  time,  therefore,  the  public 
lands  might  be  paid  for  in  either  'specie'  or  ' treasury  notes,' 
and  it  was  at  the  option  of  the  purchaser,  by  the  law,  to  make 
his  payments  in  the  one  or  the  other  medium,  as  his  interest, 
or  convenience,  or  pleasure,  should  dictate. 

"On  the  25th  day  of  February,  1813,  another  law  was  passed 
'  to  authorize  the  issuing  of  treasury  notes  for  the  service  of  the 
year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirteen,'  and,  on  the  4th 
day  of  March,  1814,  another  similar  law  was  passed  'to  authorize 
the  issuing  of  treasury  notes  for  the  service  of  the  year  one  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  and  fourteen,'  both  of  which  last  mentioned 
laws  contained  a  provision  precisely  similar,  in  substance  and  in 
terms,  to  that  above  quoted  from  the  law  of  1812. 

"On  the  31st  day  of  March,  1814,  an  act  was  passed,  entitled 
f  An  act  providing  for  the  indemnification  of  certain  claimants  of 
public  lands  in  the  Mississippi  territory.'  By  this  act  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  was  directed  to  cause  to  be  issued, 
from  the  treasury,  certificates  of  stock  to  certain  claimants  to 
lands  under  '  the  Upper  Mississippi  Company,'  under  '  the  Ten 
nessee  Company,'  under  '  the  Georgia  Mississippi  Company,'  under 
'  the  Georgia  Company,'  and  under  '  Citizens'  right,'  so  called,  for 
amounts  and  upon  conditions  prescribed  in  the  act ;  and  the 
fourth  section  of  the  act  is  in  the  following  words: 

"  '  SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  certificates  of  stock 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  727 

shall  be  receivable  in  payment  of  the  public  lands,  to  be  sold  after  the  date 
of  such  certificates,  in  the  Mississippi  territory:  Provided,  That  on  every 
hundred  dollars  to  be  paid  for  such  lands,  ninety-five  dollars  shall  be  receiv 
able  in  such  certificates,  and  five  dollars  in  cash:  Provided,  That  no  person 
or  persons,  making  payment  for  lands  in  certificates  authorized  to  be  issued 
by  this  act,  shall  be  entitled  to  the  discount  for  prompt  payment  now  allowed 
by  law  to  purchasers  of  public  lands.' 

"  Here  was  a  new  medium  of  payment  for  public  lands  in  the 
Mississippi  territory,  which  authorized  purchasers  of  lands  from 
the  United  States,  there  subject  to  the  limitations  of  the  act,  to 
make  payment  either  in  'specie'  or  in  *  treasury  notes,'  or  in 
these  '  certificates  of  stock,'  subsequently  more  familiarly  known 
as  'Mississippi  land  scrip.'  In  relation  to  all  the  public  lands 
other  than  those  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  as  it  then  existed, 
the  currency  or  medium  in  which  payments  were  to  be  made 
was  left  unchanged,  and  continued  to  be  regulated  by  the  laws 
before  referred  to,  and  to  be  'specie'  or  'treasury  notes.' 

"By  an  act,  passed  on  the  26th  day  of  December,  1814,  enti 
tled  '  An  act  supplemental  to  the  acts  authorizing  a  loan  for  the 
several  sums  of  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  and  three  millions 
of  dollars,'  a  further  emission  of  treasury  notes  was  authorized 
to  the  amount  of  ten  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  fol 
lowing  is  a  copy  of  the  first  clause  of  the  third  section  of  the  act : 

"  '  SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  treasury  notes  to  be  issued 
by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  prepared,  signed  and  issued  in  the  like  form 
and  manner ;  shall  be  reimbursable  at  the  same  places  and  in  the  like  periods ; 
shall  bear  the  same  rate  of  interest ;  shall,  in  the  like  manner,  be  transfer 
able  ;  and  shall  be  equally  receivable,  in  payments  to  the  United  States,  for 
taxes,  duties,  and  sales  of  the  public  lands,  as  the  treasury  notes  issued  by 
virtue  of  the  act  of  Congress,  entitled  "An  act  to  authorize  the  issuing  of 
treasury  notes  for  the  service  of  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
fourteen,"  passed  on  the  fourth  day  of  March,  in  the  year  aforesaid.' 

"  On  the  24th  day  of  February,  1815,  a  further  act  was  passed 
entitled  'An  act  to  authorize  the  issuing  of  treasury  notes  for  the 
service  of  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifteen,' 
the  first  clause  of  the  sixth  section  of  which  is  in  the  words 
following  : 

"  '  SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted.  That  the  treasury  notes,  authorized  to 
be  issued  by  this  act,  shall  be  everywhere  receivable  in  all  payments  to  the 
United  States.' 


728  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Neither  of  the  two  last  mentioned  acts  made  any  change  in 
the  character  of  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment,  authorized 
by  law  to  be  received  for  the  public  lands,  at  the  time  of  their 
passage,  but  merely  added  to  the  quantity  of  that  medium  which 
rested  upon  the  faith  and  credit  of  the  government.  Still,  there 
fore,  '  specie '  and  l  treasury  notes  '  were  receivable  for  all  lands, 
wherever  situated,  and  'specie,'  '  treasury  notes '  and  'Mississippi 
land  scrip'  for  that  portion  of  the  public  lands  situate  within  the 
Mississippi  territory. 

"  This  brings  the  examination,  in  point  of  time,  up  to  the 
charter  of  the  second  Bank  of  the  United  States,  in  1816;  and  it 
may  be  proper  here  to  remark  that,  in  case  the  committee  have 
been  mistaken  as  to  the  force,  effect  and  true  construction  of  the 
act  of  the  10th  of  May,  1800,  and  that  act  did  not  exclude  the 
bills  and  notes  of  the  old  Bank  of  the  United  States  from  being  a 
legal  medium  for  the  payment  for  lands,  still,  inasmuch  as  the 
charter  of  that  bank  expired  on  the  3d  day  of  March,  1811,  by 
its  own  limitation,  and  as  the  tenth  section  of  the  charter,  which 
made  its  bills  and  notes  receivable  for  any  description  of  public 
dues,  was  repealed  on  the  19th  day  of  March,  1812,  by  an  act  of 
Congress  passed  for  that  sole  purpose,  it  will  be  seen  that  this 
difference  of  construction  of  the  act  of  1800,  if  admitted,  will 
only  affect  the  currency  or  medium,  in  which  the  public  lands 
might  be  paid  for,  up  to  the  3d  of  March,  1811,  or,  at  most,  up 
to  the  19th  of  March,  1812,  when  that  bank  had  ceased  to  exist 
as  a  bank,  and  its  bills  and  notes  to  be  receivable  by  law  for  any 
portion  of  the  public  dues.  At  the  period  of  time  of  which  the 
committee  now  speak,  therefore,  the  currency  or  media,  made 
receivable  by  law  in  payment  for  the  public  lands,  was  as  last 
above  enumerated. 

"  The  act  to  charter  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  was 
passed  on  the  10th  day  of  April,  1816,  and  the  fourteenth  section 
of  that  charter  made  the  bills  and  notes  of  the  bank,  payable  on 
demand,  receivable  in  all  payments  to  the  United  States,  '  unless 
otherwise  directed  by  act  of  Congress.'  This  added  to  the  cur 
rency  receivable  by  law  in  payment  for  the  public  lands  a  new 
medium,  to  wit,  the  bills  or  notes,  payable  on  demand,  of  the 
late  Bank  of  the  United  States. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  729 

"  The  joint  resolution  of  1816  followed  but  twenty  days  behind 
the  bank  charter,  it  having  been  passed,  and  met  the  approval  of 
the  President  on  the  30th  day  of  April,  1816.  That  resolution 
required  and  directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  he  should  deem  necessary  to  cause,  as  soon  as 
might  be,  all  duties,  taxes,  debts  or  sums  of  money,  becoming 
due  to  the  United  States,  to  be  collected  and  paid  '  in  the  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States,  or  treasury  notes,  or  notes  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  by  law  provided  and  declared,  or 
in  notes  of  banks  which  are  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the 
said  legal  currency  of  the  United  States.'  The  resolution  went 
on  to  declare  that,  after  the  20th  day  of  February,  1817,  no 
duties,  taxes,  debts  or  sums  of  money,  payable  to  the  United 
States,  ought  to  be  collected  or  received  otherwise  than  in  the 
currency  or  media  of  payment  before  enumerated.  Here  was 
unquestionably  given  a  permission  to  receive  in  payment  of  any 
portion  of  the  public  dues,  and  consequently  in  payment  for  the 
public  lands,  as  well  as  other  dues,  the  notes  of  specie-paying 
State  banks,  and  it  is  the  first  permission  of  that  character  which 
has  met  the  notice  of  the  committee  in  any  of  the  acts  of  Con 
gress.  They  are  aware  that  some  consider  this  resolution  as  man 
datory,  rendering  the  reception  of  these  notes  obligatory  upon 
the  head  of  the  Treasury  department,  but  they  do  not  so  consider 
it.  It  is  not  their  purpose,  however,  to  discuss  this  question  here, 
as  that  discussion  pertains,  more  appropriately,  to  the  second 
branch  of  the  resolution  referred  to  them.  Under  either  con 
struction,  the  resolution  of  1816  made  it  lawful  to  receive  a  new 
medium  of  payment  for  the  public  lands  in  '  the  notes  of  banks 
payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United 
States.' 

"  From  this  time,  therefore,  the  officers  of  the  government  were 
compelled  to  receive,  in  payment  for  all  public  lands,  '  specie,' 
treasury  notes,  *  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  payable  on  demand;'  and  were  also  permitted  to  receive 
the  notes  of  other  banks  '  which  were  payable  and  paid  on  demand 
in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States ;'  and,  in  addition  to 
these  media  of  payments,  they  were  compelled  to  receive  '  Mis 
sissippi  land  scrip '  for  lands  sold  in  the  Mississippi  territory. 


730  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Thus  remained  the  law  upon  this  subject  until  the  passage  of 
the  act  of  the  24th  of  April,  1820,  entitled  'An  act  making  fur 
ther  provision  for  the  sale  of  the  public  lands.'  This  law  abol 
ished  credits  upon  sales  of  public  lands,  from  and  after  the  1st 
day  of  July,  1820,  and  declared  that  '  every  purchaser  of  land 
sold  at  public  sale  thereafter  shall,  on  the  day  of  purchase,  make 
complete  payment  therefor  •  and  the  purchaser  at  private  sale 
shall  produce  to  the  register  of  the  land  office  a  receipt  from  the 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  or  from  the  receiver  of  public 
moneys  of  the  district,  for  the  amount  of  the  purchase-money  on 
any  tract,  before  he  shall  enter  the  same  at  the  land  office? 

"  The  fourth  section  of  the  act  makes  provision  for  the  sale  of 
such  lands  as  had  been  sold  under  former  laws,  and  had  reverted, 
or  should  thereafter  revert,  to  the  United  States  in  consequence 
of  the  non-payment  of  the  purchase-money,  and  also  of  lots  and 
tracts  theretofore  reserved  from  sale,  and  contains  a  proviso  in 
the  following  words  : 

"  '  Provided,  That  no  such  lands  shall  be  sold,  at  any  public  sales  hereby 
authorized,  for  a  less  price  than  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an  acre,  nor 
on  any  other  terms  than  that  of  cash  payment ;  and  all  the  lands  offered  at 
such  public  sales,  and  which  shall  remain  unsold  at  the  close  thereof,  shall 
be  subject  to  entry  at  private  sale,  in  the  same  manner  and  at  the  same  price 
with  the  other  lands  sold  at  private  sale  at  the  respective  laud  offices.' 

"  Although  the  terms  of  this  law,  and  especially  those  employed 
in  the  proviso  above  quoted,  'nor  on  any  other  terms  than  that 
of  cash  payment ,'  would  seem  to  favor  the  idea  that  it  was  the 
intention  of  Congress,  from  and  after  the  day  fixed  in  the  law, 
to  part  with  the  public  domain  for  '  cash,'  for  money  only,  in  the 
strict  and  proper  sense  of  the  word ;  and  although  the  policy  of 
the  law,  in  the  abolition  of  all  credits  and  the  great  reduction 
of  the  price  of  the  lands,  from  two  dollars  to  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  would  seem  to  have  the  same  bearing; 
and  although  the  committee  infer,  from  the  lapse  of  time  and 
the  returns  of  sales,  that  the  treasury  notes  and  Mississippi  land 
scrip  had  ceased,  in  a  great  degree,  if  not  altogether,  to  be  pre 
sented  in  payment  for  lands ;  yet,  as  they  learn  that  no  change 
as  to  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment  was  introduced  into 
practice  in  consequence  of  the  passage  of  this  act,  they  are  con- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  731 

tent  to  assume,  for  the  purpose  of  the  argument,  that  no  change 
in  this  respect  was  intended  by  it,  while  it  certainly  will  not  be 
contended  that  it  is  susceptible  of  any  construction  which  can 
add  to  the  media  of  payment  authorized  by  former  acts  of  Con 
gress,  or  make  the  receipt  of  any  such  medinm  compulsory, 
which  before  its  passage  was  merely  permissive. 

"The  committee  find  no  other  law  affecting  the  currency  or 
medium  of  payment,  to  be  received  for  the  public  lands,  until 
the  passage  of  the  act  of  the  30th  day  of  May,  1830,  entitled 
*  An  act  for  the  relief  of  certain  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Vir 
ginia  line  and  navy,  and  of  the  continental  army  during  the 
Revolutionary  war.'  The  first  section  of  this  act  makes  it  the 
duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Office  to  issue  certificates  or  scrip  to  certain  officers, 
soldiers,  sailors  and  marines,  who  were  in  the  service  of  Virginia, 
on  her  State  establishment,  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  and 
who,  by  the  laws  and  resolutions  of  the  State,  were  entitled  to 
military  land  bounties,  upon  the  terms  and  conditions  pointed 
out  in  the  act.  The  first  clause  of  the  fourth  section  of  the  act 
is  in  the  following  words: 

"  '  SEC.  4.  And  be  it  furtJier  enacted,  That  the  certificates  or  scrip,  to  be 
issued  by  virtue  of  this  act,  shall  be  receivable  in  payment  for  any  lands 
hereafter  to  be  purchased  at  private  sale,  after  the  same  shall  have  been 
offered  at  public  sale,  and  shall  remain  unsold  at  any  of  the  land  offices  of 
the  United  States,  established  or  to  be  established  in  the  States  of  Ohio, 
Indiana  and  Illinois.' 

"  The  sixth  section  of  this  act  is  in  the  words  following : 

"  '  SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  provisions  of  the  first  and 
fourth  sections  of  this  act  shall  extend  to  and  embrace  owners  of  military 
land  warrants  issued  by  the  United  States  in  satisfaction  of  claims  for 
bounty  land  for  services  during  the  Revolutionary  war ;  and  that  the  laws 
heretofore  enacted,  providing  for  the  issuing  said  warrants,  are  hereby 
revived  and  continued  in  force  for  two  years.' 

"The  first  clause  of  the  seventh  section  is  as  follows: 

**  *  SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall 
also  be  deemed  and  taken  to  extend  to  all  the  unsatisfied  warrants  of  the 
Virginia  army  on  continental  establishment.' 

"  These  provisions  added  another  medium  of  payment  for  the 


732  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

public  lands  in  what  has  been  commonly  denominated  '  the  Vir 
ginia  land  scrip,'  subject  to  the  limitations  expressed. 

"On  the  3d  day  of  March,  1836,  the  charter  of  the  last  Bank 
of  the  United  States  expired  by  its  own  limitation,  and  the  insti 
tution,  for  banking  purposes,  ceased  to  exist  on  that  day ;  and, 
by  a  law  of  Congress  passed  on  the  15th  day  of  June,  1836,  the 
fourteenth  section  of  the  charter,  making  its  bills  and  notes 
receivable  in  payment  of  the  public  dues,  was  repealed. 

"  This  is  believed  to  have  been  the  exact  state  of  the  law  in 
reference  to  the  currency  or  media  of  payment  receivable  for  the 
public  lands  at  the  time  when  the  treasury  circular  of  the  llth 
of  July,  1836,  was  issued. 

"Prior  to  this  date,  the  committee  suppose  the  law  of  the  31st 
of  March,  1814,  making  the  Mississippi  land  scrip  receivable 
in  payment  for  public  lands  in  the  Mississippi  territory,  had 
become  obsolete  by  the  entire  receipt  and  canceling  of  the  stock 
issued;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  public  notoriety  that  the  treasury 
notes  authorized  to  be  issued  by  the  several  laws  before  referred  to, 
of  1812,  1813,  1814  and  1815,  had  been,  long  before,  so  far  wholly 
redeemed  and  canceled  as  to  render  those  laws,  for  every  purpose 
of  this  inquiry,  also  obsolete.  The  currency  or  media  of  payment 
receivable  for  the  public  lands,  therefore,  at  the  date  of  this  order, 
had  become  reduced  by  the  repeal  of  laws,  the  expiration  of  laws 
and  the  extinguishment  of  public  liabilities,  to  '  specie '  and  '  Vir 
ginia  land  scrip,'  the  receipt  of  which  was  compulsory,  and  '  notes 
of  banks  which  were  payable,  and  paid  on  demand,  in  the  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States,'  the  receipt  of  which  was  merely 
permissive.  The  circular  acted  upon  the  bank-notes  merely,  and 
was  in  effect  a  direction  to  the  receivers  of  public  moneys  for 
lands  not  to  use  the  permission  granted  by  the  joint  resolution 
of  1816,  as  to  bank-notes,  so  far  as  the  payments  for  lands  were 
concerned.  This  suspended  the  receipt  of  the  notes  in  this 
branch  of  the  revenue  and  left  the  payments  for  lands  to  be 
made  in  specie  and  Virginia  land  scrip. 

"  The  reasons  which  prevailed  upon  the  mind  of  the  then  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  to  direct  the  circular  to  be  issued  are 
given  in  the  paper  itself.  It  recites,  in  substance,  that  com 
plaints  had  been  made  of  extensive  frauds  practiced  in  the  sales 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  733 

of  the  public  lands;  of  vast  speculations  in  those  lands  under  the 
system  of  sale  and  payment  then  in  use;  of  alarming  attempts  to 
monopolize  large  tracts  of  the  lands  in  the  hands  of  individual 
and  associated  proprietors;  of  the  aid  given  to  effect  all  these 
objects  by  excessive  bank  credits,  by  dangerous  if  not  partial 
facilities  through  bank  drafts  and  bank  deposits;  of  the  general 
evil  influence  likely  to  result  to  the  public  interests  by  these  pro 
ceedings;  of  the  danger  to  the  public  treasury  from  this  rapid 
accumulation  of  bank  credits,  in  lieu  of  money,  in  its  favor,  as 
well  as  the  danger  to  the  currency  of  the  country  generally  from 
the  unprecedented  expansion  of  credits  and  the  further  exchange 
of  the  public  domain  for  credits  in  bank  or  bank  paper.  Then 
follows  the  mandatory  part  of  the  circular,  in  these  words: 

"'The  President  of  the  United  States  has  given  directions,  and  you  are 
hereby  instructed,  after  the  fifteenth  day  of  A.ugust  next,  to  receive  in  pay 
ment  of  the  public  lands  nothing  except  what  is  directed  by  the  existing 
laws,  viz.,  gold  and  silver,  and,  in  the  proper  cases,  Virginia  land  scrip; 
Provided,  That,  till  the  fifteenth  of  December  next,  the  same  indulgences 
heretofore  extended  as  to  the  kind  of  money  received  may  be  continued,  for 
any  quantity  of  land  not  exceeding  320  acres,  to  each  purchaser  who  is  an 
actual  settler  or  a  bonafide  resident  in  the  State  where  the  sales  are  made.' 

"  That  the  complaints  recited  in  the  circular  were  made,  the 
committee  certainly  need  not  labor  to  prove  to  any  who  were  mem 
bers  of  either  House  of  Congress  from  1834  to  1836,  inclusive; 
to  any  who  listened  to  the  debates  and  proceedings  of  either 
House  during  that  period;  to  any  who  read  the  published  pro 
ceedings  of  Congress,  or  listened  to  the  voice  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  public  press  of  the  country,  for  the  time  alluded  to.  No 
one  of  these  classes  of  persons  can  have  forgotten  the  numerous 
and  constantly  repeated  charges  of  favoritism,  partiality,  collusion 
and  fraud  said  to  be  practiced  by  the  officers  charged  with  the 
sale  of  the  public  lands,  and  with  the  collection  of  the  revenue 
therefrom.  No  one  of  these  classes  of  persons  can  have  forgotten 
the  charges  of  sinister  accommodations,  of  favoritism,  of  partial 
ity  and  of  corruption,  made  against  the  State  banks  generally, 
and  especially  against  those  which  had  been  selected  as  deposit 
banks  and  had  accepted  the  trust.  Every  forum  was  filled  with 
these  charges  and  complaints,  and  every  vehicle  which  trans- 


734  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ported  the  public  mail  groaned  under  their  weight,  as  they  were 
diffused  throughout  the  land. 

k'  That  speculations  were  going  on  in  the  public  lands,  immense 
in  extent  and  in  the  capital  and  credit  involved,  became  more 
fully  demonstrable  by  every  return  from  the  receivers  at  the  land 
offices.  The  proceeds  of  the  sales  arose,  in  consecutive  years, 
from  four  millions  of  dollars  —  which  was  more  than  the  previous 
average  amount  per  annum  —  to  fourteen  millions,  and  from 
fourteen  millions  to  twenty-four  millions  in  a  single  year.  That 
monopolies  in  the  hands  of  private  holders,  highly  injurious  to 
the  settlement  and  prosperity  of  the  new  States,  must  grow  out 
of  sales  thus  accelerated,  was  a  necessary  and  unavoidable  conse 
quence.  The  number  of  acres  sold  in  a  year  proved  conclusively 
that  vast  quantities  were  purchased  for  a  market,  and  for  specu 
lation  —  not  for  settlement  and  cultivation  ;  while  the  passion 
to  purchase  seemed  to  increase  with  the  increase  of  sales,  until 
there  was  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  means  of  payment  were 
traveling  in  a  circle  from  the  banks  to  the  land  offices,  and  from 
the  land  offices  to  the  banks,  without  adding  other  or  further 
security  for  the  lands  sold  than  the  increased  indebtedness  of  the 
banks  to  the  treasury,  and  the  increased  indebtedness  of  the 
purchasers  to  the  banks. 

"  While  these  appearances  and  causes  of  uneasiness  were 
exhibiting  themselves  to  those  charged  with  the  management  of 
this  branch  of  the  public  service,  forebodings  of  evil  were  not 
spared  by  those  whose  confidence  in  these  public  servants  was 
not  without  limit.  They  were  warned  against  a  sacrifice  of  our 
rich  public  domain;  against  a  monopoly  of  that  vast  estate  by 
those  said  to  be  favored  by  their  position,  favored  by  power  and 
favored  by  the  banks ;  against  an  exchange  of  that  splendid 
inheritance,  the  price  of  the  blood  of  the  patriots  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  for  bank  credits,  bank  paper,  '  bank  rags.'1  They  were 
charged  to  look  to  the  public  treasury,  and  see  that  its  numerous 
and  rapidly  increasing  millions  upon  paper  were  realized  to  the 
people  in  a  sound,  and  not  a  depreciated,  currency.  They  were 
told  of  the  dangers  and  evils  of  these  sudden  and  vast  accumula 
tions  in  the  banks;  and  speedy  and  fatal  derangements  of  the 
currency  generally  were  predicted,  with  a  confidence  which  could 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  735 

not  have  been  exceeded  in  prophets  possessing  plenary  powers  to 
bring  about  the  fulfillment  of  their  own  predictions. 

"  Such,  briefly,  was  the  history  of  the  times  up  to  and  through 
the  session  of  Congress  of  1835-36;  and  much  of  the  time  of  that 
session  was  consumed,  in  both  Houses,  in  considering  propositions 
in  relation  to  the  revenue,  the  deposit  and  eafe-keeping  of  the 
public  moneys,  the  diminution  of  the  surplus  of  revenue  so 
rapidly  collecting  in  the  banks,  and  other  kindred  measures;  but 
the  session  of  Congress  closed  and  nothing  was  done.  Still,  the 
evil  complained  of  and  apprehended  was  extending  itself,  and 
accumulating  strength  from  its  own  advances. 

"Under  these  circumstances  the  circular  was  issued;  and  as 
the  seat  of  the  disease  was  assumed  by  all  to  rest  in  the  danger 
ous  expansions  by  the  banks,  and  the  incautious  facility  with 
which  they  extended  accommodations  to  the  purchasers  of  the 
public  domain,  the  check  was  made  to  operate  upon  their  issues 
of  paper,  and  to  bring  to  the  test  of  real  capital  this  branch  of 
the  public  revenues.  It  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  circu 
lar  was  not  to  take  effect  until  more  than  thirty  days  after  it  was 
issued,  and  that  even  then  an  exception  to  its  operation  was 
made,  in  favor  of  actual  settlers,  for  a  term  of  four  months,  and 
until  after  Congress  would  be  again  in  session.  It  is  but  just  to 
give  here  the  conclusion  of  this  letter  in  its  own  words,  that  the 
objects  designed  to  be  reached  and  effected  by  it  may  not  be 
mistaken.  Its  last  paragraph  is  as  follows: 

"  '  The  principal  objects  of  the  President  in  adopting  this  measure  being 
to  repress  alleged  frauds,  and  to  withhold  any  countenance  or  facilities  in 
the  power  of  the  government  from  the  monopoly  of  the  public  lands  in  the 
hands  of  speculators  and  capitalists,  to  the  injury  of  the  actual  settlers  in  the 
new  States  and  of  emigrants  in  search  of  new  homes,  as  well  as  to  discourage 
the  ruinous  extension  of  bank  issues  and  bank  credits  by  which  these  results 
are  generally  supposed  to  be  promoted,  your -utmost  vigilance  is  required 
and  relied  on  to  carry  this  order  into  complete  execution.' 

"  Such  was  the  order,  and  such  were  the  objects  intended  to  be 
accomplished  by  it.  That  its  action  upon  the  banks,  and  espe 
cially  in  the  land  States,  was,  in  some  degree,  harsh  and  severe, 
is  unquestionably  true.  The  condition  of  the  institutions  and 
the  extension  of  their  business,  which  called  it  forth,  rendered 
this  consequence  certain  and  unavoidable.  But,  before  this  effect 


736  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  circular  should  be  made  the  ground  for  its  condemnation, 
it  should  be  considered  how  pressing  was  the  necessity  which 
called  for  some  protection  against  a  hasty  transfer  of  the  whole 
public  domain  for  an  equivalent,  rendered  uncertain,  at  best, 
from  its  vast  amount  and  rapid  accumulation;  how  urgent  was 
the  call  for  some  measure  which  should  either  check  the  strong 
current  of  receipts  rushing  into  the  treasury,  or  give  increased 
security  and  safety  to  the  millions  thus  amassing  beyond  the 
wants  of  the  government;  wThich  should  stay  the  expansions  of 
the  banks,  or  guard  the  public  domain  and  public  treasure  against 
the  ruinous  consequences  certain  to  follow  from  the  revulsion 
which  these  expansions  could  not  fail  to  draw  after  them ;  how 
imminent  was  the  danger  to  the  currency  of  the  whole  country 
if  these  millions  of  the  public  money  were  suffered  to  multiply 
in  the  banks,  and  thus  give  strength  and  force  and  extent  to  the 
evil  which  all  saw,  all  felt,  and  against  which  all  demanded 
protection. 

"  That  these  dangers  surround  us  now,  unfortunately  requires 
no  proof.  The  history  of  the  country  and  of  our  banking  insti 
tutions,  as  well  as  of  our  public  treasury,  since  the  date  of  this 
circular,  abundantly  proves  their  existence  and  their  extent. 
That  the  banks  had  extended  their  circulation  and  their  credits 
beyond  the  point  of  prudence  and  of  safety  none  will  now  ques 
tion;  that  the  public  treasure  in  their  keeping  had  become, 
and  was  becoming,  unsafe  from  these  excesses  and  indiscretions 
experience  has  now  demonstrated;  and  that  every  public  interest 
required  and  demanded  a  check  upon  the  excesses  of  banking,  the 
excesses  of  trade  and  the  excesses  of  speculation  is  now  beyond 
dispute. 

"  It  has  been  objected  to  the  treasury  circular,  as  the  appro 
priate  remedy  for  the  evil  complained  of,  that  it  adopted  a  rule 
of  discrimination,  between  the  currency  or  medium  of  payment 
receivable  for  the  public  lands  and  for  the  revenue  from  customs, 
new,  unknown  to  our  laws  and  regulations  for  the  collection  of 
the  revenue,  and  indefensible  upon  principle. 

"It  has  been  already  seen  that  discriminations  of  this  charac 
ter  are  not  new  to  our  laws.  As  early  as  the  year  1797  the  evi 
dences  of  the  public  debt,  which  were  transferable  certificates  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  737 

indebtedness,  were  made  by  law  receivable  in  payment  for  the 
public  lands,  but  were  not  receivable  in  payment  for  duties  or 
any  other  public  dues.  In  1814  the  Mississippi  land  scrip  was 
made  by  law  receivable  in  payment  for  the  public  lands  in  a  spe 
cified  territory,  and  not  for  the  public  lands  generally,  or  in  any 
other  branch  of  the  revenue,  or  for  any  other  dues  to  the  govern 
ment.  In  1823  the  gold  coins  of  Great  Britain,  Portugal,  France 
and  Spain  were  made  receivable,  at  specified  values,  in  payments 
for  lands,  while  those  coins  were  not,  by  any  law  of  Congress  in 
force  at  that  time,  receivable  in  any  other  branch  of  the  revenue 
or  made  a  tender  in  the  payment  of  any  other  debts.  And  as 
late  as  1830  the  Virginia  land  scrip  was  made  receivable  for 
lands  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  in  n<5  other 
States  and  for  no  other  payments  to  the  United  States;  and  the 
same  scrip  is  yet  a  medium  of  payment  for  public  lands,  its  appli 
cation  having  been  extended  and  made  general  by  an  act  of  1835. 
Discriminations  of  this  character,  therefore,  have  long  been 
known  to  the  law  and  the  practice  of  our  public  collections,  and 
the  circular  introduced  no  new  principle  in  this  respect  into  our 
system. 

"  Is  there,  then,  any  ground  upon  which  the  circular  can  be 
justified  as  having  been  made  applicable  to  the  receipts  for  lands 
and  not  for  customs?  The  committee  think  some  suggestions 
may  be  made  which  will  go  far  to  justify  this  application  of  the 
order,  and  they  will  proceed  to  state  them. 

"In  the  first  place,  an  excessive  currency  of  any  character  has 
a  necessary  tendency  to  sink  the  value  of  that  currency,  when 
compared  with  the  value  of  marketable  property  for  which  it  is 
exchanged.  Hence  the  invariable  nominal  rise  in  the  market  of 
property  of  all  descriptions  which  is  open  to  a  free  market,  when 
that  which  is  used  as  money  is  abundant  and  cheap;  and  one  of 
the  strongest  evidences  that  our  paper  currency  was  excessive 
during  the  years  1835  and  1836,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  prices 
constantly  advanced,  although  the  supplies  in  almost  every 
department  of  trade  and  production  were  unusually  abundant, 
and  no  extraordinary  demand  was  known  to  exist.  The  duties 
which  constitute  our  revenue  from  customs  are  almost  all  a 
rate  per  centum  imposed  upon  the  value  of  the  article.  If, 
47 


738  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

then,  the  quantity  of  dutiable  goods  imported  be  the  same, 
and  the  value  be  nominally  increased  in  consequence  of  an 
excessive  currency,  the  value  of  the  duties  will  be  nominally 
increased  in  the  same  ratio,  and  therefore  the  collection  of  the 
duties  in  the  cheapened  currency  will  keep  the  real  value  of  the 
revenue  from  the  importations  at  a  given  standard.  Not  so  with 
our  public  lands.  They  have  not  been,  and  are  not  in  this  sense, 
open  to  a  free  market.  Their  value  per  acre  is  fixed  by  law;  and 
however  much  the  currency  in  which  they  were  purchased  may 
have  been  cheapened  by  abundance,  they  could  not  rise  with 
other  property  to  a  price  which  would  restore  the  equilibrium. 
They  were  bound  down  by  a  statute  value  ;  and  when  the  cur 
rency  to  be  received  in  payment  for  them  was  designated,  the 
same  nominal  value  of  that  currency,  however  much  it  might  be 
cheapened  by  excess,  would  purchase  the  same  quantity  of  the 
lands. 

"If  this  suggestion  required  illustration,  the  history  of  the 
years  1835  and  1836  would  afford  the  most  ample.  Speculations 
were  excessive  in  almost  every  branch  of  trade  and  every  descrip 
tion  of  property;  but  most  so,  and  of  the  longest  continuance,  in 
the  public  lands.  Why  was  this  so  ?  Clearly  because,  as  our 
paper  currency  became  more  abundant,  it  became  more  cheap; 
and  while  every  other  description  of  property  advanced  in  price, 
in  a  ratio  nearly  equal  to  the  depression  in  value  of  the  currency 
which  paid  for  it,  the  market  value  of  the  public  lands  remained 
the  same,  and  the  same  amount  of  the  cheapened  currency  would 
purchase  the  same  quantity  of  the  lands.  Hence  they  soon 
became  the  cheapest  commodity  in  the  market,  and  therefore 
continued  to  attract  the  attention  of  purchasers  for  the  longest 
time,  and  to  the  latest  period  of  the  business  excesses. 

"  This  consideration  would  seem  to  the  committee  to  offer  a 
reason  for  the  discriminating  application  of  the  circular  at  the 
time  it  was  issued.  When  Congress  fixed  the  value  of  the  public 
domain  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  the  intention, 
no  doubt,  was  that  the  treasury  should  receive  that  sum  in  coin, 
or  its  equivalent.  If,  then,  the  paper  currency  had  become  so 
far  cheapened,  in  consequence  of  its  excess,  that  one  dollar  and 
twenty-five  cents  in  it  was  worth  less  than  the  same  sum  in  coin, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  739 

that  difference  was  most  palpably  a  net  gain  to  the  purchasers  of 
the  lands,  and  an  entire  loss  to  the  whole  people  of  the  country, 
to  whom  the  public  domain  belongs.  That  the  committee  are 
not  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the  paper  currency  was  cheapened 
below  the  value  of  coin,  is  proved  from  the  almost  instant  opera 
tion  of  the  order  itself,  when  one  hundred  and  ten  dollars  of  the 
paper  were  paid  for  a  hundred  dollars  of  the  coin,  to  be  expended 
in  the  purchase  of  the  same  lands,  at  the  same  price. 

"In  the  second  place,  a  check  upon  the  excessive  issues  of 
paper  and  the  dangerous  extensions  of  credit  was  one  of  the 
great  objects  to  be  attained.  The  two  great  sources  of  revenue 
were  the  public  lands  and  the  foreign  importations.  For  the  for 
mer  the  paper,  while  it  continued  to  be  the  currency  of  the  trea 
sury  for  their  purchase,  was  the  exclusive  standard  of  value. 
It  made  the  whole  purchase.  It  was  an  accepted  medium  for 
the  entire  payment,  and  when  the  trade  became  excessive  a 
check  upon  the  paper  was  a  check  upon  the  whole  capital 
embarked.  Not  so  with  the  foreign  importations.  The  paper 
was  the  medium  of  payment  for  the  duties  simply.  The  goods 
upon  which  the  duties  were  assessed  were,  and  must  be,  pur 
chased  abroad,  where  our  bank  paper  could  not  circulate  and  did 
not  constitute  a  medium  of  payment,  and  where  coin  and  the 
equivalent  of  coin  would  alone  pay  the  debts  of  the  American 
merchant.  If,  then,  it  be  considered  that  but  about  one-half  of 
the  amount  of  our  foreign  importations  is  chargeable  with  duties 
at  all,  and  that  the  duties  upon  the  remaining  half  do  not  proba 
bly,  at  the  present  time,  exceed  an  average  of  thirty  per  centum, 
it  will  be  seen  how  feeble,  in  the  comparison,  would  have  been 
the  check  imposed  by  the  order  upon  this  branch  of  the  revenue. 
In  the  case  of  the  lands  it  reached  the  whole  capital,  and,  as  has 
been  seen,  imposed  upon  it  a  check  equal  to  some  ten  per  centum, 
while  in  the  case  of  the  importations  it  could  have  reached  but 
the  mere  incident  of  the  duties,  being  only  some  fifteen  per  cen 
tum  upon  the  whole  capital,  and,  at  the  same  rate  of  calculation, 
affording  a  check  only  equal  to  about  one  and  a  half  per  centum. 

"Again,  excessive  issues  of  paper  by  our  banks  would  act 
directly  and  to  the  whole  extent  upon  the  trade  in  the  public 
lands,  so  long  as  the  paper  continued  to  be  received  in  payment 


740  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

for  them,  because  it  would  meet  the  whole  cost  and  constitute 
an  acceptable  medium  for  the  whole  payment;  while  the  same 
excessive  issues  of  the  same  paper  would  act  but  indirectly  and 
incidentally  upon  our  foreign  trade.  It  might,  to  some  extent 
and  for  a  limited  period,  cheapen  our  products  to  be-  sent  abroad 
and  exchanged  for  foreign  merchandise  and  in  this  way  stimu 
late  the  foreign  trade.  It  might,  while  the  paper  remained 
nominally  equivalent  to  gold  and  silver  and  convertible  into 
them,  by  cheapening  the  precious  metals,  lead  to  their  profitable 
exportation  and  thus  tend  to  make  foreign  trade  excessive.  And 
it  would,  while  the  countries  with  which  the  business  was  carried 
on  remained  at  a  healthful  standard,  add  a  direct  stimulus  as  to 
that  part  of  the  capital  required  to  pay  the  home  duties.  Still, 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  impetus  given  to  foreign  trade  by  exces 
sive  banking  at  home  is  indirect,  incidental  and  partial;  while  that 
given  to  domestic  speculations,  such  as  that  which  has  recently 
taken  place  in  the  public  lands,  is  direct,  positive  and  universal. 
These  considerations,  in  the  minds  of  the  committee,  should  go 
far  to  justify  the  discriminating  application  of  the  order. 

"In  the  third  place,  so  large  a  portion  of  the  operations  of 
foreign  trade  is  brought  to  the  direct  test  of  real  capital,  to  the 
touchstone  of  a  currency  of  intrinsic  value,  that  excesses  in  that 
trade  will  soon  check  themselves.  Not  so  with  domestic  trade 
based  upon  an  excess  of  paper  currency,  while  that  paper  con 
tinues  to  be  an  acceptable  medium  of  payment  in  all  its  opera 
tions.  So  long  as  that  state  of  things  can  be  preserved  the 
domestic  excesses  may  be  continued  and  extended  at  pleasure. 
Here,  again,  our  recent  experience  furnishes  us  proof  of  the  cor 
rectness  of  our  positions.  The  excesses  may  be  said  to  have 
commenced  in  both  branches  of  our  trade  at  about  the  same 
time.  The  domestic  branch  received  the  earliest  check  in  the 
order  under  consideration,  and  yet  that  portion  of  it  confined  to 
the  public  lands  had  increased  sixfold  in  two  years,  thus  show 
ing  the  direct  and  powerful  impetus  communicated  to  it,  and  the 
unlimited  power  of  expansion  it  possessed,  until  checked  by 
extraneous  application,  by  the  test  of  real  capital,  not  introduced 
by  its  own  movements  but  forced  upon  it  by  an  independent 
power.  Notwithstanding  this  application  to  our  domestic  trade, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  741 

however  sudden  and  harsh  as  it  is  supposed  to  have  been,  months 
passed  away  before  the  self-correcting  principle  of  the  foreign 
trade  produced  any  sensible  check  in  that  branch.  Yet,  although 
its  amount  had  not  been  doubled  during  the  whole  period  of 
excess,  when  this  correcting  principle  did  manifest  its  power  a 
business  paralysis  was  felt  throughout  the  whole  country.  All 
business  was  suddenly  arrested,  and  the  banks  themselves  were 
compelled  to  suspend  specie  payments,  without  the  ability  to 
give  a  hope  of  resumption  until  a  healthful  equilibrium  could  be 
restored  to  this  trade.  Such,  then,  is  the  check  which  the  foreign 
trade  contains  within  itself,  while  the  domestic,  if  once  driven  to 
excess,  must  look  abroad  for  the  corrective;  and  hence  the 
greater  propriety  of  applying  the  order  in  question  to  the  one 
than  to  the  other. 

"  To  such  as  entertain  the  opinion  that  the  pecuniary  affairs  of 
the  country  were  healthful  and  well  at  the  time  this  order  was 
issued,  that  nothing  required  to  be  done,  no  check  to  be  imposed, 
arguments  in  justification  of  the  order  would  be  addressed  in  vain. 
But  such  as  admit  that  something  was  required,  some  protection 
to  the  public  treasure  and  the  public  domain  demanded,  should 
ask  themselves  what  other  or  better  measure  was  in  the  power 
of  the  executive,  before  they  condemn  this  as  too  sudden,  too 
harsh  or  too  strong.  They  should  remember  that,  although  the 
land  sales  were  materially  checked  and  the  revenue  from  that 
source  beneficially  diminished  by  the  operation  of  the  order, 
business  was  not  convulsed,  trade  was  not  prostrated,  and  the 
banks  were  hot  closed  until  the  commercial  revulsion  following 
from  the  excesses  of  our  foreign  trade  interposed  itself.  That 
the  operation  of  the  order  may  have  hastened,  in  some  small 
degree,  the  commercial  revulsion  is  barely  possible;  that  it  was 
the  cause  of  that  revulsion  is  not  possible.  The  supposition  is 
contradicted  by  the  facts  of  history,  applicable  as  well  to  other 
countries  as  our  own,  by  the  dates  of  events  and  by  the  neces 
sary  connection  between  cause  and  effect. 

"  To  the  complaint  that  the  order  was  made  invidious  by  its  par 
tial  application  to  a  single  branch  of  the  public  revenue,  it  would 
seem  to  the  committee  to  be  a  satisfactory  answer  to  say  that  it 
was  made  applicable  to  that  branch  of  the  revenue  upon  which 


742  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

it  would  act  most  efficiently  as  a  check  to  the  prevailing  excesses; 
upon  that  branch  of  the  revenue  from  which  the  heaviest  surplus 
was  accumulating  in  the  treasury;  upon  that  branch  of  the  reve 
nue  which  was  most  insecure,  as  time  has  since  shown;  upon 
that  branch  of  the  revenue  which,  from  the  nature  and  character 
of  the  property  out  of  which  it  arose,  as  well  as  from  the  medium 
in  which  it  was  entirely  paid,  most  needed  protection,  by  an 
efficient  check  upon  the  excesses  of  credit ;  and  that,  if  its  action 
was  necessarily  severe,  that  action  was  materially  mitigated  by 
confining  it  to  that  branch  of  the  revenue  least  diffused,  in  its 
exactions  upon  the  tax-payers  of  the  whole  Union. 

"  So  much  for  the  treasury  circular  of  the  llth  of  July,  1836, 
for  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  called  it  forth,  for  the 
reasons  and  views  which  dictated  it,  for  the  grounds  upon  which 
its  partial  and  particular  application  is  justified,  and  for  answers 
to  the  prominent  objections  against  it. 

"  The  suspension  of  specie  payment  by  the  banks,  and  the  pro 
visions  of  the  deposit  law  of  1836,  have,  since  the  month  of  May, 
1837,  rendered  the  order  in  question  practically  a  dead  letter, 
and  it  remains  to  this  moment  in  that  state  unrescinded. 

"The  Senate  has,  during  its  present  session,  with  great  and 
patient  labor,  digested,  passed  and  sent  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  a  bill,  such  as  met  the  approbation  of  a  majority  of 
its  members,  covering  all  these  points,  and  calculated  to  make 
the  rule  for  the  currency,  collection,  safe-keeping  and  disburse 
ment  of  the  public  revenue,  in  all  its  branches,  uniform  and  iden 
tical.  As  has  been  before  remarked,  one  of  the  sections  of  that 
bill  was,  in  its  supposed  purpose  and  object,  similar-  to  the  first 
clause  of  the  resolution  referred  to  the  committee,  and  now  under 
consideration.  The  vote  of  the  Senate,  which  introduced  that 
section  into  the  bill,  does  not  leave  room  for  a  doubt  that  the 
body  is  decidedly  friendly  to  the  principle  contained  in  it,  the 
principle  of  uniformity  in  the  currency  or  media  of  payment  in 
all  branches  of  the  public  revenue.  The  question  is  one  which, 
so  far  as  its  present  agitation  is  concerned,  has  originated  in  the 
action  of  the  executive  department  of  the  government;  but  that 
department  has  repeatedly  referred  it,  with  all  the  attendant 
considerations,  to  Congress,  that  legislation,  so  far  as  Congress 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  743 

should  think  wise  and  expedient,  might  take  the  place  of  execu 
tive  regulation  and  executive  discretion.  Whether,  under  these 
circumstances,  the  Senate  will  consider  it  incumbent  upon  it  to 
act  further,  upon  any  branch  of  this  great  subject,  until  it  shall 
be  informed  of  the  final  disposition,  by  the  House,  of  the  bill  it 
has  sent  down,  covering  the  whole  ground,  is  a  question  in  rela 
tion  to  which  the  committee  do  not  feel  called  upon  for  the 
expression  of  an  opinion.  If  it  shall  be  supposed  that  this  repe 
tition  of  action  may  involve  considerations  of  parliamentary  rule 
or  parliamentary  courtesy,  they  will  appropriately  address  them 
selves  to  the  Senate  itself,  and  not  to  one  of  its  committees. 

"  The  committee  will,  therefore,  leave  this  branch  of  the  reso 
lution,  with  the  single  remark  that,  should  the  Senate  be  disposed 
to  adopt  it  in  its  present  form,  some  exception  may  be  required 
to  be  made  in  relation  to  '  the  Virginia  land  scrip,'  now  expressly, 
by  law,  made  receivable  for  lands,  but  not  for  any  other  public 
dues. 

"  The  second  clause  of  the  resolution,  proposing  to  make  bank 
notes  the  currency  of  the  public  treasury,  is  in  the  following 
words: 

"  '  And  that,  until  otherwise  ordered  by  Congress,  the  notes  of  sound 
banks,  which  are  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of  the 
United  States,  under  suitable  restrictions,  to  be  forthwith  prescribed  and 
promulgated  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  shall  be  received  in  payment 
of  the  revenue  and  of  debts  and  dues  to  the  government.' 

"  The  proposition  here  presented,  also,  has  already  received  the 
definitive  action  of  the  Senate  during  its  present  session,  but  not, 
like  the  former  one,  the  favorable  action  of  the  body.  A  refer 
ence  to  the  journal  will  show  that,  on  the  24th  day  of  March  last, 
the  *  bill  to  impose  additional  duties,  as  depositaries,  upon  certain 
public  officers,  to  appoint  receivers-general  of  public  money,  and 
to  regulate  the  safe-keeping,  transfer  and  disbursement  of  the 
public  money  of  the  United  States,'  being  under  consideration, 
the  following  amendment  was  moved,  to  stand  as  the  twenty- 
third  section  of  that  bill,  viz. : 

"  *  SEC.  23.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  revenue  of  the  United 
States,  whether  arising  from  duties,  taxes,  debts  or  sales  of  public  lands, 
shall  be  collected  and  received  in  gold  and  silver,  or  in  treasury  notes,  or  in 


744  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

the  notes  of  banks  which  are  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  coin 
of  the  United  States,  subject  to  such  regulations  and  restrictions,  in  regard 
to  the  notes  of  specie-paying  banks,  as  aforesaid,  as  Congress  may,  from 
time  to  time,  establish  and  prescribe:  Provided,  That  nothing  in  this  section 
shall  be  so  construed  as  to  prohibit  receivers  or  collectors  of  the  dues  of  the 
government  from  receiving  for  the  public  lands  any  kind  of  land  scrip  or 
treasury  certificate  now  authorized  by  law.' 

"  The  only  substantial  difference  between  these  propositions  is, 
that  the  one  now  referred  to  the  committee  leaves  the  restrictions 
and  regulations  under  which  bank-notes  are  to  be  received  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  while  the  one  formerly  offered  to  the 
Senate  reserved  to  Congress  alone  the  right  of  imposing  those 
restrictions.  In  all  other  respects  both  are  substantially  the 
same.  The  exclusive  object  and  purpose  of  both  is  to  make  the 
notes  of  specie-paying  banks  receivable,  by  compulsion  of  law, 
in  all  dues  to  the  government;  and,  although  the  one  last  quoted 
enumerates,  also,  gold  and  silver  and  treasury  notes,  yet  the  sole 
change  it  proposes  in  the  existing  laws  is  as  to  the  bank-notes, 
inasmuch  as  gold  and  silver  and  treasury  notes  are,  by  the  exist 
ing  laws,  expressly  made  receivable  in  payment  of  all  dues  to  the 
United  States.  The  propositions,  therefore,  are  identical  in  sub 
stance,  with  the  single  exception  before  named.  A  reference  to 
the  Senate  journal  of  the  twenty-fourth  of  March  last  will  show 
that  a  vote  of  the  Senate  was  taken  upon  the  last  named  proposi 
tion,  and  that  it  was  rejected,  every  Senator  being  in  his  seat 
and  voting  upon  the  question. 

"This  part  of  the  resolution,  therefore,  like  the  former,  is 
obnoxious  to  the  objection  that  it  is,  in  effect,  but  a  mere  repeti 
tion  of  a  proposition  before  made  to  the  Senate  and  before 
deliberately  and  definitively  acted  upon  by  the  body,  during 
its  present  session.  The  committee  do  not  mention  this  fact 
to  prove  that  the  Senate  either  cannot  or  ought  not  again  to 
entertain  the  proposition,  or  that  it  will  not  be  the  pleasure  of 
the  body  again  to  act  upon  it.  As  in  relation  to  the  former 
clause  of  the  resolution,  they  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  express 
any  opinion  upon  these  points.  They  are  questions,  as  it  seems 
to  them,  addressing  themselves  to  the  Senate  itself,  and  not 
to  the  committee,  and  with  the  Senate  they  cheerfully  leave 
their  decision.  They  will,  however,  respectfully  suggest  that  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  745 

practice  of  this  sort,  extensively  introduced,  could  not  prove 
economical  to  the  time  of  a  legislative  body  or  favorable  to  the 
certainty  of  its  action.  The  same  questions  might,  under  such  a 
practice,  call  for  a  repetition  of  debate  and  a  repetition  of  votes, 
without  any  material  advance  in  business ;  and,  as  the  body 
might  chance  to  be  full  or  thin,  as  to  numbers,  at  the  precise 
moment  of  each  vote,  its  decisions  of  the  same  questions  might 
be  uniform  or  contradictory.  These,  however,  are  considerations 
which  will  not  escape  the  attention  of  the  Senate  in  disposing  of 
the  propositions  now  presented. 

"How,  then,  will  the  clause  of  the  resolution  now  under  con 
sideration,  if  adopted  and  made  part  of  the  law  of  the  land, 
change  the  law  as  it  exists  ?  And  how  will  it  affect  the  treasury 
arid  the  public  funds  ?  In  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  it  will 
make  a  medium  of  payment  for  public  dues,  to  wit,  specie-paying 
bank-notes,  compulsory,  which  has  heretofore  been  merely  per 
missive;  and  it  will  force  upon  the  public  treasury  a  currency 
which  has  proved,  upon  various  occasions,  to  be  unsafe  and  dan 
gerous,  when  its  receipt  rested  in  the  discretion,  and  therefore 
to  some  extent  upon  the  official  responsibility  of  the  fiscal  officers 
of  the  government,  and  which,  if  made  the  legal  currency  of  the 
treasury,  and  compulsory  upon  it,  will  subject  the  public  revenues 
to  fluctuations,  hazards  and  losses,  highly  detrimental  to  every 
important  interest,  public  and  private. 

"Are  the  committee  right  in  supposing  that  this  proposition 
involves  the  change  of  the  existing  laws  which  they  have  men 
tioned  ?  As  condensed  an  examination  of  our  legislation  upon 
this  subject  as  can  be  made  shall  answer  this  inquiry. 

"The  first  law  passed,  after  the  organization  of  the  government 
under  the  present  Constitution,  touching  the  currency  or  medium 
of  payment  in  which  the  public  dues  should  be  collected  and 
received,  was  an  act  passed  on  the  31st  day  of  July,  1789,  entitled 
'An  act  to  regulate  the  collection  of  duties,  imposed  by  law  on 
the  tonnage  of  ships  or  vessels,  and  on  goods,  wares  and  mer 
chandises  imported  into  the  United  States.'  The  thirtieth  section 
of  that  act  prescribed  the  currency  to  be  received  under  it,  and 
was  in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  SEC.  30.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  duties  and  fees  to  be  col- 


746  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

lected  by  virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  received  in  gold  and  silver  coin  only,  at 
the  following  rates,  that  is  to  say:  the  gold  coins  of  France,  England,  Spain 
and  Portugal,  and  all  other  gold  coins  of  equal  fineness,  at  eighty-nine  cents 
for  every  pennyweight ;  the  Mexican  dollar  at  one  hundred  cents  ;  the  crown 
of  France  at  one  dollar  and  eleven  cents ;  the  crown  of  England  at  one  dol 
lar  and  eleven  cents ;  and  all  silver  coins  of  equal  fineness  at  one  dollar  and 
eleven  cents  per  ounce.' 

"  This  established  '  gold  and  silver  coin  only '  as  the  currency 
of  the  treasury,  so  far  as  the  revenue  from  customs  was  con 
cerned.  This  act  was  repealed  by  an  act  passed  on  the  4th  day 
of  August,  1790,  entitled  'An  act  to  provide  more  effectually  for 
the  collection  of  the  duties  imposed  by  law  on  goods,  wares  and 
merchandise  imported  into  the  United  States,  and  on  the  tonnage 
of  ships  and  vessels.'  The  fifty-sixth  section  was  in  the  same 
words  with  the  thirtieth  section  of  the  act  of  1789  above  quoted, 
with  the  following  addition  at  the  end  of  the  section,  viz. :  '  and 
cut  silver  of  equal  fineness  at  one  dollar  and  six  cents  per  ounce? 

"  The  next  law  which  affected  the  currency  of  the  treasury  was 
the  act  passed  on  the  25th  day  of  February,  1791,  entitled  'An 
act  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.'  The  tenth  section  of  this  act  was  in  the  following  words: 

"  '  SEC.  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  said 
corporation,  originally  made  payable  or  which  shall  have  become  payable, 
on  demand,  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  shall  be  receivable  in  all  payments  to  the 
United  States.' 

"These  laws  constituted  the  currency  of  the  treasury  'of  gold 
and  silver  coin  only,'  or  of  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  originally  made  payable  or  which  had  become 
payable,  on  demand,  in  '  gold  and  silver  coin ;'  which  currency 
was  made  receivable  in  all  branches  of  the  public  revenue,  and 
for  all  debts  and  dues  of  the  government. 

"With  the  exception  of  the  legislation  as  to  the  currency  or 
media  of  payment  receivable  for  the  public  lands,  before  noticed, 
the  committee  find  no  act  of  Congress  changing  this  state  of  the 
law  until  the  passage  of  the  act  of  2d  May,  1799,  entitled  'An 
act  to  regulate  the  collection  of  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage.' 
This  act  repealed  the  act  of  1790,  above  referred  to,  and  all  prior 
acts  and  parts  of  acts  conflicting  with  its  provisions,  and  its 
seventy-fourth  section  is  in  the  words  following  : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  747 

'*  '  SEC.  74.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  duties  and  fees  to  be  col 
lected  shall  be  payable  in  money  of  the  United  States,  or  in  foreign  gold 
and  silver  coins,  at  the  following  rates,  that  is  to  say:  the  gold  coins  of 
Great  Britain  and  Portugal,  of  the  standard  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  ninety-two,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  cents  for  every 
twenty-seven  grains  of  the  actual  weight  thereof ;  the  gold  coins  of  France, 
Spain,  and  the  dominions  of  Spain,  of  the  standard  prior  to  the  year  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety-two,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  cents  for 
every  twenty-seven  grains  and  two-fifths  of  a  grain  of  the  actual  weight  thereof; 
Spanish  milled  dollars,  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  cents  for  each  dollar,  the 
actual  weight  whereof  shall  not  be  less  than  seventeen  pennyweights  and 
seven  grains,  and  in  proportion  for  the  parts  of  a  dollar ;  crowns  of  France 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  ten  cents  for  each  crown,  the  actual  weight 
whereof  shall  not  be  less  than  eighteen  pennyweights  and  seventeen  grains, 
and  in  proportion  for  the  parts  of  a  crown;  Provided,  That  no  foreign  coins 
shall  be  receivable  which  are  not,  by  law,  a  tender  for  the  payment  of  all 
debts,  except  in  consequence  of  a  proclamation  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  authorizing  such  foreign  coins  to  be  received  hi  payment  of 
the  duties  and  fees  aforesaid.' 

"  By  an  act  passed  on  the  9th  day  of  February,  1793,  entitled 
'An  act  regulating  foreign  coins,  and  for  other  purposes,'  it  is 
provided  that  the  foreign  coins  above  particularly  named  shall 
pass  current,  '  as  money]  within  the  United  States,  and  be  a  ten 
der  in  payment  of  debts,  at  the  rates  above  specified,  which 
explains  the  proviso  of  the  section;  but  what  is  the  true  legal 
construction  of  the  terms  '  money  of  the  United  States?  used  in 
the  first  part  of  the  section,  may  require  some  examination. 

"  On  the  2d  day  of  April,  1792,  an  act  was  passed  entitled  'An 
act  establishing  a  mint,  and  regulating  the  coins  of  the  United 
States.'  This  act  made  the  first  provision  for  our  national  coin 
age  and  for  our  national  coin.  Its  provisions  are  numerous,  but 
it  is  sufficient  for  the  present  purpose  to  say  of  them  that  they 
designate  the  coins  of  gold,  silver  and  copper  to  be  coined  at 
the  mint,  being  the  same  designations  which  the  coins  of  the 
United  States  still  bear;  that  they  regulate  the  value  of  the  coins, 
and  that  the  sixteenth  section  is  in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  SEC.  16.  And  be  it  furtlier  enacted,  That  all  the  gold  and  silver  coins 
which  shall  have  been  struck  at  and  issued  from  the  said  mint  shall  be  a 
lawful  tender  in  all  payments  whatsoever ;  those  of  full  weight,  according 
to  the  respective  values  hereinbefore  declared ;  and  those  of  less  than  full 
weight,  at  values  proportioned  to  their  respective  weights.' 


748  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

"  The  Constitution  gives  to  Congress  the  power  to  '  coin  money, 
regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,'  and  the  two  acts 
last  referred  to  are  an  exercise  of  that  power;  the  latter  provid 
ing  for  coining  money  by  means  of  a  mint  of  the  United  States, 
and  regulating  the  value  of  the  money  so  to  be  coined,  and  the 
former  regulating  the  value  of  foreign  coin.  This  power  is  exclu 
sive  in  Congress,  as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  ex 
pressly  prohibits  the  States  from  coining  money.  What,  then,  is 
'the  money  of  the  United  States'  here  intended?  In  the  opinion 
of  the  committee,  it  is  the  coin  of  the  United  States;  the  product 
of  the  mint  of  the  United  States;  the  money  coined  by  the 
authority  of  Congress.  In  this  opinion  they  do  not  suppose  it 
possible  they  can  be  mistaken.  The  construction  seems  to  them 
too  clear  to  admit  of  argument  or  question.  The  collocation  of 
the  words  *  money  of  the  United  States,'  as  used  in  the  section 
of  the  act  of  1799,  above  quoted,  would  seem  to  confirm  this  as 
the  construction  intended  to  be  given  to  these  words  by  Congress, 
in  .the  passage  of  that  law.  The  provision  is,  l  that  all  duties  and 
fees  to  be  collected  shall  be  payable  in  money  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  foreign  gold  and  silver  coins  /'  thus,  as  it  would 
seem  to  the  committee,  contemplating  a  currency  of  metal  only, 
and  using  the  words  which  are  used  to  distinguish  between  the 
coinage  of  our  own  country  and  foreign  coinage. 

"  It  has  been  seen  that,  prior  to  the  passage  of  this  law,  the 
revenue  from  customs  was,  by  law,  collectible  in  gold  and  silver 
coin,  or  in  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
If  the  construction  which  the  committee  have  given  above  to  this 
act  of  1799  be  correct,  the  bills  or  notes  were  excluded  by  it  from 
the  collections  of  the  revenue  from  customs,  inasmuch  as  the 
112th  section  of  the  act  repeals  the  act  of  the  4th  of  August, 
1790,  and  further  declares  that  'all  other  acts  and  parts  of  acts, 
coming  within  the  purview  of  this  act,  shall  be  repealed  and 
thenceforth  cease  to  operate.'  That  branch  of  the  revenue  was, 
therefore,  from  that  time  forward,  receivable  in  coin  only ;  that 
is  to  say,  '  in  money  of  the  United  States,  or  in  foreign  gold  and 
silver  coins.' 

"Between  this  date  and  the  year  1811,  no  changes  are  found 
to  have  been  made  in  the  law  prescribing  the  currency  or  medium 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  749 

of  payment  in  which  any  part  of  the  public  dues  should  be 
received,  other  than  such  as  have  been  noticed  under  the  former 
head  of  this  report,  being  such  as  affected  that  branch  of  the  reve 
nue  derivable  from  the  lands  only.  On  the  3d  day  of  March, 
181 1,  the  charter  of  the  old  Bank  of  the  United  States  expired, 
and,  by  an  act  passed  on  the  19th  of  March,  1812,  the  tenth 
section  of  that  charter,  making  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  corpora 
tion  receivable  in  payments  to  the  United  States,  was  repealed. 
This  left  the  act  of  1799  the  unquestioned  rule  as  to  the  currency 
receivable  in  payment  of  the  revenue  from  customs. 

"  In  this  same  year,  however,  and  the  three  years  succeeding, 
the  various  laws  before  referred  to,  of  1812,  1813,  1814  and  1815, 
authorizing  emissions  of  treasury  notes,  were  passed;  all  of  which 
made  the  notes  receivable  in  all  branches  of  the  revenue  and  for 
all  dues  to  the  government.  They,  therefore,  were  added  to  the 
coin  as  a  medium  of  payment  in  the  collection  of  the  duties  and 
fees,  under  the  act  of  1799  and  the  other  acts  regulating  the  col 
lection  of  the  revenue  from  customs. 

"On  the  10th  day  of  April,  1816,  the  law  passed  to  incorporate 
the  second  Bank  of  the  United  States,  entitled  'An  act  to  incor 
porate  the  subscribers  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.'  The 
fourteenth  section  of  this  act  was  in  the  words  following: 

"  'SEC.  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  bills  or  notes  of  the  said 
corporation,  originally  made  payable  or  which  shall  have  become  payable, 
on  demand,  shall  be  receivable  in  all  pajanents  to  the  United  States,  unless 
otherwise  directed  by  act  of  Congress.' 

"  If  this  last  clause  of  the  section  referred  to  '  acts  of  Congress ' 
thereafter  to  be  passed  and  not  to  acts  of  Congress  then  in  force, 
then  this  bank  charter  added  a  new  medium  of  payment  for  all 
public  dues,  and  made  receivable  in  all  branches  of  the  public 
revenue,  by  the  then  existing  laws,  'gold  and  silver  coin,'  'trea 
sury  notes'  and  'the  bills  or  notes  of  the  corporation  payable  on 
demand.'  This  seems  to  have  been  the  construction  given  by 
Congress  to  those  laws  in  the  language  used  in  the  joint  resolu 
tion  of  the  30th  day  of  April,  1816.  This  resolution,  it  will  be 
seen  by  its  date,  passed  but  twenty  days  after  the  passage  of  the 
bank  charter,  and  made  a  change  in  the  legislation  of  Congress  in 
relation  to  the  currency  of  the  public  treasury  much  greater  than 


750  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

any  which  had  ever  before  been  known  to  our  laws.  Indeed,  it 
must  strike  the  attention  of  all,  at  this  day,  as  somewhat  remark 
able,  that  during  the  existence  of  the  government  under  the 
Constitution,  the  two  bank  charters  alone  excepted,  no  law  or 
resolution  or  expression  of  Congress  had  recognized,  in  any  form 
or  to  any  extent,  bank  notes  as  a  medium  of  payment  at  the 
treasury;  and  that  even  during  the  existence  of  the  first  bank 
charter,  and  notwithstanding  the  receivable  character  given  to 
its  bills  and  notes  by  its  tenth  section  before  quoted,  the  law  of 
1799  before  referred  to,  in  relation  to  the  collection  of  the  reve 
nue  from  customs,  and  the  law  of  1800  referred  to  under  the 
former  head  of  this  report,  in  relation  to  the  sale  of  the  public 
lands,  were  both  passed,  and  both  confined  the  payments  in 
these  respective  branches  of  the  revenue  to  '  specie,'  '  money  of 
the  United  States,'  'gold  and  silver  coin'  or  i evidences  of  the 
public  debt  of  the  United  States.'  These  laws,  too,  remained  in 
full  and  unquestioned  force,  as  to  these  provisions,  during  the 
whole  remaining  life  of  that  bank  charter  and  up  to  the  time  of 
the  charter  of  the  second  bank,  in  1816. 

"The  joint  resolution  of  1816  here  referred  to  is  entitled  '  A 
resolution  relative  to  the  more  effectual  collection  of  the  public 
revenue,'  and  is  in  the  following  words: 

' ' '  Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  in  Congress  assembled,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be,  and 
he  is  hereby,  required  and  directed  to  adopt  such  measures  as  he  may  deem 
necessary  to  cause,  as  soon  as  may  be,  all  duties,  taxes,  debts  or  sums  of 
money,  accruing  or  becoming  payable  to  the  United  States,  to  be  collected 
and  paid  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States,  or  treasury  notes,  or 
notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  by  law  provided  and  declared, 
or  in  notes  of  banks  which  are  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  said 
legal  currency  of  the  United  States;  and  that,  from  and  after  the  twentieth 
day  of  February  next,  no  such  duties,  taxes,  debts  or  sums  of  money,  accru 
ing  or  becoming  payable  to  the  United  States,  as  aforesaid,  ought  to  be  col 
lected  or  received  otherwise  than  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States, 
or  treasury  notes,  or  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  or  in  notes  of 
banks  which  are  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  said  legal  currency  of 
the  United  States.' 

"Such  was  the  resolution  of  the  30th  of  April,  1816 ;  a  resolu 
tion  called  into  existence  by  the  derangement  in  our  monetary 
system  at  that  particular  period;  a  resolution  which,  its  form  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  751 

its  terms,  as  well  as  the  circumstances  attending  it,  all  conclu 
sively  prove,  was  never  intended,  by  the  Congress  which  passed 
it,  to  be  a  permanent  regulation  for  the  currency  of  the  treasury, 
but  a  temporary  aid  in  an  attempt  to  recover  from  the  wide 
departures  from  the  law,  which  the  practices  of  the  Treasury 
department  had  introduced ;  in  an  attempt  to  bring  back,  to  a 
tolerable  state,  a  practical,  not  a  legal  currency,  which  had 
become  intolerable.  And  it  should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind 
that  this  resolution  was  not  designed  to  release  the  standard  of 
currency  for  the  treasury  from  the  operation  of  sound  and  whole 
some  laws,  but  to  relieve  the  treasury  from  a  depreciated  cur 
rency  which  had  been,  and  was  being,  received  into  it  against 
law. 

"  The  committee  are  not  to  be  understood  as  speaking  in  terms 
of  censure  of  the  state  of  things  existing  in  1816,  in  relation  to 
our  monetary  affairs,  but  merely  as  relating  facts  as  they  appear 
upon  the  face  of  the  statute  book.  We  had  just  then  emerged 
from  a  state  of  war.  Our  contest  had  been  with  a  rich,  and 
powerful,  and  skillful,  and  experienced  enemy.  Our  resources, 
both  in  men  and  money,  were  vastly  more  limited  than  they  now 
are,  A  heavy  balance  of  the  debt  of  the  Revolution  remained 
unpaid,  and  our  credit  as  a  nation  had  become  but  partially 
established,  either  with  our  own  or  foreign  capitalists.  We  were 
unprepared  for  war,  and  the  expenses  of  making  the  necessary 
preparations,  in  the  midst  of  hostilities,  soon  exhausted  our  trea 
sury  and  depressed  our  credit.  In  that  condition  the  country 
sought  aid  wherever  it  could  be  obtained,  and,  among  other 
resources,  availed  itself  of  that  which  was  offered  by  a  certain 
portion  of  the  State  banking  institutions.  In  this  way  it  became 
their  debtor,  and,  being  unable  to  pay,  was  compelled  to  wink  at 
and  finally  to  countenance  their  suspension  of  specie  payments. 
Hence,  also,  arose  the  compulsion  to  make  their  irredeemable 
notes  the  currency  of  the  treasury  ;  a  compulsion  stronger  than 
the  law;  the  compulsion  upon  the  debtor  not  to  refuse  to  honor 
the  paper  of  his  creditor.  Surely,  then,  the  committee  are  not 
disposed  to  cast  censure  upon  the  able  and  worthy  and  patriotic 
public  officers,  through  whom  these  acts  were  performed,  but  to 
mourn,  as  they  did,  over  that  depressed  condition  of  our  beloved 


752  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

country   which    forced    its    faithful    public    servants    to   these 
extremities. 

'  "To  extricate  the  treasury  from  these  embarrassments,  and,  as 
far  as  might  be,  to  reclaim  the  currency  generally  from  derange 
ments  thus  brought  upon  it,  was  the  design  and  object  of  the 
resolution  under  consideration  ;  and  who  that  has  examined  our 
previous  legislation  will  believe  that,  but  for  these  derangements, 
growing  principally  out  of  loans  and  advances  to  the  government 
in  the  hour  of  its  utmost  need,  the  resolution  of  1816  would  have 
ever  met  the  approbation  of  a  Congress  of  that  day  ?  And  who, 
in  view  of  all  these  considerations,  will  believe  that  the  Congress 
which  did  pass  that  resolution  intended  to  render  it  compulsory 
as  to  the  receipt  of  the  notes  of  the  State  banks  in  payment  of 
all  public  dues,  and  thus  to  fasten  upon  the  public  treasury,  as  a 
permanent  and  obligatory  medium  of  payment,  for  all  future 
time,  that  very  currency  from  which  the  country  had  suffered 
and  was  then  suffering  so  severely  ? 

"  Was  the  resolution  imperative  as  to  the  receivability  of  the 
notes  of  the  local  banks?  Such  is  not  the  construction  which 
the  committee  give  to  it.  The  resolution  names  four  distinct 
media  of  payment  for  the  public  dues,  viz. :  the  legal  currency 
of  the  United  States  (gold  and  silver  coin),  treasury  notes,  notes 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  notes  of  banks  which  are 
payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United 
States.  The  first  three  are  mentioned  as  currency  or  media,  '  as 
by  law  provided  and  declared?  as  it  has  been  seen  they  were ; 
while  the  committee  look  upon  the  enumeration  of  the  last,  it  not 
being  a  currency  or  medium  of  payment  for  the  public  treasury, 
4  by  law  provided  and  declared,'  as,  in  substance,  granting  a 
permission  to  the  fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury  to  make  it  such, 
if  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency;  as,  in  effect, 
saying  to  the  receivers  of  public  money,  in  all  the  departments, 
you  may  receive  the  notes  of  the  local  banks  in  payments  to  the 
United  States,  provided  they  are  redeemable  and  redeemed,  on 
demand,  in  coin;  you  are  now  receiving  them  while  they  are 
irredeemable  ;  but  after  the  twentieth  day  of  February  next  you 
*  ought '  not  to  receive  them  in  that  state. 

"Another  view  of  the  resolution  will  strengthen  this  construe- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  753 

tion.  If  it  is  imperative  as  to  the  receipt  of  the  notes  of  any 
local  banks  which  are  payable  and  paid  on  demand,  in  the  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States,  it  is  equally  imperative  that  the 
notes  of  all  local  banks,  which  are  so  paid,  shall  be  received. 
Will  the  idea  be  entertained,  for  a  moment,  that  the  Congress  of 
1816  intended  this?  Will  it  be  believed  that  they  intended  to 
make  the  notes  of  all  the  banks  in  the  Union,  and  of  all  which 
the  States  should  thereafter  charter,  and  which  should  at  the 
moment  be  specie-paying  banks,  an  effective  tender,  at  any  and 
every  point  in  the  Union,  in  payment  of  all  government  dues  ? 
The  committee  cannot  entertain  such  an  opinion.  They  will  not 
believe  that  the  majority  of  any  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
which  has  ever  yet  assembled,  would  have  adopted  a  rule  for 
the  currency  of  the  public  treasury  so  incalculably  dangerous. 
To  them  the  resolution  seems  to  have  had  one  distinct  and  lead 
ing  object,  viz.,  the  discontinance  of  the  receipt,  at  the  treasury, 
of  the  notes  of  banks  which  were  not  payable  and  paid  on 
demand  in  the  legal  coin  of  the  United  States.  Still,  the  banks 
whose  notes  were  to  be  excluded  by  such  a  rule  were  the  banks 
which  had  aided  the  government  in  its  then  recent  troubles,  and 
to  which  it  stood  indebted.  Hence  the  advisory  rather  than 
mandatory  language  in  which  the  interdiction  was  couched 
in  the  last  part  of  the  resolution;  and  hence,  too,  the  inducement 
as  to  the  receipt  of  the  notes,  in  case  they  were  redeemed  in  spe 
cie,  proffered  in  the  first  part  of  the  resolution.  Those  portions 
which  relate  to  'the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States,'  to  the 
'treasury  notes'  and  to  the  'notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States'  were  not  inserted  to  constitute,  by  the  force  of  law,  a 
currency  for  the  treasury;  for  they  were  then,  by  the  law,  the 
currency  of  the  treasury  for  all  payments  to  the  United  States. 
They  were  not  made  the  currency  of  the  treasury  by  the  resolu 
tion,  but  were  so  before  the  resolution  had  existence,  and  were 
described  in  it  as  the  currency  in  which  the  public  dues  were  to 
be  paid,  '  as  by  law  provided  and  declared.'' 

"The  resolution,  then,  was  not  designed  to  and  did  not  pre 
scribe  and  establish  a  currency  obligatory  upon  the  treasury,  but 
recited  that  which  was  so  'as  by  law  provided  and  declared;5 
and  authorized  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  add  to  it,  in  the 
48 


754  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

collections  of  the  revenue,  the  notes  of  banks  which  were  payable 
and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States, 
while  it  pronounced  the  opinion  of  Congress  that  he  '  ought '  not, 
after  a  day  named,  to  receive  in  those  collections  the  notes  of 
banks  which  did  not  redeem  their  notes  in  specie  on  demand. 
If  this  question  be  yet  doubtful,  the  committee  will  refer  to  the 
cotemporaneous  construction  of  the  government  and  its  agents, 
as  shown  by  their  practice  under  the  resolution,  to  establish  the 
point.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  charter  of  the  second  Bank 
of  the  United  States  passed  Congress  on  the  10th  day  of  April, 
1816,  just  twenty  days  before  the  passage  of  the  resolution  in 
question.  By  the  sixteenth  section  of  that  charter,  *  the  deposits 
of  the  money  of  the  United  States,  in  places  in  which  the  said 
bank  and  branches  thereof  may  be  established,  shall  be  made  in 
said  bank  or  branches  thereof,''  etc.  In  pursuance  of  this  require 
ment,  the  public  money  was  placed  in  the  bank  and  its  branches 
for  safe-keeping  and  disbursement  as  soon  as  the  institution  was 
prepared  to  receive  it,  and  the  bank  became,  at  every  important 
point  in  the  Union,  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  treasury  both  for 
the  collection  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenues.  If, 
then,  the  receipt  of  the  notes  of  all  the  specie-paying  banks 
of  the  country  was  made  compulsory  upon  the  treasury  by  the 
joint  resolution  of  1816  (for  it  has  already  been  shown  that  if 
the  receipt  of  any  such  notes  was  compulsory  the  receipt  of  all 
were  so),  it  made  the  receipt  of  all  such  notes  equally  compulsory 
upon  the  bank,  as  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  treasury,  so  far  as  the 
collection  of  the  public  dues  was  concerned.  Did  the  bank  so 
construe  the  resolution  or  so  practice  under  it  ?  It  shall  speak 
for  itself,  in  the  language  used  in  the  twenty-fourth  and  twenty- 
fifth  of  its  rules  and  regulations,  adopted  on  the  3d  day  of  Janu 
ary,  1817,  for  the  government  of  its  branches.  It  will  be  seen 
by  the  dates  that  these  rules  and  regulations  were  adopted  just 
eight  months  and  three  days  after  the  passage  of  the  resolution 
by  Congress,  and  the  two  here  referred  to  are  in  the  words  fol 
lowing  : 

"  'ARTICLE  XXIV.  The  offices  of  discount  and  deposit  shall  receive,  in 
payment  of  the  revenue  of  the  United  States,  the  notes  of  such  State  banks  as 
redeem  their  engagements  with  specie,  and  provided  they  are  the  notes  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  755 

banks  located  in  the  city  or  place  where  the  office  receiving  them  is  estab 
lished.  And  also  the  notes  of  such  other  banks,  as  a  special  deposit  on 
behalf  of  the  government,  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  require. 

"  'ARTICLE  XXV.  The  offices  of  discount  and  deposit  shall,  at  least  once 
in  every  week,  settle  with  the  State  banks  for  their  notes  received  in  pay 
ment  of  the  revenue,  or  for  the  engagements  of  individuals  to  the  banks,  so 
as  to  prevent  the  balances  due  to  the  office  from  swelling  to  an  inconvenient 
amount.' 

"  Here  is  the  construction  put  upon  this  resolution  by  the  bank, 
immediately  after  its  passage,  and  before  the  day  named  in  it 
had  arrived,  when  the  treasury  was  to  cease  to  receive  the  notes 
of  non-specie-paying  banks.  Here,  too,  are  the  rules  which  were 
to  govern,  and  which  did  govern,  the  practice  of  the  bank  under 
the  resolution;  and  the  committee  are  bound  to  presume  that  the 
construction  and  the  rules  met  the  approbation  of  those  officers 
of  the  government  whose  duty  it  was  to  see  the  laws  faithfully 
executed  in  this  particular,  as  they  were  bound  to  see  that  their 
fiscal  agent  performed  what  they  held  themselves  obliged  to  per 
form  in  consequence  of  this  resolution.  They  are  also  bound  to 
presume  that  this  practice  was  in  accordance  with  the  intention 
of  the  members  of  Congress  who  voted  for  the  resolution,  and 
with  the  construction  given  to  it  by  the  State  banks  interested, 
as  the  practice  appears  to  have  governed  the  conduct  of  the 
bank,  without  any  interference  on  the  part  of  Congress,  from  the 
time  the  rules  and  regulations  were  adopted  until  the  month  of 
October,  1833,  when  the  public  money  ceased  to  be  deposited 
with  the  institution.  Surely,  then,  after  such  evidences  of  cotem- 
poraneous  construction,  it  will  not  be  contended  that  the  reso 
lution  of  1816  was  intended  to,  or  did,  make  the  receipt  of  all 
specie-paying  bank-notes  obligatory  upon  the  treasury. 

"After  this  period,  and  during  the  continuance  of  the  charter 
of  the  second  Bank  of  the  United  States,  no  laws  have  met  the 
attention  of  the  committee  which  varied  the  description  of  cur 
rency  or  media  of  payment  for  the  public  dues.  The  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States  —  treasury  notes,  and  the  notes  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  payable  on  demand  —  was,  there 
fore,  the  legal  currency  of  the  treasury,  with  the  permission, 
granted  by  the  resolution  of  1816,  to  receive  the  notes  of  the 
local  banks  payable  and  paid  on  demand  in  the  legal  currency  of 


756  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  United  States,  until  the  expiration  of  that  charter.  The 
charter  expired  on  the  3d  day  of  March,  1836,  by  its  own  limita 
tion,  and  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  June  after,  Congress  repealed 
its  fourteenth  section,  which  made  its  notes  receivable  in  pay 
ments  to  the  United  States. 

"  It  is  proper  here  to  remark  that  the  various  laws  authorizing 
emissions  of  treasury  notes,  and  making  them  receivable  for  all 
government  dues,  had  become  obsolete,  by  the  entire  redemption 
of  the  notes,  many  years  before  the  expiration  of  the  bank  char 
ter,  in  1836,  and  that  medium  of  payment  was  thus  practically 
withdrawn  from  the  currency  of  the  treasury.  The  expiration  of 
the  charter  of  the  bank,  and  the  law  of  the  15th  June,  1836, 
repealing  the  fourteenth  section  of  the  charter,  withdrew  another 
of  those  media  in  the  notes  of  the  bank,  thus  leaving  '  the  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States'  the  only  currency  compulsory 
upon  the  treasury,  but  leaving  also  the  permission  given,  by  the 
joint  resolution  of  1816,  to  receive  the  notes  of  specie-paying 
local  banks. 

"  This  continued  to  be  the  state  of  things  until  the  passage  of 
the  act  entitled  'An  act  to  regulate  the  deposits  of  the  public 
money,'  passed  on  the  23d  day  of  June,  1836.  The  last  clause  of 
the  fifth  section  of  that  act  is  in  the  following  words: 

"  '  Nor  shall  the  notes  or  bills  of  any  bank  be  received  in  payment  of  any 
debt  due  to  the  United  States,  which  shall,  after  the  fourth  day  of  July,  in 
the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-six,  issue  any  note  or  bill 
of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.' 

"Thus  modified,  the  law  compelled  the  receipt  of  the  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States,  and  permitted  the  receipt  of  the 
notes  of  such  specie-paying  banks  as  should  not,  after  the  4th  of 
July,  1836,  issue  notes  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars. 

"On  the  12th  of  October,  1837,  an  act  was  passed  entitled 
'An  act  to  authorize  the  issuing  of  treasury  notes,'  the  first 
clause  of  the  sixth  section  of  which  reads  as  follows: 

"  '  SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  treasury  notes  shall  be 
received  in  payment  of  all  duties  and  taxes  laid  by  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  of  all  public  lands  sold  by  the  said  authority,  and  of  all  debts 
to  the  United  States,  of  any  character  whatsoever,  which  may  be  due  and 
payable  at  the  time  when  said  treasury  notes  may  be  offered  in  payment.' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  757 

"  This  law  added  again  treasury  notes  as  a  medium  of  payment, 
and  thus  stands  the  law  at  the  present  time  —  the  legal  currency 
and  treasury  notes  being  made  receivable  by  law,  and  the  notes 
of  specie-paying  banks  which  have  not,  since  the  4th  day  of  July, 
1836,  and  do  not,  issue  notes  of  a  less  denomination  than  five 
dollars,  being  permitted  to  be  received  by  the  resolution  of  1816, 
as  modified  by  the  deposit  law  of  1836. 

"  In  this  last  review  of  the  legislation  in  relation  to  the  cur 
rency,  references  may  not  have  been  made,  in  all  cases,  to  the 
laws  prescribing  the  media  of  payment  for  the  public  lands,  but 
all  such  laws  are  believed  to  be  particularly  noticed  under  the 
former  head.  None  of  the  numerous  laws  regulating  the  value 
of  foreign  coin,  and  of  the  coins  of  the  United  States,  have  been 
referred  to  under  either  head,  as  the  coins  of  both  descriptions, 
as  far  as  regulated  by  law,  have  at  all  times  been  receivable  in 
all  the  branches  of  the  revenue,  and  for  all  dues  to  the  govern 
ment,  either  specifically,  by  the  terms  of  the  laws,  or  under  the 
general  designations  of  '  money  of  the  United  States '  and  '  legal 
currency  of  the  United  States.'  It  may,  however,  be  worthy  of 
remark,  that  considerable  changes  are  found  in  the  laws  regulat 
ing  the  value  of  foreign  coin,  both  as  to  the  descriptions  of  coins 
legalized  and  made  '  money  of  the  United  States,'  and  a  tender 
in  payment  of  debts,  and  as  to  the  value  fixed  to  the  coins  of 
different  countries  by  the  different  laws,  and  that,  during  some 
periods,  no  foreign  gold  coins,  and  very  few  foreign  silver  coins, 
if  any,  have  been  legalized.  It  also  appears  that,  by  an  act  passed 
on  the  3d  day  of  March,  1823,  the  gold  coins  of  Great  Britain, 
Portugal,  France  and  Spain  were  made  receivable  '  in  all  pay 
ments  on  account  of  the  public  lands,'  at  specified  rates,  but  for 
no  other  public  dues;  nor  were  any  foreign  gold  coins,  at  that 
time,  legalized  and  made  a  tender  in  the  payment  of  debts. 

"  Such  has  been  the  legislation  of  Congress  on  the  subject  of 
the  currency  or  media  of  payment  to  be  received  for  dues  to 
the  public  treasury;  and  from  it  we  learn  that,  with  the  exception 
of  the  two  bank  charters  and  the  resolution  of  1816,  it  has,  in  all 
cases  and  for  all  purposes,  required  in  payment  of  the  public  dues 
gold  and  silver  coin,  or  securities  issued  upon  the  faith  and  credit 
of  the  government.  The  bank  charters  present  the  only  instances 


758  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

where  bank-notes  have  been  made  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts  due  to  the  United  States;  and  in  those  instances  the  notes 
of  the  banks  themselves  only  were  so  made,  being  the  notes  of 
banks  in  which  the  government  itself  was  a  stockholder  to  the 
amount  of  one-fifth  part  of  the  whole  capital;  of  banks  created 
by  Congress,  and  over  which  Congress  held  sovereign  control, 
both  as  the  creating  Legislature  and  as  the  guardian  of  the  pro 
perty  of  the  people  invested  in  them.  The  committee  do  not 
mean  to  be  understood  as  speaking  in  terms  of  approbation  of 
legalizing  the  notes  of  even  these  banks  as  a  currency  compulsory 
upon  the  treasury,  but  merely  as  distinguishing  the  banks  which 
issued  them  from  the  banks  chartered  by  the  States,  over  which 
Congress  has  no  control,  in  the  management  of  which  no  branch 
of  this  government  can  exercise  any  voice,  and  in  which  the 
United  States  hold  no  interest. 

"Still,  the  proposition  referred  to  the  committee,  and  now 
under  consideration,  is  that  all  the  notes  of  all  the  specie-paying 
State  banks  of  the  country,  of  all  such  banks  which  the  States 
shall  hereafter  charter,  and  of  all  such  banks  which  may  be  here 
after  formed  under  any  general  bank  laws  or  systems  of  free 
banking  which  any  of  the  States  have  adopted  or  may  hereafter 
adopt,  '  shall  be  received  in  payment  of  the  revenue,  and  of  debts 
and  dues  to  the  government.'  Such  they  understand  to  be  the 
scope  and  effect  of  the  proposition  embraced  in  the  resolution 
referred  to  them.  Will  the  Senate  adopt  it  ?  The  committee 
hope  and  believe  not.  The  deliberate  expression  of  the  body 
against  a  proposition  substantially  similar,  during  its  present 
session,  strengthens  this  hope. 

"  The  permission  to  receive  the  notes  of  specie-paying  State 
banks  still  exists,  under  the  resolution  of  1816.  Do  the  interests 
of  this  government  require  more  than  this  permission  ?  Will 
the  security  of  the  public  treasure,  the  money  of  the  people 
intrusted  to  the  keeping  of  Congress,  be  increased  by  making 
the  receipt  of  these  notes  compulsory  upon  the  treasury  ?  The 
Constitution  has  protected  the  people  themselves  against  being 
compelled  to  take  bank-notes  of  any  character  in  payment  of 
dues  to  them,  as  individual  citizens.  It  declares  that  '  no  State 
shall  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  759 

of  debts;'  and  no  one  ever  has,  and  the  committee  presume  no 
one  will  now,  claim  for  Congress  the  power  thus  denied  to  the 
States.  Were  the  fathers  of  the  land,  the  framers  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  wise  in  extending  this  protection 
to  the  individual  citizens  of  the  country  ?  Did,  and  do,  their 
private  interests  require  this  protection  ?  All  will  answer  these 
questions  affirmatively.  Is  it  possible,  then,  that  their  collected 
interest,  their  public  treasure,  is  to  be  rendered  more  secure  by 
an  exactly  opposite  rule  ?  Is  it  possible  that  their  private, 
individual  property  can  only  be  protected  by  securing  to  them 
the  right  to  demand  gold  and  silver  in  payment  of  their  debts  ? 
and  that  their  common  treasure  is  to  be  better  protected  by 
taking  this  right  from  their  servants,  charged  with  its  col 
lection?  The  citizens  are  at  liberty  to  receive  bank  paper  in 
payment  of  their  debts,  if  they  think  it  safe  to  do  so,  and  the 
collectors  of  their  revenue  are  at  liberty  to  receive  bank  paper 
into  the  public  treasury,  if  they  think  the  paper  safe  to  that 
treasury.  The  Constitution  guards  the  former  against  a  compul 
sion  to  take  the  paper  ;  and  should  Congress  force  that  compul 
sion  upon  the  latter,  because  the  Constitution  does  not  interpose 
to  prevent  it  ?  The  servants  of  the  people  in  Congress  or  in  the 
State  Legislatures  cannot  force  bank  paper  into  the  pockets  of 
their  constituents,  in  satisfaction  of  their  debts;  and  should  they 
force  it  into  their  public  treasuries,  in  satisfaction  of  the  dues  to 
them  ?  The  committee  can  see  no  state  of  facts,  or  train  of  argu 
ment,  which  can  reconcile  these  contradictions,  and  make  the 
passage  of  this  part  of  the  resolution  a  public  duty.  Is  this 
proposition  to  be  adopted  for  the  benefit  of  the  banks,  as  it  is 
seen  its  adoption  cannot  be  urged  as  a  protection  to  the  public 
interests  and  the  public  treasure  ?  Do  the  banks  require  or  ask 
it  ?  The  committee  believe  they  can  answer  for  the  solvent  and 
well-conducted  banks,  that  they  have  no  such  need,  and  make  no 
such  request  ;  that  they  have  no  desire  that  the  currency  of  their 
notes  should  rest  upon  any  stronger  basis  than  their  known 
ability  and  willingness  to  redeem  them  with  gold  and  silver,  on 
demand  ;  and  that  they  would  not,  if  they  could,  have  the  notes 
of  the  eight  or  nine  hundred  banks  of  the  several  States  made  a 
legal  tender  for  any  purpose.  That  there  have  been  banks  which 


760  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

required  the  force  of  law  to  make  their  notes  current  and  valu 
able,  recent  experience  has  demonstrated,  as,  in  the  absence  of  such 
a  law  to  force  them  upon  the  public,  they  have  fallen  dead  and 
valueless  upon  the  hands  of  private  holders.  That  there  may  be 
other  banks  in  the  country  which  yet  purport  to  be  sound,  and 
which  still  may  require  the  aid  of  such  a  law  as  is  here  proposed, 
to  enable  them  to  pass  off  their  notes  for  a  much  longer  period, 
is  very  possible ;  but  the  committee  sincerely  hope,  if  such  there 
are,  that  their  number  is  small,  and  they  are  sure  that  none  will 
advocate  the  passage  of  the  resolution  for  the  benefit  of  such 
banks.  Of  one  thing  they  are  most  happy  to  be  assured,  and  that 
is,  that  there  are  some  banks  in  the  country  which  require  no  such 
artificial  aid;  which  have  resumed  specie  payments,  and  are  rising 
up,  under  all  the  embarrassments  of  the  times,  to  the  full  per 
formance  of  their  whole  duties  to  themselves  and  the  public;  and 
which  present,  to  those  behind  them,  a  most  worthy  example  of 
what  good  management  and  good  faith  can  accomplish,  without 
the  aid  of  a  law  which  shall  compel  the  receipt  of  their  paper. 

"  Try  the  proposition  under  consideration  upon  the  banks  them 
selves.  Would  they  receive  each  other's  notes  at  par  when  they 
were  all  specie-paying  banks  ?  Will  a  single  sound  bank  among 
the  whole  number  now  consent  to  the  passage  of  laws  which  shall 
compel  them  to  receive  each  other's  paper  at  par,  or  even  to 
receive  it  at  all,  after  they  shall  have  resumed  specie  payments? 
Most  certainly  not.  Then  shall  Congress,  by  its  legislation,  com 
pel  a  credit  for  the  notes  of  the  banks  at  the  treasury,  which 
they  will  not  give,  upon  any  terms,  to  the  notes  of  each  other  ? 
Most  assuredly  the  banks  will  not  have  the  effrontery  to  ask 
Congress  to  do  this. 

"  It  may  be  said,  as  it  has  been  said,  that  opposition  to  this 
resolution  is  hostility  to  the  State  banks.  The  committee  cannot 
view  it  in  that  light.  Is  it  hostility  to  a  bank  to  decline  to  make 
its  notes  receivable,  by  the  force  of  law,  in  the  payment  of  debts  ? 
Have  the  rights  of  private  incorporations  become  already  so  far 
advanced  in  our  free  country  ?  Are  we  compelled  to  pass  laws 
to  force  off  their  notes,  or  be  warred  upon  by  these  institutions  ? 
Have  the  rights  of  corporators  become  already  so  far  paramount 
to  the  rights  of  the  individual  citizen,  that  we  must  so  frame  our 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  761 

laws  as  to  compel  the  promises  of  the  one  to  be  received  at  our 
treasury  while  we  exact  the  money  from  the  other,  or  be  set 
down  enemies  to  the  corporations,  meriting  their  vengeance  ?  Is 
it  a  crime  against  the  banks  to  object  against  making  that  a  legal 
tender  at  the  public  treasury  which  the  banks  will  not  recognize 
to  be  a  currency  at  their  counters?  No.  The  condition  of  the 
American  legislator  has  not  yet  become  so  degraded.  The 
banker,  deserving  the  name,  who  appreciates  the  privileges  con 
ferred  upon  him  by  law  in  the  charter  of  his  bank,  and  feels  the 
obligations  which  attend  upon  his  profession  ;  who  can  content 
himself  with  reasonable  gains,  and  admits  that  he  is  not,  more 
than  the  private  citizen,  exempt  from  the  common  moral  obliga 
tion  of  paying  his  debts  when  he  is  able  to  do  so,  will  interpose 
no  claims,  and  ask  no  such  protection  for  his  credit.  He  will 
applaud  the  legislator  for  passing  such  laws  as  will  protect  pri 
vate  rights,  private  property,  the  public  interests  of  his  constitu 
ents,  and  public  liberty,  even  though  some  of  those  laws  should 
be  intended  to  restrain  the  abuses  of  banking.  He  will  not  con 
sider  efforts  to  protect  the  public  morals  and  the  interests  of  the 
whole  people  against  any  and  all  threatened  dangers,  as  hostile 
to  him  or  his  bank;  and  if  such  a  charge  is  to  come  from  those 
engaged  in  the  business  of  banking,  it  is  to  be  looked  for  from 
those  only  who  are  conscious  of  a  weakness  requiring  the  aid  of 
laws  such  as  that  now  proposed;  from  those  who  have  enjoyed 
the  monopoly  of  having  their  notes  exclusively  made  the  legal 
currency  of  the  public  treasury,  until  the  wealth  and  power 
acquired  from  too  much  public  patronage  and  favor  have  em 
boldened  them  to  demand  as  a  right,  in  all  situations,  the  exclu 
sive  privileges  which  were  only  accorded  to  relations  the  most 
intimate,  and  interests  perfectly  identical  between  them  and  the 
public  ;  or  from  those  whose  habit  of  leaning  upon  the  public 
treasury  for  support  has  become  so  confirmed  that  that  support 
is  rendered  essential  to  healthful  existence.  To  such,  the  refusal 
to  pass  this  part  of  the  resolution  may  seem  a  hostile  act,  not 
because  they  believe  they  possess  the  right  to  demand  the  pro 
tection,  but  because  they  feel  its  necessity  too  deeply  to  be  able 
to  reason  as  to  the  right. 

"It  may  be  said,  as  it  has  been  said,  that  the  government  is 


762  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

believed  to  be  hostile  to  the  State  banks,  and  that  this  provision 
of  the  resolution  should  be  passed  to  rebut  so  injurious  a  pre 
sumption.  The  foundation  for  this  suggestion,  and  the  character 
of  the  remedy  recommended  for  the  supposed  evil,  deserve  some 
examination,  that  the  public  mind  may  be  disabused  upon  both 
points. 

"  First,  then,  what  foundation  is  there  for  the  allegation  that 
the  government  is  hostile  to  the  State  banks,  and  is  prosecuting 
an  exterminating  war  against  them  ?  Previous  to  the  month  of 
October,  1833,  all  the  connection  which  had  existed  between  the 
government  of  the  United  States  and  the  banks  chartered  by  the 
States,  for  a  term  of  nearly  eighteen  years,  had  been  prescribed, 
formed  and  conducted  by  and  through  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  acting  as  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States.  The  committee,  in  a  former  part  of  this  report,  have 
shown  what  that  connection  was,  and  how  far  it  extended.  It 
consisted  in  the  reception,  by  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and 
its  branches,  '  in  payment  of  the  revenue  of  the  United  States,' 
of  the  notes  of  such  State  banks  as  c  redeemed  their  engagements 
with  specie,'  and  were  '  located  in  the  city  or  place '  where  the 
receiving  bank  or  branch  was  located,  and  of  the  return  of  those 
notes  to  the  State  bank  which  issued  them,  '  at  least  once  in 
every  week,'  to  be  redeemed  with  specie.  This  was  the  character 
and  extent  of  the  connection  between  the  public  treasury  and 
the  local  banks,  under  the  fiscal  management  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States.  To  prepare  for  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of 
that  bank,  and  for  the  winding  up  of  its  affairs  as  a  national 
bank,  an  institution  which  public  opinion  had  clearly  indicated 
was  not  to  have  existence  in  this  country  after  the  expiration  of 
that  charter,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  under  the  direction  of 
the  President,  ordered  the  public  money,  from  and  after  the  1st 
day  of  October,  1833,  to  be  made  in  certain  designated  State  banks, 
and  not  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  This  was  the  commence 
ment  of  a  more  extensive,  intimate  and  responsible  connection 
between  the  government  and  the  local  banks.  It  was  matured 
and  continued  by  executive  direction,  without  any  definitive 
action  on  the  part  of  Congress,  until  the  23d  day  of  June,  1836. 
In  the  meantime,  this  action  on  the  part  of  the  executive  branch 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  763 

of  the  government  was  most  loudly  complained  of,  as  exhibiting 
a  spirit  of  favoritism,  toward  the  local  banks,  dangerous  to  the 
public  treasure  of  the  nation,  destructive  of  public  confidence, 
and  consequently  of  public  and  private  credit ;  as  rendering  cer 
tain  the  entire  prostration  of  business,  and  the  dissemination  of 
distress  and  bankruptcy  throughout  the  land.  The  public  reve 
nue,  however,  continued  to  accumulate  with  a  rapidity  thereto 
fore  unexampled,  and  business  took  a  sudden  impetus,  which 
drove  it  from  a  state  of  healthful  and  vigorous  to  one  of  wild 
and  feverish  action  in  the  space  of  less  than  two  years.  These 
appearances  filled  the  minds  of  many  of  the  friends  of  the  policy 
of  the  executive  with  anxiety  and  concern,  while  the  complaints 
of  the  opponents  of  the  policy  were  changed  to  the  dangers 
impending  over  the  numerous  millions  of  the  public  money  in 
the  insecure  banks  ;  the  improper  uses  to  which  the  money  was 
applied  by  the  institutions  ;  the  certainty  of  fatal  derangements 
in  the  paper  currency  to  be  caused  by  the  excesses,  and  the  like. 
At  this  crisis,  and  on  the  23d  day  of  June,  1836,  the  act  was 
passed  entitled  '  An  act  to  regulate  the  deposits  of  the  public 
money.'  That  act  legalized  the  connection  between  the  govern 
ment  and  the  banks,  and  prescribed  regulations  of  law  for  its 
future  continuance.  Still,  the  unnatural  accumulations  of  reve 
nue  continued  in  a  manner  to  alarm  the  minds  of  all,  and  to  fur 
nish  the  most  conclusive  evidence  of  fearful  excesses  in  banking, 
and  in  the  use  of  credits  generally.  The  deposit  act  proposed  no 
check  to  this  state  of  things,  so  far  as  the  public  revenue  was 
concerned,  though  it  did  provide  another,  and  what  Congress 
considered  a  safer,  mode  of  keeping  the  vast  amount  of  treasure 
collected  and  collecting.  No  other  action  of  Congress  provided 
this  check ;  and  as  much  the  greatest  excess  of  collections  was 
coming  in  from  the  lands,  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1836,  and  on  the  eleventh  day  of  that  month,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  under  the  direction  of  the  President, 
issued  the  order  respecting  the  medium  in  which  payments  for 
lands  would,  after  certain  periods  named,  be  required  to  be  made. 
This  order  first  changed  the  tone  of  complaint  from  that  of  favor 
itism  on  the  part  of  the  government  toward  the  local  banks,  to 
that  of  deadly  hostility  against  them.  Time  passed  on,  however, 


764  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  Congress  met  and  adjourned  again,  and  no  law  was  passed 
affecting  the  collection  of  the  revenue  in  any  of  its  branches. 
The  order  had  had  the  effect  to  diminish  to  some  extent,  but  to 
a  much  less  extent  than  was  anticipated  by  its  friends  and  pre 
dicted  by  its  opponents,  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  and  to 
lessen,  in  the  same  proportion,  the  accumulation  of  revenue  from 
that  source.  By  this  time,  also,  unequivocal  evidences  of  a  gene 
ral  business  and  commercial  revulsion  were  exhibiting  them 
selves,  not  only  throughout  this  country,  but  most  of  the  com 
mercial  countries  of  Europe,  and  so  rapidly  did  the  change  sweep 
on,  that,  before  the  expiration  of  the  month  of  May,  1837,  with 
a  few  unimportant  exceptions,  all  the  banking  institutions  of  the 
United  States  were  induced  to  suspend  the  payment  of  their 
notes  in  specie. 

"  This  produced  a  new  and  embarrassing  state  of  things  for  the 
government.  All  the  means  of  the  treasury  to  meet  the  current 
expenditures  of  the  country  were  on  deposit  in  the  banks,  and 
they  were,  by  law,  the  depositories  of  the  accruing  revenue. 
Still,  the  act  making  them  so  prohibited  the  selection,  as  depo 
sitories,  of  any  but  specie-paying  banks,  and  made  it  the  impera 
tive  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  discontinue  any 
bank  as  a  depository  which  should  t  at  any  time  refuse  to  pay  its 
own  notes  in  specie,  if  demanded,'  and  to  '  withdraw  from  it  the 
public  moneys  which  it  may  hold  on  deposit  at  the  time  of  such 
discontinuance.'  The  deposit  banks,  therefore,  were  all  to  be 
instantly  discontinued,  and  the  country  presented  no  others 
which  could  be  selected,  because  it  presented  no  specie-paying 
banks.  Hence  other  depositories,  different  from  and  independent 
of  the  banks,  were  to  be  constituted,  and,  as  a  natural  and  almost 
necessary  consequence,  the  officers  of  the  government,  charged 
with  the  collection  of  the  public  dues,  were  charged  also  with 
the  keeping  of  the  money  collected,  until  it  was  required  for 
disbursement.  Another  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
made  equally  imperative  by  the  deposit  law,  was  promptly 
to  withdraw  from  the  banks,  which  had  been  depositories 
and  were  discontinued,  the  public  moneys  held  by  them 
on  deposit  at  the  time  of  their  discontinuance.  The  per 
formance  of  this  duty  involved  greater  difficulty,  and,  indeed, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  765 

was  rendered  impossible.  The  laws  which  have  been  before 
referred  to,  the  resolution  of  1816  being  included,  limited  the 
power  as  well  as  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as 
to  the  currency  or  media  of  payment  he  was  at  liberty  to  receive 
from  the  banks  or  from  any  other  public  debtors ;  and  neither 
that  resolution,  nor  any  of  the  other  laws,  permitted  him  to  take 
in  payments  to  the  United  States  the  notes  of  any  bank  which 
did  not  pay  its  notes,  on  demand,  in  the  legal  currency  of  the 
United  States ;  while  another  existing  law,  which  will  be  here 
after  referred  to,  expressly  prohibited  him  from  paying  out  such 
notes.  The  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks  was 
extended,  as  well  to  their  public  and  private  deposits  as  to  their 
notes,  and  they,  therefore,  would  not  answer  the  drafts  of  the 
Treasurer  in  any  currency  or  medium  which  the  law  permitted 
him  either  to  receive  or  disburse.  The  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  for 
the  moneys  held  on  deposit  by  the  banks,  at  the  time  of  their 
discontinuance  as  depositories,  were  consequently  protested  for 
non-payment  and  returned,  and  little  or  nothing  was  realized, 
from  the  means  on  hand  at  the  time  of  the  suspension,  to  meet 
the  current  expenses  of  the  government.  To  a  very  great  extent, 
and  from  the  operation  of  the  same  causes,  the  accruing  revenue 
was  cut  off,  and  the  public  treasury  threatened  to  be  left  wholly 
without  means  to  meet  the  calls  upon  it.  The  notes  of  the  non- 
specie-paying  banks  could  not  be  received  in  payment  of  the 
revenue  from  customs  ;  and  as  the  merchants  could  not,  when 
their  bonds  fell  due,  obtain  specie  from  the  banks,  either  for  the 
bank-notes  or  for  their  own  private  deposits,  they  could  not  make 
payment,  and  the  bonds  lay  over  unpaid.  It  is  true  the  revenue 
from  the  public  lands  had  been,  for  some  months,  collectible  in 
specie  only,  except  the  few  payments  in  Virginia  land  scrip;  but 
the  suspension  by  the  banks  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  those 
wishing  to  purchase  lands  to  obtain  specie  to  so  great  an  extent 
as  to  render  this  resource  wholly  inadequate  to  the  supply  of  the 
treasury. 

"  Under  these  circumstances  the  President  issued  his  procla 
mation  to  convene  Congress  on  the  first  Monday  of  September 
last.  In  the  meantime  the  debtor  banks  and  debtor  merchants 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  executive  officers  of  the  government, 


766  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and,  until  Congress  interposed,  were  subject  to  the  treatment 
which  those  officers  should  choose  to  extend  toward  defaulting 
debtors.  Did  they  meet  a  spirit  of  hostility  ?  Was  a  warlike 
course  of  measures  adopted  ?  Did  they  find  a  disposition  to  exter 
minate  manifested  in  the  lenity  and  forbearance  extended,  cer 
tainly  without  law,  if  not  against  law  ?  No  such  charge  or  pre 
tense,  from  the  parties  interested,  has  reached  the  committee, 
and  certain  it  is  that  no  foundation  for  either  exists  in  the  true 
history  of  the  events. 

"  Next  in  the  order  of  time  came  the  message  of  the  President, 
communicated  to  Congress  at  the  commencement  of  the  extra 
session,  and  in  this,  and  the  annual  message  of  December  last, 
are  supposed  to  be  found  recommendations  by  which  to  sustain 
this  charge  of  hostility  against  the  State  banks. 

"  What  are  these  recommendations  in  substance  ?  As  the  com 
mittee  recollect  and  understand  them,  they  are  that  the  connec 
tion  which  had  existed  between  the  government  and  the  State 
banks  for  the  time,  to  the  extent  and  in  the  manner  before 
related,  which  had  become  dissolved  by  the  action  of  the  banks 
themselves  and  which  had  proved  so  disastrous  to  both  during 
its  continuance,  should  not  be  renewed;  that  thereafter  the 
money  of  the  people  should  be  kept  and  disbursed  by  the  ser 
vants  of  the  people,  and  not  by  the  officers  of  private  incorpora 
tions;  in  short,  that  a  system  for  the  management  of  the  finances 
of  the  country,  substantially  similar  to  that  forced  upon  the  gov 
ernment  by  the  suspension  of  the  banks,  should  be  adopted. 
What,  then,  is  that  system?  The  committee  believe  they  can 
answer  truly  that,  so  far  as  the  State  banks  are  concerned,  it  is  a 
system  in  its  general  outline  and  action  very  similar  to  that 
prescribed  and  practiced  upon  by  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
ameliorated  by  the  absence  of  that  fearful  rivalship  in  the  busi 
ness  of  banking  which  constituted  the  most  prominent  feature  of 
that  overshadowing  institution;  ameliorated  in  some  other,  to 
State  institutions,  important  features,  and  merely  transferring  the 
agency  for  the  treasury  from  an  incorporated  bank  to  public  offi 
cers  selected  and  appointed  according  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  law,  and  responsible  to  the  people  and  the 
regularly  constituted  tribunals  of  the  country  for  their  faithful- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  767 

ness  in  their  trusts.  A  very  brief  analysis  of  the  two  systems, 
comparing  the  one  with  the  other  at  each  step  of  the  process, 
will  illustrate  this  position  of  the  committee. 

"  The  system  recommended  by  the  President  proposes  to  make 
public  officers,  at  the  points  required,  the  fiscal  agents  of  the  trea 
sury,  and  not  the  State  banks. 

"  The  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  made  it  and  its 
branches  the  fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury,  and  not  the  State 
banks. 

"  The  system  recommended  by  the  President  proposes  that  the 
public  officers  to  whom  the  duty  shall  be  assigned  by  law  shall 
be  the  depositaries  of  the  public  money,  and  shall  receive,  keep 
and  disburse  the  same,  and  not  the  State  banks. 

"The  charter  of  the  bank  made  it  and  its  branches  the  deposi 
tories  of  the  public  money  and  the  agents  of  the  treasury  to 
receive,  keep  and  disburse  the  same,  and  not  the  State  banks. 

"The  system  recommended  by  the  President  necessarily 
excludes  all  use  of  the  public  money  and  all  business  by  the 
fiscal  agents  of  the  treasury  which  can  come  in  competition  with 
the  business  of  the  State  banks. 

"  The  system  established  in  and  under  the  bank  created 
expressly  a  competitor  too  powerful  for  the  State  banks  with 
out  any  portion  of  the  public  patronage,  and  then  threw  into  its 
lap  the  whole  pecuniary  patronage  of  the  government,  thus  plac 
ing  the  State  banks  entirely  at  its  mercy. 

"  The  system  recommended  by  the  President  does  not  propose 
so  to  legalize  any  bank-notes  as  a  currency  as  to  make  them  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts  at  the  treasury. 

"  The  charter  of  the  bank  made  all  its  notes  t  payable  on 
demand '  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts  at  the  treasury,  but  did 
not  give  that  preference  to  similar  notes  of  the  State  banks. 

"  The  operation  of  the  system  recommended  by  the  President 
would  be  to  disburse,  in  payments  to  the  public  creditors,  any 
notes  of  the  State  banks  which  should  at  any  time  be  allowed  to 
be  received,  and  the  disbursement  of  which  the  existing  laws  and 
the  choice  secured  to  creditors  should  authorize. 

"The  practice  of  the  bank  was  to  disburse  no  bank-notes  but 
its  own,  and  to  present  all  the  State  bank-notes  it  received  in 


7(38  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

payment  of  the  revenue,  at  least  once  in  every  week,  to  be 
redeemed  with  specie;  and  to  receive  no  State  bank-notes  in  such 
payments  except  those  of  the  banks  located  at  the  places  where 
the  bank  and  its  branches  were  located. 

"  These  points  of  comparison  might  be  carried  further,  but  the 
committee  trust  the  above  are  sufficient  for  their  purpose.  The 
charge  they  are  considering  is  that  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the 
government  against  the  State  banks,  as  drawn  from  the  recom 
mendations  of  the  President.  These  recommendations  have, 
under  the  imposing  appellation  of  the  '  sub-treasury  scheme,' 
been  made  to  occupy  a  large  share  of  the  attention  of  the  coun 
try,  and  to  excite  the  deep  alarm  of  a  great  proportion  of  those 
interested  in  the  State  banking  institutions.  It  is  not  to  be  dis 
guised  that  the  strongest  charges  of  hostility  have  come  from 
those  who  are  friendly  to  the  system  of  a  national  bank  for  the 
management  of  our  finances;  and  hence  the  committee  have 
believed  it  fair  to  institute  this  comparison,  so  far  as  the  influ 
ence  of  either  upon  the  State  banks  is  concerned,  between  that 
and  the  system  recommended  by  the  President.  Can  the  friends 
of  the  former  claim  a  superiority  for  their  system  in  the  benefits 
conferred  upon  the  local  banking  institutions  ?  Can  they  claim 
superior  exemptions  from  the  checks  and  deprivations  which 
those  institutions  are  to  experience  under  either  system?  Let 
the  comparison  answer. 

"In  reference  to  any  benefits  anticipated  from  financial  agen 
cies  proceeding  from  the  treasury,  both  systems  are  equal  to  the 
State  banks.  Both  deprive  them  wholly  of  those  benefits. 

"  In  reference  to  the  benefits  derived  from  the  deposit  and  use 
of  the  public  money,  both  systems  are  equal  to  the  State  banks, 
for  both  deprive  them  of  those  benefits. 

"  In  reference  to  the  embarrassments  proceeding  from  compe 
tition,  the  system  recommended  by  the  President  is  wholly  favor 
able  to  the  State  banks.  It  constitutes  no  rival  and  prevents  all 
rivalship  growing  out  of  an  exclusive  use  of  the  public  money. 
The  national  bank  system  has  for  its  principal  object  the  creation 
of  a  commanding  and  an  all-powerful  rival,  and  proposes  to  give 
it  the  sole  and  exclusive  benefit  of  the  use  of  the  public  money. 

"  In  reference  to  the  benefits  derivable  from  a  bank  circulation 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  769 

growing  out  of  the  management  of  the  public  finances,  the  system 
recommended  by  the  President  is  also  wholly  favorable  to  the 
State  institutions,  as  compared  with  the  other.  If  no  bank-notes 
be  received  in  payment  of  the  public  revenue  or  disbursed  to  the 
public  creditors  under  this  system,  it  will  then  be  exactly  equal 
in  its  operation  upon  the  State  banks  with  the  national  bank  sys 
tem;  as,  while  the  notes  of  the  bank,  under  the  latter  system,  are 
to  be  made  a  legal  tender  in  payment  of  the  public  revenue,  it  is 
to  receive  in  such  payments  the  notes  of  no  State  banks  which 
are  not  at  its  door  and  cannot  be  presented  'at  least  once  in 
every  week '  to  be  redeemed  with  specie,  a  nominal  favor  which 
can  be  of  no  practical  value,  and  may,  at  periods  of  embarrass 
ment,  be  a  serious  injury  to  the  State  banks  whose  notes  are 
received  for  such  a  purpose.  So  far  as  disbursements  are  con 
cerned  the  two  systems  must,  upon  this  hypothesis,  be  always 
equal  to  the  State  banks.  If,  however,  Congress  shall  permit,  to 
any  extent  or  for  any  period  of  time,  the  receipt  or  disbursement, 
or  both,  of  bank-notes  in  the  management  of  the  public  revenues, 
the  State  banks,  under  the  system  recommended  by  the  President, 
would  have  all  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  such  permission; 
while  the  whole  benefits  would  be  exclusively  confined  to  the 
national  bank  under  that  system,  the  disbursements  being  always 
confined  to  its  own  notes. 

"  Is  the  government,  then,  justly  chargeable  with  hostility  to 
the  State  banks,  because  the  President  has  recommended  such  a 
system  of  finance  for  the  approbation  of  Congress  ?  Can  such  a 
charge  come  with  propriety  from  the  friends  of  a  national  bank? 
The  State  institutions  survived  and  prospered  under  the  national 
bank  system.  Surely,  then,  under  one  so  very  similar  in  -many 
of  its  features,  and  so  greatly  ameliorated  in  others  so  far  as  its 
action  upon  them  is  concerned,  they  cannot  be  exterminated;  nor 
can  it  be  said  with  reason  or  fairness  that  a  system  so  ameliorated 
toward  them  has  been  devised  for  their  destruction  or  recom 
mended  from  an  unfriendly  spirit  toward  them. 

"What  is  required  at  the  hands  of  Congress  to  rebut  this 

unfounded  presumption  of  hostility  V     To  make  the  notes  of  the 

eight  or  nine  hundred  banks  of  the  country  a  legal  tender  so  fast 

as  those  banks  shall  resume  specie  payments.     Sweeping  remedy, 

49 


770  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

truly,  for  an  imaginary  disease!  The  Congress  of  the  United 
States  is  asked  to  change  its  whole  policy,  to  abandon  the  hope 
of  extending  and  rendering  stable  and  firm  a  specie  basis  for  the 
paper  currency  of  the  country,  to  throw  away  the  occasion  now 
offered  when  coin  is  flowing  into  our  ports,  and  to  adopt  and 
legalize  bank  paper  as  the  standard  of  currency  for  the  national 
treasury  —  and  for  what?  Simply  to  rebut  the  suspicion  that 
the  government  is  hostile  to  the  banks. 

"  It  may  be  said  that  the  passage  of  this  clause  of  the  resolu 
tion  is  not  made  desirable  by  this  cause  singly,  but  that  the 
inducement  it  will  hold  out  to  the  banks  to  resume  specie  pay 
ments  renders  its  passage  proper  and  expedient.  That  a  return 
to  specie  payments  by  the  State  banks  is  desirable  and  important 
to  every  interest,  public  and  private,  the  committee  know  and 
feel;  but  can  it  be  safe  or  proper  for  Congress  to  pass  a  law 
which,  so  far  as  its  action  can  go,  shall  make  the  currency  of  the 
country  exclusively  paper,  as  an  inducement  to  the  banks  to  pay 
specie  —  or  rather  to  agree  to  pay  specie  —  when  specie  will  be 
no  longer  demanded?  Is  it  incumbent  upon  Congress  so  to 
legislate  as  necessarily  to  drive  all  specie  from  the  country,  by 
interposing  a  legal  substitute  of  bank  paper,  as  a  means  of  ena 
bling  the  banks  to  pay  specie?  Will  the  Senate  go  further  in 
holding  out  inducements  to  produce  a  return  to  specie  payments, 
by  way  of  indorsing  the  paper  of  the  banks,  than  the  States 
which  have  created  them  will  consent  to  go?  The  committee 
believe  that  some  of  the  States  have  made  the  notes  of  such  of 
their  banks  receivable,  by  law,  at  the  State  treasury,  as  are 
owned  in  part  or  principally  by  the  State  itself;  thus  doing  in 
this  respect  what  Congress  did  do  in  reference  to  the  two  Banks 
of  the  United  States.  But  it  is  not  believed  that  any  State  has 
made  the  notes  of  its  banks  in  which  the  State  has  no  interest  a 
legal  tender  in  payment  of  debts  due  to  itself,  and  yet  most  of 
the  States  have  legislated  with  express  reference  to  their  banking 
institutions  since  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  in  May,  183T. 

"Another  argument  urged  for  the  adoption  of  this  provision  is, 
that  the  times  require  the  extension  of  unusual  favor  toward  the 
banks.  The  committee  have  reviewed  the  condition  of  our  mone 
tary  affairs  in  1816,  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  late  war 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  771 

with  Great  Britain,  and  also  the  extreme  indulgence  which  Con 
gress  could  then  be  brought  to  extend  to  the  State  banks  of  that 
day;  and  will  it  be  pretended  that  the  State  banks  now  present 
stronger  claims  upon  the  patronage  and  favor  and  indulgence  of 
this  government  than  did  those  of  1816?  There  is  a  wide  and 
marked  difference  in  the  relations  existing  between  the  govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  and  the  banks  in  1816  and  at  the  pres 
ent  time.  Then  the  principal  embarrassments  of  the  banks  were 
brought  upon  them  by  their  advances  to  the  government  to  assist 
it  through  the  war,  which  money  the  government  could  not  pay. 
Now,  the  principal  embarrassments  of  the  government  are 
brought  upon  it  by  having  advanced  money  to  the  banks  for 
safe-keeping,  which  they  cannot  pay.  Still,  in  1816,  if  the  con 
struction  of  the  resolution  of  that  year,  as  given  by  the  commit 
tee,  be  correct,  Congress  would  only  permit  the  reception  of  the 
notes  of  the  banks  at  the  treasury,  at  the  option  of  the  fiscal 
officers  of  the  government,  after  they  should  have  resumed  spe 
cie  payment.  If  Congress  is  not  disposed  to  go  further  now  to 
favor  the  banks  than  it  went  then,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the 
resolution  then  passed  is  still  in  force,  and  as  applicable  to  bank 
ing  institutions  now  as  it  was  then  if  they  will  bring  themselves 
within  its  provisions;  and  to  allay  all  cause  of  apprehension  upon 
the  subject,  either  as  to  the  understanding  of  the  collecting  offi 
cers  of  the  government  or  as  to  the  exercise  of  their  discretion 
under  that  resolution,  it  is  proper  to  state  that  information  has 
already  reached  this  city  that,  in  a  few  commercial  towns  where 
a  resumption  is  known  to  have  taken  place,  the  notes  of  the 
resuming  banks  are  freely  received  in  payment  of  duties,  post 
ages  and  all  other  public  dues. 

"Is  it  desirable,  for  any  purpose,  that  a  wider  circulation 
should  be  given  to  the  notes  of  these  specie-paying  banks  by  the 
action  of  this  government ;  that  they  should  be  made  a  legal  ten 
der  in  the  payment  of  debts  to  the  United  States  in  all  parts  of 
the  Union?  The  committee  think  this  is  not  desirable  and 
would  not  be  useful  to  the  banks  themselves,  and  they  are  cer 
tain  it  would  be  eminently  hazardous  to  the  treasury  to  give 
them  that  currency.  It  would  almost  certainly  lead  again  to 
dangerous  expansions  on  the  part  of  the  banks,  and  to  a  repeti- 


772  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tion  of  the  present  scenes  of  revulsion,  contraction  and  depres 
sion;  and  were  these  scenes  again  to  be  repeated,  and  under  such 
a  law,  the  government  might  not  escape  as  it  has  lately  done. 

"  Take  an  instance  as  an  illustration.  Suppose  the  resumption 
to  have  become  perfect,  and  that  the  banks  are  all  reinstated  in 
the  public  confidence,  and  are  all  believed  to  be  '  sound.'  The 
provision  of  the  resolution  then  acts  upon  their  notes  with  the 
force  of  law,  and  compels  their  receipt  in  all  payments  to  the 
United  States.  Some  one,  among  the  whole  number,  gets  into 
the  hands  of  bad  and  unprincipled  managers,  and  its  powers  are 
employed  in  the  purchase  of  the  public  lands.  Nothing  is  to  be 
done  but  to  fill  up  and  sign  a  sufficient  amount  of  its  notes,  and 
present  them  simultaneously  at  the  various  land  offices,  and, 
before  the  fraud  can  be  discovered  or  counteracted,  any  quantity 
of  the  public  domain  may  be  received  in  exchange  for  the  paper, 
even  to  the  last  acre  open  for  sale.  This,  the  committee  are 
aware,  is  supposing  an  extreme  case;  but  it  is  by  presenting  such 
to  the  mind,  that  the  facility  with  which  frauds  may  be  practiced, 
similar  in  character  but  less  in  extent,  is  made  apparent.  And 
so  extensive  is  the  public  domain,  and  so  numerous  the  banks 
whose  notes  are  to  be  made  a  legal  tender  in  payment  for  them, 
that  all  must  see  the  strongest  grounds  for  apprehension  under 
such  a  system.  In  the  other  great  branch  of  the  public  revenue, 
the  customs,  frauds  of  this  character  cannot  be  practiced  but  by 
the  aid  of  so  much  real  capital  as  to  afford  a  very  safe  protection 
against  them.  The  goods  must  be  purchased  in  foreign  countries, 
where  capital  or  solid  credit  only  will  procure  them,  and  the 
paper  will  merely  pay  the  duties;  while  in  the  purchase  of  the 
lands  there  is  no  other  limit  than  the  quantity  of  the  paper  made 
a  legal  tender,  or  the  quantity  of  the  lands  in  the  market. 

"  In  every  aspect  in  which  the  committee  have  been  able  to 
view  this  subject  they  see  nothing  but  evil  likely  to  follow  from 
the  passage  of  this  part  of  the  resolution;  evil  to  the  treasury, 
evil  to  the  currency  generally,  and  evil  to  the  banks  themselves. 
They  therefore  most  earnestly  hope  it  may  not  receive  the  appro 
bation  of  Congress. 

"  The  third  clause  of  the  resolution,  compelling  the  disburse 
ment  of  the  bank-notes,  is  in  the  following  words : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  773 

" '  And  (the  bank-notes  made  receivable  and  received)  shall  be  subsequently 
disbursed,  in  a  course  of  public  expenditure,  to  all  public  creditors  who  are 
willing  to  receive  them.' 

"  This  part  of  the  resolution  has,  at  least,  the  merit  of  being 
new,  and  is  not,  like  both  the  other  portions,  a  repetition  of  any 
previous  action  of  the  Senate  during  its  present  session.  So  far 
as  the  observation  of  the  committee  has  extended,  it  can  claim 
greater  novelty,  as  they  have  not  fonnd  any  previous  proposition 
made  to  Congress  to  compel  the  disbursement  of  bank-notes  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues.  On  the  contrary,  they  have  found 
numerous  propositions  and  several  laws  to  restrain,  limit,  and 
even  prohibit  disbursements  in  such  a  medium. 

"If  the  former  clause  of  the  resolution  should  be  rejected,  the 
committee  suppose  this  would  fall  with  it,  as  they  are  not  pre 
pared  to  expect  that  any  will  urge  a  compulsory  provision  for 
making  the  public  disbursements  in  bank  paper  more  broad  than 
the  provisions  of  law  for  the  reception  of  the  same  paper.  Such 
is  not  the  character  of  the  proposition,  as  it  stands  in  the  resolu 
tion,  and  the  Senate  will  not  certainly  be  inclined,  by  any  action 
on  its  part,  to  give  it  that  character. 

"  Upon  the  supposition,  however,  that  both  of  the  clauses 
should  pass,  and  become  a  part  of  the  law  regulating  the  collec 
tion  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenue,  the  action  of  the 
latter  upon  the  treasury  and  the  public  disbursements  deserves 
some  notice. 

"  If  the  committee  understand  the  fair  construction  and  effect 
of  this  last  clause,  it  would  be  a  positive  prohibition  upon  the 
fiscal  officers  against  presenting  for  payment  in  coin,  at  the  bank 
which  issued  it,  any  bank-note,  received  in  conformity  with  the 
requirements  of  the  second  clause,  until  that  note  had  been  first 
offered  in  payment  to  some  public  creditor,  and  that  creditor  had 
refused,  or  expressed  his  unwillingness  to  receive  it.  If  this  be 
the  true  construction  of  the  provision,  and  the  committee  are 
unable  to  discover  how  the  terms  used,  and  the  connection  in 
which  they  are  used,  can  admit  of  any  other,  then  it  appears  to 
them  that  the  inconvenient  consequences  they  will  proceed  to 
name  must  follow. 

"  Take  the  disbursements  in  our  Indian  department,  and  sup- 


774  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

pose  the  revenue  to  be  disbursed  is  paid  in  bank  paper,  as  it  will 
be  very  certain  to  be  when  all  the  bank  paper  of  the  country  shall 
be  made  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts  at  the  treasury.  The  annui 
ties  are  to  be  paid  to  the  Indians  residing  in  the  Indian  territory 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  The  means  of  payment  consist  of  that 
variety  of  bank  paper  which  would,  under  such  a  system  of 
finance,  compose  the  ordinary  receipts  at  the  treasury.  The 
agent,  to  make  the  payment,  must  take  the  paper,  go  to  the 
Indian  country,  offer  his  bank  paper  to  the  proper  individuals  of 
each  tribe  or  band,  meet  their  refusal  to  receive  it,  as  he  certainly 
would  if  the  Indians  were  left  free  to  act,  and  then  do  what  ? 
Either  return  to  the  settlements  and  sell  the  notes  for  the  best 
price  they  will  command  in  coin,  or  seek  out  among  the  States 
the  various  banks  whose  notes  he  holds,  present  them  at  their 
counters  for  payment  in  coin,  and  make  a  second  journey  to  the 
Indian  territory. 

"  Take,  again,  the  disbursements  to  the  army.  The  principal 
part  of  it  is  always  at  remote  frontier  stations.  The  funds  to 
pay  the  troops  are,  like  all  the  other  revenues,  collected  in  indis 
criminate  bank  paper.  The  paymaster  is  fitted  out  as  was  the 
Indian  agent,  in  the  supposed  case,  and,  were  the  soldier  to  have 
really  his  free  choice,  would  be  quite  as  certain  to  meet  with  the 
same  refusal  to  receive  the  paper.  In  that  event  his  course 
would,  from  necessity,  be  the  same  which  has  been  pointed  out 
for  the  agent. 

"  Take  the  disbursements  in  the  naval  service,  and  how  are  a 
portion  of  them  to  be  made,  without  an  actual  violation  of  the 
spirit  of  this  provision  ?  At  the  navy  yard,  upon  the  vessels  in 
port,  and  the  like,  the  notes  might  be  offered  or  paid,  as  in  the 
former  cases,  but  they  certainly  could  not  be  transported,  as 
means,  abroad  to  sustain  the  vessel  and  crew  upon  a  foreign  sta 
tion,  and  the  necessity  of  the  case  would  compel  the  fiscal  officers 
to  presume  a  refusal,  to  enable  them  to  convert  the  notes  into 
current  means. 

"  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  vast  number  of  cases  where  simi 
lar  difficulties  would  be  met  with;  and,  under  those  which  have 
been  enumerated,  how  much  freedom  of  choice  is  it  likely  would 
be  left  to  the  public  creditors  ?  Take  the  Indian,  and  who  does 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  775 

not  know  that  the  agent,  situated  as  in  the  supposed  case,  would 
give  him  at  once  to  understand  that  he  must  take  the  paper,  or 
wait  his  (the  agent's)  pleasure  for  the  specie  ?  And  who  does 
not  also  know  that  this,  to  the  Indian's  feelings  and  wants,  would 
be  equivalent  to  saying  he  must  take  the  paper  or  nothing,  and 
would  speedily  convert  him  into  a  public  creditor,  willing  to 
receive  the  paper  f 

"  So  with  the  soldier  upon  a  remote  station.  His  small  wages 
and  numerous  wants  render  the  periodical  rounds  of  the  paymas 
ter  much  less  frequent  than  would  be  desirable  to  him,  even  if 
there  be  no  question  about  his  pay  when  those  periods  arrive; 
but  let  the  paymaster  offer  him  bank-notes,  and  tell  him,  if  he 
decline  to  take  them,  he  must  wait  until  it  shall  be  his  (the  pay 
master's)  duty  to  visit  the  post  again,  and  how  will  he  choose, 
or,  rather,  what  choice  will  he  have  ?  The  compulsion  of  debts 
and  want  must  decide  the  question,  and  he  too  become  a  public 
creditor,  willing  to  take  the  paper. 

"  So  with  the  sailor,  with  the  laborers  at  the  navy  yards,  and 
indeed  in  all  branches  of  the  public  service.  Let  the  true  test  be 
applied.  Let  the  paying  agents  be  sent  with  gold  or  silver  and 
paper.  Let  them  offer  each,  and  ask  for  the  choice,  and  then 
these  public  creditors,  the  classes  most  strongly  appealing  to 
Congress  for  protection,  will  be  free  to  choose.  And  who  doubts 
how  they  will  choose  under  such  circumstances?  The  large 
creditors,  the  banks,  the  merchants  and  the  principal  contractors, 
may  have  the  choice  under  such  disbursing  regulations,  because 
they  may  have  the  means  and  ability  to  wait  until  the  conse 
quences  of  their  refusal  to  take  the  paper  can  be  obviated  by  its 
conversion;  but  to  them  this  choice  is  of  little  moment  in  the 
comparison,  as  they  are  engaged  in  business,  and  located  at 
points  where  the  paper,  if  really  that  of  sound  specie-paying 
banks,  may  be  converted  into  coin  by  themselves  without  mate 
rial  delay  or  loss.  They,  too,  are  judges  of  the  paper,  and  can 
gain  the  required  information  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  banks, 
and  may  therefore  make  their  selections  from  the  paper  offered. 
Not  so  the  Indian  in  the  wilderness,  the  soldier  at  the  frontier 
post,  the  sailor  in  service,  or  the  common  laborers  upon  the  public 
works,  and  hence  they  can  have  no  choice,  in  fact,  unless  the  gold 


776  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WXIGHT. 

or  silver  be  presented  to  them,  with  the  paper,  and  they  be  per 
mitted  to  make  the  choice  between  them  on  the  spot.  This  pro 
vision,  as  to  them,  would,  in  the  judgment  of  the  committee, 
operate  to  make  the  paper  a  tender  in  payment  of  their  dues 
from  the  government;  a  forced  tender  it  is  true,  but  none  the  less 
a  tender  in  practice. 

"If  the  construction  which  the  committee  give  to  this  pro 
vision  be  correct,  it  must  have  the  following  dangerous  operation 
upon  the  treasury:  The  paper  cannot  be  converted  into  coin 
until  it  has  been  offered  to  a  public  creditor  and  declined.  If, 
then,  the  receipts  into  the  treasury  be  more  than  are  required  for 
disbursement,  it  would  seem  to  be  a  necessary  consequence  that 
the  excess,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  by  whomsoever  kept,  must 
be  kept  in  bank-notes.  It  cannot  be  offered  to  a  public  creditor, 
because  there  is  no  public  creditor,  in  the  supposed  case,  to  whom 
to  offer  it.  It  is  an  excess  beyond  the  amount  of  money  required 
for  the  payment  of  all  the  public  creditors.  In  this  respect,  the 
provision  will  have  the  effect  to  repeal  the  second  article  of  the 
fourth  section  of  the  deposit  law  of  1836,  so  far  as  credits  to  the 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States  are  concerned,  in  case  the  banks 
are  to  be  again  made  the  depositories  of  the  public  money.  This 
section  prescribes  the  terms  upon  which  the  banks  are  to  receive 
the  public  money,  and  the  first  clause  of  the  second  article  is  in 
these  words: 

"Secondly.  lTo  credit  as  specie  all  sums  deposited  therein  to 
the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States?  etc. ;  and  it  would 
surely  be  a  contradiction  to  require  that  to  be  credited  '  as  specie ' 
which  the  law  requires  should  be  kept  and  disbursed  in  paper. 
The  effect  upon  the  treasury  and  the  banks  of  requiring  the 
revenues,  and  especially  such  surpluses  as  may  from  time  to  time 
exist,  to  be  kept  in  paper,  is  too  palpable  to  make  it  the  duty  of 
the  committee  to  comment  upon  it.  The  risk  to  the  public  funds 
would  be  that  which  exists  between  laying  up  for  preservation 
specie  and  bank-notes,  and  the  necessary  effect  upon  the  banks 
would  be  to  induce  an  expansion  equal  to  the  amount  of  their 
notes  known  to  be  locked  up  for  safe-keeping  in  the  depositories 
of  the  government. 

"  This  provision  of  the  resolution,  also,  if  passed,  must  repeal 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  777 

the  second  section  of  the  act  entitled  'An  act  making  appropria 
tions  for  the  payment  of  Revolutionary  and  other  pensioners  of 
the  United  States,  for  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
thirty-six,'  passed  on  the  14th  day  of  April,  1836.  That  section 
is  in  the  words  following: 

"  '  SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That,  hereafter,  no  bank-note  of  a  less 
denomination  than  ten  dollars,  and  that  from  and  after  the  third  day  of 
March,  Anno  Domini  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  no  bank-note  of  a 
less  denomination  than  twenty  dollars,  shall  be  offered  in  payment,  in  any 
case  whatsoever  in  which  money  is  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States  or  the 
Post-office  department;  nor  shall  any  bank-note,  of  any  denomination,  be 
so  offered,  unless  the  same  shall  be  payable,  and  paid  on  demand,  in  gold  or 
silver  coin,  at  the  place  where  issued,  and  which  shall  not  be  equivalent  to 
specie  at  the  place  where  offered,  and  convertible  into  gold  or  silver  upon 
the  spot,  at  the  will  of  the  holder,  and  without  delay  or  loss  to  him;  pro 
vided,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  make  anything  but 
gold  or  silver  a  legal  tender  by  any  individual,  or  by  the  United  States. ' 

"If  the  second  and  third  clauses  of  the  resolution  be  read 
together,  and  the  connection  between  them  marked,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  third  must  be  understood  to  require  the  disburse 
ment  of  any  bank-notes  which  the  second  permits  to  be  received. 
The  last  clause  of  the  fifth  section  of  the  deposit  law  of  1836 
prohibits  the  receipt,  in  the  collection  of  the  revenue,  of  any  bank 
note  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.  It  may,  perhaps,  be 
fairly  questioned  whether  the  second  clause  of  the  resolution  should 
not  be  so  construed  as  to  repeal  this  prohibition  of  the  deposit 
law,  and  compel  the  receipt  of  all  notes,  of  any  denomination, 
which  any  '  sound  bank '  shall  issue  and  make  payable,  and  pay 
on  demand,  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United  States ;  but,  with 
out  raising  that  question,  that  clause  undoubtedly  authorizes  and 
compels  the  receipt  of  all  notes  of  denominations  not  prohibited 
by  that  section  of  the  deposit  act,  and  consequently  the  third 
clause  must  repeal  the  first  part  of  the  section  above  quoted  from 
the  pension  act,  confining  the  disbursements  to  notes  of  higher 
denominations.  The  second  provision  of  that  section  cannot 
stand,  because  this  third  clause  of  the  resolution  compels  the 
offering  of  bank-notes,  at  all  places,  and  in  payment  of  all  public 
creditors,  without  regard  to  the  limitations  there  imposed  and 
prescribed.  This  covers  and  repeals  the  whole  section,  except 
the  proviso  ;  and  besides  the  consideration  that  it  falls  with  the 


778  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  MIL  AS  WRIGHT. 

section,  if  the  views  entertained  by  the  committee,  as  before 
expressed,  be  correct,  this  resolution  will  so  operate  as  to  make 
bank-notes,  in  effect,  '  a  legal  tender '  by  as  well  as  to  the 
*  United  States.' 

"  The  committee  will  close  this  report  by  saying  that,  up  to 
this  time,  Congress  has  seemed  to  suppose  that  the  tendency  to 
use  bank  paper  in  payments  from  the  United  States  was  suffi 
ciently  strong,  without  either  its  encouragement  or  compulsion  ; 
and  that  the  safety  of  the  public  treasure,  and  the  necessities  as 
well  as  convenience  of  the  public  disbursements,  required  that 
the  Treasurer  and  his  fiscal  agents  should  have  the  power,  at 
pleasure,  to  convert  the  bank-notes  received  in  the  collections  of 
the  public  revenue  into  coin.  This  has  ever  been  the  power  pos 
sessed  by  those  officers,  as  well  in  reference  to  the  notes  of  the 
two  Banks  of  the  United  States,  the  receipt  of  which  at  the  trea 
sury  was  compulsory,  as  to  the  notes  of  the  State  banks,  the 
receipt  of  which  was  merely  permissive.  Hence  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  adopted  and  pursued  the  system  of  converting  into 
coin,  'at  least  once  every  week,'  all  the  notes  of  State  banks 
received  by  it  in  payments  of  the  revenue  of  the  United  States. 
This  practice  was  approved  arid  applauded  in  that  bank,  as  add 
ing  to  the  security  of  the  public  treasure  and  imposing  a  health 
ful  and  salutary  check  upon  the  local  banks.  Will  not  the  same 
good  results  follow  from  a  precisely  similar  practice  on  the  part 
of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  and  any  other  fiscal  agents 
of  the  treasury  which  the  law  may  appoint  ?  Can  the  same  act, 
performed  by  a  national  bank,  be  useful  and  salutary,  and,  per 
formed  by  an  officer  of  the  government,  be  evil  and  mischievous, 
and  require  interdiction  by  law  ?  Would  the  public  treasure,  in 
the  shape  of  State  bank-notes,  be  unsafe  in  the  keeping  of  a 
national  bank,  and  therefore  require  the  weekly  conversion  of 
those  notes  into  coin  ?  And  will  that  same  treasure,  in  the  same 
shape,  be  safe  in  the  keeping  of  the  State  banks  themselves,  or 
in  that  of  public  officers,  so  as  to  require  a  prohibition  against 
its  conversion  to  coin,  and  to  force  its  disbursement  in  paper  in 
payment  of  the  debts  of  the  government  ?  These  questions  seem 
to  the  committee  to  admit  of  but  one  answer,  and  that  answer, 
in  substance,  is,  that  this  part  of  the  resolution  ought  not  to 
become  a  law." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  779 


CHAPTER  LXXIII. 

EEPORT  ON  THE  FINANCES  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

The  Senate,  on  the  thirty-first  of  May,  directed  the 
Committee  on  Finance  to  take  into  consideration  certain 
provisions  of  the  deposit  act  of  1836,  and  report  thereon. 
That  committee,  by  Mr.  WEIGHT,  its  chairman,  made  the 
following  report  on  the  8th  of  June,  1838  : 

"  The  Committee  on  Finance,  to  which  was  referred  the  reso 
lution  of  the  Senate  of  the  thirty-first  ultimo,  directing  certain 
inquiries  as  to  various  provisions  of  an  act  entitled  'An  act  to 
regulate  the  deposits  of  the  public  money,'  passed  on  the  23d 
day  of  June,  1836,  respectfully  report  : 

"  The  resolution  instructs  the  committee  'to  take  into  considera 
tion  the  act  of  the  23d  of  June,  1836,  entitled  "An  act  to  regu 
late  the  deposits  of  the  public  money," '  and  to  make  inquiry  upon 
these  points,  viz. : 

"  '  First.  Whether,  according  to  the  provisions  of  that  act,  it  is  now  com 
petent  for  the  Secretar}r  of  the  Treasury  to  employ  any  bank  which  has 
heretofore  been  selected  as  a  public  depository,  and  which,  since  the  passage 
of  that  act,  has  suspended  specie  payments.' 

"  The  committee  have  examined  the  act  with  attention,  and 
find  that,  all  other  objections  being  obviated,  it  is  competent  for 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  employ,  as  a  public  depository, 
any  bank  which  has  heretofore  been  selected  for  that  service, 
'and  which,  since  the  passage  of  that  act,  has  suspended  specie 
payments.'  The  eighth  section  of  the  deposit  act  prohibits  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  from  discontinuing  any  deposit  bank, 
and  from  withdrawing  the  public  money  therefrom,  except  for 
certain  enumerated  causes,  one  of  which  is  in  the  following  words: 

"  '  Or  if  any  of  said  banks  shall,  at  any  time,  refuse  to  pay  its  own  notes 
in  specie,  if  demanded.' 

"  Upon  this  cause  being  presented,  it  is  made  the  express  duty 


780  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  Secretary,  by  the  same  section  of  the  act,  '  to  discontinue 
any  such  bank  as  a  depository,  and  withdraw  from  it  the  public 
moneys  which  it  may  hold  on  deposit  at  the  time  of  such  discon 
tinuance  ; '  but  when  the  bank  shall  have  again  resumed  specie 
payments,  nothing  is  found  in  this  language  to  interdict  its  rese- 
lection  as  a  public  depository. 

"  The  fourth  section  of  the  act  sets  out  the  terms  and  condi 
tions  upon  which  the  banks  shall  agree  to  receive  the  public 
moneys  before  they  shall  be  employed  as  depositories.  The  second 
of  these  terms  is  prescribed  in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  Secondly.  To  credit  as  specie  all  sums  deposited  therein  to  the  credit 
of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  and  to  pay  all  checks,  warrants  or 
drafts,  drawn  on  such  deposits,  in  specie,  if  required  by  the  holder  thereof.' 

"  The  breach  of  this  condition  on  the  part  of  the  bank  would 
be  a  refusal  to  pay  its  depositors  in  specie,  and  consequently  a 
suspension,  to  that  extent,  of  specie  payments;  and  the  duty  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  discontinue  it  as  a  depository 
and  to  withdraw  the  public  money  from  it  would  become  impera 
tive  by  the  language  of  the  eighth  section,  before  referred  to, 
which  assigns,  as  another  cause  of  discontinuance  and  withdrawal, 
that  '  at  any  time  any  one  of  said  banks  shall  fail  or  refuse  to  per 
form  any  of  said  duties,  as  prescribed  by  this  act  and  stipulated 
to  be  performed  by  its  contract.' 

"  This  contingency,  therefore,  like  the  former,  would  take  from 
the  bank  its  character  as  a  depository  for  the  time  being,  would 
forfeit  the  existing  contract  and  render  its  discontinuance  and 
the  withdrawal  of  the  public  money  from  it  an  imperious  duty; 
but  the  committee  see  nothing  in  either  of  the  causes  to  prevent 
a  second  contract  with  the  same  bank  when  it  should  again 
resume  specie  payments,  again  consent  '  to  pay  its  own  notes  in 
specie,  if  demanded,'  arid  again  fpay  all  checks,  warrants  or 
drafts  drawn  on  the  public  deposits  in  specie,  if  required  by  the 
holders  thereof.'  They  find  no  provision  in  any  other  part  of  the 
act  interdicting  a  second  contract  with  the  same  bank,  when  the 
first  shall  have  been  terminated  for  either  of  these  causes,  and 
they  therefore  express  their  opinion  that  '  it  is  now  competent 
for  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  employ  any  bank  which  has 
heretofore  been  selected  as  a  public  depository,  and  which,  since 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  781 

the  passage  of  that  act,  has  suspended  specie  payments;'  there 
being  no  other  obstacle  in  the  way  of  such  second  employment 
than  the  act  of  suspension  of  specie  payments. 

"  The  next  point  to  which  the  resolution  directs  the  inquiry  of 
the  committee  is  in  the  following  words: 

"  ''Second.  Or  which  has,  since  the  4th  day  of  July,  1836,  paid  out  notes 
or  bills  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.' 

"  To  cause  the  inquiry  to  be  clearly  understood  it  is  necessary 
to  connect  the  preceding  language  with  the  words  above  quoted, 
and  the  inquiry  will  be  whether,  according  to  the  provisions  of 
that  act  (the  deposit  law  of  1836),  it  is  now  competent  for  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  employ  any  bank  which  has,  since 
the  4:th  day  of  July,  1836,  paid  out  notes  or  bills  of  a  less  denomi 
nation  than  five  dollars. 

"  In  answer  to  this  inquiry,  the  committee  find  the  two  first 
clauses  of  the  fifth  section  of  the  act  to  be  in  the  following 
words: 

"  '  SEC.  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  bank  shall  be  selected  or  con 
tinued,  as  a  place  of  deposit  of  the  public  money,  which  shall  not  redeem 
its  notes  and  bills,  on  demand,  in  specie;  nor  shall  any  bank  be  selected  or 
continued,  as  aforesaid,  which  shall,  after  the  fourth  day  of  July,  in  the 
year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-six,  issue  or  pay  out  any  note  or 
bill  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.' 

"The  last  of  these  clauses  meets  and  answers  the  inquiry 
directly,  and  shows  that  it  is  not  competent  for  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  under  this  act,  now  to  employ  as  a  public  depository 
any  bank  which  has,  since  the  4th  day  of  July,  1836,  either  issued 
or  paid  out  notes  or  bills  of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars; 
while  the  first  clause  interdicts  the  selection  or  continuance,  at 
any  time  and  under  any  circumstances,  of  any  bank  '  which  shall 
not  redeem  its  notes  and  bills,  on  demand,  in  specie.' 

"These  two  points  of  the  inquiry  seem  to  the  committee  to 
assume  the  expediency  of  a  course  of  legislation  which  shall 
revive  and  introduce  again  into  practice  the  deposit  system 
established  by  the  act  of  1836,  as  the  system  upon  which  the 
public  money  is  to  be  kept  and  disbursed.  Under  this  supposi 
tion,  the  opinion  of  the  committee  as  to  the  first  inquiry  does  not 
indicate  the  necessity  of  further  legislation;  while  the  plain  and 


782  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

unquestioned  construction  of  the  act  as  to  the  second  compels  an 
answer  which,  to  the  minds  of  those  who  desire  the  reintroduc- 
tion  of  that  system,  may  seem  to  point  out  such  a  necessity. 

"Not  so  with  the  majority  of  the  committee.  While  left  by 
the  Senate  to  the  free  exercise  of  their  own  opinions,  they  cannot 
recommend  any  legislation  the  effect  of  which  will  be  to  reunite 
the  public  treasury  and  the  banks,  by  a  return  of  the  public 
treasure  to  the  uses  of  banking  ;  to  stimulate  and  compel  the 
banks  to  discount  upon  the  public  money,  by  exacting  from  them 
an  interest  for  its  use  ;  to  promote  an  expansion  in  the  paper 
issues  of  the  banks,  exactly  proportioned  to  the  fertility  of  the 
public  revenues,  and  a  correspondent  embarrassment  of  the  pub 
lic  treasury,  when  a  sterility  of  revenue  shall  call  for  the  public 
money  which  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  customers  of  the 
banks.  Such,  they  believe,  have  been  the  effects  of  the  system 
of  deposits,  the  revival  of  which  the  resolution  seems  to  contem 
plate.  That  system  compelled  the  deposit  of  all  the  public 
money  in  banks  ;  it  placed  it  in  those  institutions  upon  general 
deposit,  and  thus  made  it,  in  fact  and  in  law,  the  money  of  the 
banks  and  not  the  money  of  the  people  ;  it  not  only  held  out  an 
inducement  to  the  banks  to  use  the  money  for  the  purposes  of 
discount  and  banking,  but  in  this  way  gave  them  the  right  so  to 
use  it,  in  defiance  of  the  popular  will  and  of  the  public  authori 
ties  ;  it  went  further,  and  compelled  them  to  convert  it  to  some 
profitable  employment,  by  demanding  interest  from  them  while 
it  was  in  their  keeping.  Time  and  experience  have  shown  the 
consequences  of  such  a  policy,  and,  were  there  no  other  reason, 
these  consequences  would  forbid  the  committee  from  recommend 
ing  any  legislation  calculated  or  intended  to  revive  that  system. 

"  The  action  of  the  Senate,  however,  appears  to  them  equally 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  any  such  recommendation.  A  special 
convocation  of  Congress,  in  September  last,  was  a  necessity 
imposed  by  the  failure  of  this  system  of  deposits,  and  the  embar 
rassments  to  the  public  treasury  thereby  occasioned.  Recom 
mendations  for  the  keeping  and  management  of  the  public  money, 
without  the  aid  of  the  banks,  and  especially  for  a  permanent 
separation  between  the  treasure  of  the  people  and  the  business  of 
banking,  were  then  laid  before  Congress  by  the  President.  These 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  783 

recommendations  were  deliberately  and  definitively  acted  upon 
and  adopted  by  the  Senate,  but  failed  to  receive  the  assent  of  the 
other  branch  of  Congress.  At  the  commencement  of  the  present 
session  the  same  recommendations,  substantially,  were  renewed, 
and  again  the  Senate  has,  after  long  deliberation  and  debate, 
adopted  them,  in  the  shape  of  a  bill,  and  thus  sent  them  to  the 
House  for  its  concurrence.  If  that  bill  shall  become  a  law,  the 
whole  deposit  system,  recognized  and  legalized  by  the  deposit  act 
of  1836,  will  be  superseded.  Will  the  Senate,  then,  by  its  own 
action,  supersede  its  own  bill  ?  Will  it,  in  the  absence  of  all 
information  as  to  what  may  be  the  fate  of  that  measure  in  the 
co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Legislature,  or  rather  with  the  know 
ledge  that  it  has  not  yet  been  considered  there,  send  another  bill 
upon  the  same  general  subject,  based  upon  adverse  principles  ? 

"  The  committee  can  only  repeat,  what  they  have  found  it  to 
be  their  duty  to  say  upon  a  kindred  branch  of  this  subject,  that 
whether  such  duplicate  action,  by  the  same  legislative  body,  be 
consistent  with  established  parliamentary  law,  with  the  economy 
of  legislation,  or  with  the  uniformity  of  decisions  which  should 
characterize  all  deliberative  bodies,  are  questions  which  properly 
address  themselves  to  the  Senate  and  not  to  them;  but  upon  the 
merits  of  the  propositions  they  must  be  permitted  to  feel  entire 
confidence  that  no  sufficient  reasons  for  a  change  of  opinion  or 
action  can  be  presented. 

"The  remaining  inquiry  embraced  in  the  resolution  is  in  the 
following  words  : 

"  '  Third.  And  also  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  repealing  or  modi 
fying  those  provisions  of  the  said  act  which  prohibit  the  receipt,  in  pay 
ment  of  debts  and  dues  to  the  United  States,  of  the  bills  of  all  banks  which 
issue  bills  of  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.' 

"  This  inquiry  relates  to  the  last  clause  of  the  fifth  section  of 
the  act,  which  reads  as  follows  : 

"  '  Nor  shall  the  notes  or  bills  of  any  bank  be  received,  in  payment  of  any 
debt  due  to  the  United  States,  which  shall,  after  the  said  fourth  day  of  July, 
in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-six,  issue  any  note  or  bill 
of  a  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.' 

"This  provision  of  the  law  of  1836  was  inserted  in  furtherance 
of  a  policy  some  years  since  adopted  by  Congress,  as  will  be  seen 


784  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

by  the  eighth  section  of  the  proposed  recharter  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  of  the  year  of  1832,  which  reserved  to  Con 
gress  the  power,  from  and  after  the  3d  of  March,  1836,  to  pro 
hibit  that  institution  from  issuing  or  circulating  notes  of  a  less 
denomination  than  twenty  dollars.  That  act  did  not  become  a 
law,  but  this  feature  of  it  met  the  approbation  of  the  two  Houses 
of  Congress,  while  the  objections  of  the  then  President  to  the  bill 
made  no  mention  of  this  provision  as  exceptionable  in  his  mind. 
On  the  contrary,  his  whole  policy,  and  all  his  recommendations 
in  relation  to  the  currency,  after  that  date,  and  especially  after 
the  time  when  the  power  could  have  been  exercised,  favored  the 
policy  of  this  limitation.  Various  legislation  of  Congress,  in  the 
year  1836,  distinctly  indicated  a  determination  to  adhere  to  and 
carry  out  the  policy,  and,  by  limiting  the  circulation  of  bank-notes 
of  the  smaller  denominations,  to  secure  a  currency  of  coin  only 
for  the  minor  transactions  of  business,  for  the  payment  of  day 
laborers,  for  the  change  required  in  pecuniary  dealings  and  the 
like  ;  and  in  this  way,  also,  to  give  a  more  broad  metallic  basis  to 
our  whole  paper  circulation.  Many  of  the  States  of  the  Union 
fell  into  the  policy  thus  adopted  and  pursued  by  this  government, 
and  conformed  their  legislation  to  the  object  proposed.  It  seemed 
to  be  universally  conceded  that  these  two  objects  could  only  be 
secured  by  the  exclusion  of  small  bank-notes  from  ordinary  cir 
culation  ;  and  all  adopted  the  policy  as  wise  and  worthy  of  pur 
suit.  The  powers  of  this  government  could  effect  little,  as  the 
paper  circulation  to  be  suppressed  was  that  of  the  notes  of  banks 
existing  by  and  acting  under  State  authority;  but  what  it  could 
do  was  proposed  to  be  done  by  the  provision  of  the  deposit  law 
above  quoted.  As  a  more  direct  and  much  more  efficient  move 
ment,  a  very  general  and  vigorous  effort  was  made  by  the  States 
and  the  people  to  exclude  from  circulation  bank-notes  of  a  less 
denomination  than  five  dollars;  and  several  States,  whose  banks 
had,  theretofore,  been  authorized  to  issue  notes  of  the  denomi 
nations  of  one,  two  and  three  dollars,  took  from  them  that 
authority,  while  the  banks  of  several  other  States  had  either 
never  possessed  that  authority  or  had  been  deprived  of  it  at  a 
previous  period.  The  progress  in  this  attempted  reform  of  the 
currency  was  materially  retarded  by  the  fact  that  all  the  States 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  785 

did  not  enter  into  and  act  upon  it,  so  as  to  restrain  the  issue  of 
small  notes  by  their  banks,  and  that  the  banks  of  the  British 
provinces  upon  our  north-western  boundary  continued  to  issue 
small  notes,  which  found  a  more  or  less  extended  circulation  in 
the  contiguous  States  of  the  Union.  Still,  the  advance  toward 
an  entire  metallic  circulation  for  all  sums  below  five  dollars  was 
as  rapid  as,  in  the  then  situation  of  the  country  and  banks,  could 
reasonably  have  been  expected ;  and  additional  States  were  tak 
ing  measures  for  the  gradual  exclusion  of  the  small  notes  of  their 
banks,  when  the  suspension  of  specie  payments,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  by  all  the  banks  of  all  the  States,  in  May,  1837, 
arrested  the  salutary  improvement. 

"  The  suspension  was,  to  every  practical  extent,  perfect.  The 
banks,  as  a  general  rule,  did  not  pay  specie  upon  any  denomina 
tion  of  their  notes  or  to  any  class  of  their  creditors.  An 
unavoidable  consequence  followed.  All  the  coin  in  circulation, 
the  most  of  which  had  been  put  in  circulation  by  the  policy  and 
measures  before  adverted  to,  was  either  gathered  into  the  banks, 
not  to  be  again  given  out  for  the  circulating  currency  of  the 
country,  or  was  hoarded  by  private  holders,  to  whose  minds  the 
suspension  had  communicated  a  feeling  allied  to  panic,  inclining 
them  to  treasure  up  all  they  had  which  was  money,  precisely  in  pro 
portion  to  the  diminution  of  their  confidence  in  the  value  of  that 
circulating  medium  which  had,  theretofore,  represented  money, 
but  could  not  do  so  during  the  continuance  of  the  entire  suspen 
sion  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks.  Hence,  either  an  absence 
of  any  medium  for  business  transactions  under  five  dollars,  or 
the  worst  of  all  media  which  an  enlightened  public  feeling  could 
tolerate,  soon  became,  in  many  sections  of  the  CJnion,  an  evil  of 
the  first  magnitude,  and  one  against  which  the  interference  of 
the  State  Legislatures  was  commandingly  invoked.  In  obedience 
to  calls  of  this  description  from  a  suffering  constituency,  the 
Legislatures  of  several  of  the  States,  which  had  adopted  and 
prosecuted  the  policy  of  substituting  the  circulation  of  coin  for 
that  of  small  bank-notes  in  the  minor  pecuniary  transactions 
of  society,  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  retrograde  in  their  action, 
and  again  to  confer  upon  their  banking  institutions  the  power 
to  issue  and  the  right  to  circulate  notes  of  the  denominations 

50 


786  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

below  five  dollars.  In  some  cases  this  change  of  policy,  in 
the  action  of  the  States,  has  been  made  general  and  unlimited, 
while  in  others,  as  the  committee  think  more  wisely  and  fortu 
nately,  it  has  been  made  temporary,  and  adopted  with  an  evident 
design  not  to  abandon  the  policy,  but  to  meet  the  particular 
grievance,  and,  that  being  obviated,  to  return  to  those  sound 
measures  which,  as  permanent  regulations  of  law,  cannot  fail  to 
have  a  most  salutary  influence  upon  our  currency  generally,  and 
especially  upon  the  interest  of  the  poorer  and  by  far  the  most 
numerous  classes,  in  its  soundness  and  reality. 

"  Still  the  committee  suppose  that  nearly  all  the  banks  in  many 
entire  States  have,  in  obedience  to  and  in  conformity  with  this 
change  of  policy  in  the  legislative  action  of  the  States  under 
whose  authority  they  exist,  violated  the  restriction  imposed 
by  the  clause  of  the  deposit  law  of  1836  last  above  quoted,  and 
thus  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  the  fiscal  officers  of  this  govern 
ment  to  receive  any  of  their  notes  in  any  payment  to  the  United 
States  while  that  restriction  remains  in  force  and  without  modi 
fication.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  committee  are  not  pre 
pared  to  say  that  this  provision  should  be  so  rigidly  adhered  to 
as  to  perpetuate  the  exclusion  of  the  notes  of  these  banks  from 
the  public  receipts,  while  the  notes  of  other  banks,  no  more  safe, 
are  received.  Such  a  rule  would  not  aid  the  policy  which  the 
committee  earnestly  advocate  of  giving  greater  stability  to  our 
paper  circulation,  but  would  merely  establish  an  invidious  dis 
crimination  between  the  different  local  banking  institutions, 
founded,  so  far  as  they  can  discover,  upon  no  defensible  principle. 
Had  these  violations  of  the  restriction  imposed  by  the  deposit 
law  been  entirely  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  banks;  had  no 
suspension  of  specie  payments,  and  no  consequent  derangement 
of  the  whole  paper  currency  intervened,  and,  even  under  these 
pressing  inducements,  had  not  the  interference  of  the  Legislatures 
of  the  States  authorized  the  violations,  and,  in  some  cases,  at 
least,  rendered  the  issue  of  the  small  notes  almost,  if  not  alto 
gether,  a  duty  in  the  estimation  of  the  surrounding  community, 
the  committee  would  be  the  last  persons  to  suggest  even,  much 
less  to  recommend,  the  remission  of  the  penalty  which  this  law 
of  Congress  imposes  upon  the  act. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  787 

"  After  what  has  been  said,  it  will  not  be  expected  that  the 
committee  will  yield  to  '  the  expediency  of  repealing  those  pro 
visions  of  the  said  act  which  prohibit  the  receipt,  in  payment  of 
debts  and  dues  to  the  United  States,  of  the  bills  of  all  banks 
which  issue  bills  of  less  denomination  than  five  dollars.'  This 
would  be  to  yield  the  sound  and  salutary  policy  which  the  pro 
visions  were  designed  to  carry  out;  one  of  the  last  things  in  the 
administration  of  the  affairs  of  this  government  which  the  com 
mittee  are  disposed  to  surrender.  While  the  benefits  of  a  sound 
and  stable  currency  are  so  loudly  demanded  by  all  parties  and  all 
interests,  and  while  the  committee  know  and  feel  that  a  greater 
infusion  of  coin  into  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country  is 
the  safest  mode  of  reaching  that  great  and  good  result,  they  can 
not  become  parties,  much  less  agents,  in  a  course  of  legislation 
which  shall  surrender  the  first  step  toward  a  consummation  so 
ardently  desired  by  all.  They,  therefore,  give  their  opinion 
against  a  repeal  of  this  provision. 

"It  remains  to  consider  what  modification  can  properly  be 
adopted  to  meet  the  case  and  not  weaken  the  great  principle  con 
tended  for.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  is  a  proposi 
tion  of  easy  solution.  The  legislation  of  several  of  the  States, 
to  which  reference  has  been  made,  furnishes  a  precedent  which 
Congress  can  safely  follow.  A  postponement,  so  far,  of  the 
operative  limitation  of  the  provision,  as  to  relieve  the  banks  from 
the  exclusion  caused  by  former  violations;  the  fixing  of  another 
day,  beyond  which,  if  they  shall  again  cease  to  issue  notes  below 
the  denomination  of  five  dollars,  their  notes  may  not  be  received 
in  payment  of  the  public  dues,  will  effectually  cure  the  evil  com 
plained  of;  place  the  excluded  banks,  so  far  as  the  legislation  of 
Congress  is  concerned,  upon  the  same  footing  with  their  neighbor 
institutions,  and  preserve  the  policy  of  the  law,  in  no  other 
respect  impaired  than  as  to  the  time  when  that  policy  shall 
become  practice. 

"  The  committee  cannot,  in  justice  to  their  own  feelings,  fail 
here  to  notice  that  many  of  the  excluded  banks  have  been  among 
the  first  in  the  country  to  resume  specie  payments ;  that  their 
issue  of  notes  under  the  denomination  of  five  dollars  was  a  mea 
sure  believed,  not  by  those  interested  in  the  banks  simply,  but 


788  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

by  the  community  within  which  they  are  located,  to  be  in  direct 
aid  of  a  speedy  resumption  by  the  institutions  which  made  the 
issues  ;  and  that  the  effect  of  those  issues,  under  the  circum 
stances  of  the  case  and  in  the  then  condition  of  the  currency,  is 
still  thought  to  have  been  salutary  upon  all  interests,  public  and 
private.  These  are  circumstances  which,  as  it  seems  to  the  com 
mittee,  cannot  escape  the  attention  of  Congress  in  deciding  upon 
the  propriety  of  the  suggested  modification  of  this  provision  of 
the  deposit  law  of  1836. 

"  Still,  the  question  is  one  connecting  itself  with  the  general 
subject  of  legislation,  covered  by  the  bill  upon  which,  as  has  been 
before  remarked,  the  Senate  has  acted,  during  its  present  session, 
and  which  bill  has  been,  long  since,  sent  to  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  for  the  concurrence  of  that  body.  When  that  bill 
shall  be  acted  upon,  the  committee  believe  that  an  amendment, 
to  the  effect  they  have  suggested,  will  be  proper  and  expedient ; 
and,  as  they  have  abundant  evidence  that  the  attention  of  that 
body  has  been  repeatedly  and  expressly  called  to  this  particular 
point,  they  have  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  will  receive  the 
required  modification  there,  in  case  the  judgment  of  the  House, 
upon  the  propriety  of  its  adoption,  shall  agree  with  that  which 
the  committee  entertain  and  express. 

"  They  believe  it,  therefore,  inexpedient  that  any  independent 
proposition  to  accomplish  this  object  should,  at  the  present  time, 
be  originated  in  or  acted  upon  by  the  Senate.  Should  the  bill 
referred  to  be  rejected  by  the  House,  or  should  it  be  returned  to 
the  Senate  without  the  amendment  suggested,  in  either  case  the 
modification  may  be  originated  and  passed  as  an  independent 
bill,  without  material  consumption  of  time,  in  relation  to  the 
business  of  this  body,  while  its  adoption  by  the  other,  in  the  man 
ner  here  suggested,  will  save  the  time  and  forms  of  independent 
legislative  action.  For  these  reasons  the  committee  return  the 
resolution  to  the  Senate,  without  any  proposition  for  the  present 
action  of  the  body  upon  any  one  of  its  suggestions." 

After  a  debate,  in  which  Messrs.  Webster,  Norvell, 
WEIGHT  and  Benton,  took  part,  the  report  was  ordered 
to  be  printed. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  789 

In  this  discussion  Mr.  WRIGHT  made  the  following 
remarks  : 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  observed  that  he  was  not  disposed  to  excite 
a  debate  on  this  matter,  but  he  could  not  discharge  what  he 
believed  to  be  his  duty  and  fail  to  reply  to  some  of  the  remarks 
of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts.  What  he  had  to  say  would 
not  be  in  reference  to  the  proposition  the  gentleman  had  given 
notice  of  his  intention  to  introduce,  but  in  reference  to  a  sort  of 
surprise  he  expressed  that  a  measure  which  he  referred  to,  and 
which,  having  passed  this  body,  had  been  sent  to  the  other 
House  and  was  there  pending,  would  be  taken  up  and  acted  on. 
The  gentleman  spoke  of  the  taking  up  of  this  measure  and  act 
ing  on  it  by  the  other  House  as  something  new  and  surprising. 
He  knew,  Mr.  W.  said,  that  there  had  been  an  attempt,  vast  and 
persevering  in  its,  character,  to  inculcate  the  belief  throughout 
the  country  that  this  measure  was  ended  for  the  present  —  or,  to 
use  the  language  of  a  gentleman  on  that  floor,  that  it  was  dead 
and  buried.  He  was  not  able  to  contradict  the  allegation;  but 
he  knew  that  when  it  was  first  made  here  he  expressed  his  own 
dissent,  and  declared  that  he  had  never  renounced  the  hope  that 
the  other  branch  of  Congress  would,  before  the  end  of  the  ses 
sion,  consider  and  decide  on  that  subject  with  which  the  feelings 
and  interests  of  the  country  were  so  closely  connected.  He  had 
therefore  hoped  that  any  movement  respecting  it  would  not  have 
been  represented  here  as  altogether  new  and  surprising.  He 
knew  of  no  expectations  that  an  effort  would  be  made  here  to 
consider  that  measure.  He  himself  had  no  intention  to  make 
such  an  effort.  He  also  knew  that,  by  a  large  number,  a  disposi 
tion  had  been  entertained  that  it  should  not  be  again  considered 
in  either  House.  But  it  was  not  right  that  it  should  be  repre 
sented  anywhere  that  that  measure  was  ended  and  not  again  to 
be  considered ;  that  to  take  it  up  and  act  on  it  in  the  body  in 
which  it  was  pending  was  new  and  surprising.  If  such  were  the 
expectations  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  he  had  drawn 
them  from  a  source  not  known  to  him,  Mr.  W.  He  could  not 
consent  to  sit  by  while  the  Senator  was  making  such  allegations 
without  expressing  his  dissent  to  them.  Again,  the  Senator  told 
them  that  within  a  few  weeks  the  country  was  springing  into 
new  life,  tha.t  prosperity  was  returning  and  business  reviving, 


790  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

but  that  this  administration  had  started  up  a  measure  which  had 
thrown  them  back  again. 

"  We  have  seen  that  measure  the  subject  of  constant  agitation 
and  unreasonable  anxiety,  and  yet  they  were  told  that  it  was 
dead  and  buried,  and  that  the  attempt  to  revive  it  would  pro 
duce  alarm,  embarrassment  and  distress.  It  was  against  such 
inferences  that  he  was  compelled  to  speak.  He  had  heard  it 
announced  from  the  same  quarter  that,  in  consequence  of  the 
passage  of  a  measure  to  which  some  importance  was  attached,  a 
resumption  of  specie  payments  was  soon  to  commence  by  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  that  fact  had  been  announced  by 
their  great  ally  himself.  Was  that  ally  to  recede  so  soon  from 
his  purpose,  and  that,  too,  in  consequence  of  the  apprehended 
attempt  of  this  administration  to  revive  the  independent  treasury 
bill  ?  If  this  proclamation  is  not  to  be  carried  into  effect,  was  it 
intended  to  lay  the  blame  at  our  door?  The  Senator  knew  that 
all  those  who  advocated  and  supported  this  independent  treasury 
bill  here  had  never  abandoned  it,  and  he  should  not  be  surprised 
that  they  still  advocate  it,  and  represent  them  as  bringing  up  as 
something  new  that  which  had  been  consigned  to  the  tomb.  He 
ought  not  to  represent  it  as  consigned  to  the  tomb  till  it  really 
is  so.  At  present,  said  Mr.  W.,  we  do  not  agree  that  it  is. 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  understood  now  the  difference  between  the 
Senator  and  himself.  It  was  not  here,  then,  that  the  impression 
existed  that  an  attempt  would  not  be  made  to  take  up  the  mea 
sure  pending  in  the  other  House,  but  the  impression  existed 
abroad.  He  die)  not  know  but  that  strong  efforts  had  been 
made  to  produce  that  impression;  but  in  a  paper  of  the  opposi 
tion  where  he  had  seen  it  declared  that  the  measure  was  dead 
and  buried,  and  could  not  succeed,  he  had  also  seen  the  declara 
tion  that  it  would  pass.  Now  he  did  not  know  but  this  last 
declaration  was  a  better  move  than  the  other,  or  whether  both 
were  not  made  for  the  purpose  of  producing  a  conviction  on  the 
public  mind  unfavorable  to  the  measure.  But  the  Senator  knew 
that  when  the  vote  to  which  he  alluded  was  taken,  in  the  other 
House,  that  the  House  was  thin  —  that  there  were  some  twenty  or 
thirty  members  absent.  The  Senator  knew,  also,  as  well  as  he 
did,  that  from  that  time  to  this  there  had  been  a  strong  contro 
versy  in  the  public  mind  as  to  what  would  be  its  ultimate  fate." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  791 


CHAPTER  LXXIV. 

POSTPONEMENT  OF  THE  FOURTH  INSTALLMENT  OF  THE 
DISTRIBUTION. 

The  first  postponement  of  the  fourth  installment  under 
the  distribution  act  was  to  the  1st  of  January,  1839. 
Soon  after  the  meeting  of  Congress,  on  the  first  Monday 
in  December,  1838,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  sent  a 
communication  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of  this  install 
ment,  which  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finance. 
As  chairman  of  this  committee,  on  the  thirteenth  of 
December,  Mr.  WEIGHT  made  a  report  in  favor  of  an 
indefinite  postponement.  Mr.  Clay  desired  to  amend  the 
bill  presented  by  Mr.  WEIGHT  to  postpone  the  payment 
only  to  the  1st  of  January,  1840,  upon  which  a  discussion 
arose,  in  which  Mr.  WEIGHT  participated  and  said : 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  observed  that  he  was  not  then  disposed  to 
occupy  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  discussing  the  subject  of  this 
bill.  The  committee  had  reported  it  with  a  view  to  the  state  of 
the  treasury,  as  indicated  by  the  Secretary  in  his  annual  report. 
That  exhibit  showed  that  by  the  first  of  January  there  would  be 
no  money  in  the  treasury  for  the  payment  of  this  fourth  install 
ment,  and  there  was  no  anticipation  of  that  officer  that  there 
would  be  any  moneys  for  the  purpose  by  the  first  of  January 
thereafter.  The  committee  believed  as  he  did,  that  the  time  had 
arrived  when  the  treasury  had  parted  with  all  the  money  that  it 
could  spare,  and  carry  on  the  operations  of  the  government, 
without  calling  on  the  States  for  the  repayment  of  the  install 
ments  they  had  already  received.  He  knew  of  nothing  which 
promised  that  the  treasury  would  be  able  to  spare  this  money  by 
the  1st  of  January,  1840,  and  therefore  must  oppose  the  amend 
ment.  Having  made  this  explanation,  he  would  content  himself 
with  asking  for  the  yeas  and  nays  on  the  question. 


792  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  After  a  brief  discussion  of  the  subject  Mr.  WEIGHT  replied 
that  it  was  not  his  intention  now  to  enter  into  a  discussion 
of  the  lamentable  defalcations  which  had  lately  come  to 
light.  He  had  not  the  information  to  enable  him  to  speak  to 
that  body  intelligently  on  this  subject.  All  he  knew  in  regard 
to  them  was  derived  from  glancing  at  the  very  voluminous 
report  of  the  Secretary,  which  had  been  ordered  to  be  printed, 
and  which  was  not  yet  laid  upon  their  tables.  He  was  as  much 
devoid  of  information  on  the  subject  as  the  Senator  who  last 
addressed  them.  But  this  much  he  would  say,  that  if  this  matter 
was  not  thoroughly  understood  by  Congress  and  by  the  whole 
country,  before  the  close  of  the  session,  it  would  not  be  his  fault. 
It  was  his  fixed  purpose  to  have  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
whole  subject,  and  to  let  his  constituents  know  the  whole  truth. 
Then,  as  to  the  bill  before  them,  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  hold 
out  to  the  States  expectations  that  he  did  not  believe  could  be 
realized.  In  September  last  the  Committee  on  Finance  proposed 
the  same  postponement  of  this  installment,  and  on  the  same  terms 
that  they  now  did.  For  himself,  he  thought  that  the  time  had 
gone  by  when  they  were  authorized  to  hold  out  any  expectations  to 
the  States  from  a  surplus  in  the  treasury,  though,  at  the  same  time, 
he  agreed  that  he  had  no  power  to  look  forward  and  say  precisly 
what  would  be  the  condition  of  the  treasury  at  the  end  of  another 
year.  He  had  no  information  which  enabled  him  to  say  that  this 
installment  could  be  met  on  the  1st  January,  1840,  easier  than  it 
now  could. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Tallmadge,  said  that 
with  regard  to  the  bill,  the  Committee  on  Finance,  so  far  as  he 
was  aware,  had,  in  reporting  it,  conformed  to  what  they  believed 
to  be  the  views  of  a  very  large  majority  of  the  Senate.  He 
would  now  frankly  answer  the  question  asked  by  the  gentleman 
from  Kentucky.  If  the  bill,  as  reported,  should  be  passed  by 
that  body,  the  gentleman  must  never  expect  him  to  vote  for  the 
payment  of  this  fourth  installment,  should  the  question  ever  come 
up.  He  voted  against  the  whole  bill  when  it  was  first  before 
them,  and  he  was  equally  opposed  to  the  principle  that  it  con 
tained  now.  Though  he  impeached  the  motives  of  no  man  who 
differed  with  him  in  opinion,  he  had  changed  no  opinion  that  he 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  793 

held  when  the  subject  was  first  brought  before  them,  and,  if 
called  on  to  make  this  distribution,  he  never  could  give  his  con 
sent  to  do  it.  He  hoped  the  Senator  considered  himself  answered ; 
for,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  had  given  him  an  answer. 
He  had  remarked  that  the  committee  felt  bound,  in  reporting 
this  bill,  to  act  with  regard  to  the  known  opinions  of  a  majority  of 
that  body;  and  he  hoped  that,  so  long  as  he  continued  a  member 
of  it,  they  would  always  be  disposed  to  frame  their  bills  in  con 
formity  with  the  known  sense  of  the  body,  so  far  as  their  sense 
of  duty  could  conform  to  it.  These  were  the  feelings  which  had 
always  governed  him;  arid  it  was  in  accordance  with  them  that 
he  had  reported  the  bills  of  this  and  the  last  session  on  the  sub 
ject  before  them.  The  Senate  had  changed  the  bill  of  the  last 
session,  and  they  could  do  so  now.  The  Senator  from  Kentucky 
asked,  again  and  again,  if  they  were  afraid  to  trust  Congress. 
Why,  if  this  bill  passed  as  reported,  would  it  not  be  in  the  power 
of  Congress  to  repeal  it  ?  Even  if  the  bill  passed,  what  was  a 
law  of  Congress  against  Congress  itself  ?  But,  said  Mr.  W.,  we 
propose  to  delay  the  payment  at  our  own  pleasure;  and  the  terms 
of  the  amendment  were  to  delay  it  till  the  1st  of  January,  1840. 
Now,  was  there  any  one  present  who  believed  that  there  would  be 
money  in  the  treasury  to  pay  this  installment  by  that  time?  Not 
only  was  there  no  money  to  pay  this  installment  now,  but  every 
one  believed  that  there  would  not  be  any  by  the  1st  of  January, 
1 840.  This  was  the  true  state  of  the  case,  and  on  it  he  was  con 
tented  to  rest  the  question." 

The  debate  closed  on  the  seventeenth,  and  Mr.  Clay's 
proposed  amendment  was  voted  down  by  26  to  17,  and 
the  bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading 
without  a  division.  We  find  no  record  of  any  action  of 
the  House  on  the  bill  at  this  session. 


794  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXXV. 

MR.  RIVES'  RESOLUTION. 

Those  who  took  sides  with  the  banks,  against  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  administration,  made  the  management  of  our 
financial  affairs  the  principal  ground  of  objection.  The 
popular  belief  was  that  Mr.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  and  Mr. 
Tallmadge,  of  New  York,  among  the  leaders  in  this 
movement,  had  their  jealousy  excited  by  the  marked 
exhibition  of  public  favor  manifested  toward  Col.  Benton 
and  Mr.  WRIGHT,  and  that  they  entered  this  paper-money 
by-path  to  get  ahead  of  them  ;  but,  instead  of  succeeding 
in  doing  so,  wandered  from  the  true  path  to  which  they 
intended  to  return,  and  became  lost  in  the  enemy' s  coun 
try,  and,  from  the  force  of  circumstances,  entered  into 
service  with  its  combatants.  They  and  others  left  the 
democratic  ranks  and  joined  the  whigs,  and  fiercely 
fought  those  with  whom  they  were  once  proud  to 
serve. 

On  the  19th  of  December,  1838,  Mr.  Rives  introduced 
a  resolution  making  a  most  extensive  call  upon  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury  for  information,  useless  for  any 
purpose  except  to  enable  him  to  open  his  batteries  upon 
the  administration  for  not  deserting  democratic  principles 
and  conforming  to  those  of  the  whig  party.  By  the  rules 
of  the  Senate,  this  resolution  must  be  before  it  one  day 
before  it  could  be  acted  upon.  On  the  next  day  it  was 
considered  and  discussed,  and  agreed  to  without  a  formal 
division.  Mr.  Rives  opened  the  debate  in  remarks  assail 
ing  the  administration  and  its  friends.  Mr.  WEIGHT 
responded  in  his  usual  calm,  dignified  and  inoffensive 
manner : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  795 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  the  Senate  would  not  expect  him  to  attempt 
to  reply  to  so  elaborate  a  speech  as  that  to  which  they  had  just 
listened.  He  came  to  his  seat  with  no  expectation  of  such  a 
debate.  When  the  resolutions  of  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr. 
Rives]  were  offered  yesterday,  they  excited  in  his  mind  no  antici 
pation  that  an  elaborate  and  set  discussion  would  be  entered  upon 
at  this  stage  of  them.  They  were  mere  resolutions  of  inquiry. 
Their  whole  apparent  object  was  to  obtain  facts,  to  learn  the 
truth  of  the  matters  to  which  they  related,  and  he  could  not  have 
expected  a  debate  upon  the  merits  until  the  testimony  had  been 
obtained. 

"  He  should  not,  therefore,  attempt  to  follow  the  gentleman  in 
his  extended  remarks,  or  to  reply  to  any  part  of  his  argument. 
It  was  his  intention  to  occupy  but  a  few  moments  of  the  time  of 
the  Senate,  and  to  make  but  a  few  observations  of  an  incidental 
character. 

"  When  the  resolutions  were  offered,  their  object  seemed  to  be 
fully  and  minutely  expressed  upon  their  face,  and  he  was  glad 
the  honorable  Senator  had  come  forward  with  them.  The 
inquiries  were  such  as  he  desired  might  be  made  and  fully 
answered,  but  he  could  not  have  anticipated  that  conclusions 
would  be  drawn  and  expressed  here,  before  the  facts  were  known, 
or  that  a  call  for  testimony  would  be  made  to  follow  a  judgment 
upon  the  issue. 

"  He  was  as  ignorant  as  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Rives]  who 
had  spoken  with  so  much  warmth,  and  in  terms  of  such  strong 
censure,  as  to  the  nature,  or  character,  or  extent  of  the  connection 
which  had  been  formed  between  the  public  treasury  and  the 
Pennyslvania  Bank,  nor  was  the  gentleman  more  desirous  than 
himself  that  the  truth  as  to  that  connection,  whatever  it  might 
be,  should  be  fully  known;  that  all  the  facts  should  be  exposed 
to  the  view  of  the  whole  country;  that  nothing  should  be  hidden 
or  concealed  in  relation  to  it.  Hence  he  was  pleased  to  see  the 
resolutions,  and  should  cheerfully  vote  for  them. 

"It  was  true,  he  had  learned,  through  .the  public  prints,  that 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had,  during  the  vacation,  sold  one 
of  the  bonds  held  against  the  Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  which,  by  a  special  law  passed  at  the  last  session  of  Con- 


796  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

gress,  he  was  expressly  authorized  to  do.  He  had  also  heard 
through  the  same  channel,  and  from  the  same  authority,  that  the 
sale  had  been  made  to  the  bank  itself,  to  the  institution  against 
which  the  bond  was;  but  the  information  caused  no  surprise,  no 
alarm,  in  his  mind,  because  he  supposed  that  the  state  of  the 
treasury  and  the  amount  of  appropriations  by  Congress  were 
such  as  to  require  the  sale  of  at  least  one  of  the  bonds,  to  enable 
the  department  to  pay  the  public  creditors.  Neither  had  the  cir 
cumstance  that  the  sale  had  been  made  to  Mr.  Biddle's  bank,  to 
the  institution  which  owed  the  debt,  given  him  any  apprehension, 
as  he  had  been  confiding  enough  to  believe  that  the  only  offer  or 
the  best  offer  to  purchase  had  come  from  that  quarter,  and  that, 
for  that  simple  reason,  the  Secretary  had  made  the  sale  there.  The 
law  compelled  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  get  the  best  price 
he  could  command  in  the  market  for  the  bonds,  in  case  he  found 
it  necessary  to  sell  them,  and  prohibited  him,  in  any  event,  from 
selling  at  a  price  below  the  par  value  of  the  bond.  Mr.  W.  had 
been  credulous  enough  to  believe  that  the  sale  was  made  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Bank,  because  the  law  compelled  the  Secretary  to 
sell  to  that  institution,  it  making  the  only  or  the  most  advan 
tageous  offer  for  the  bond  placed  in  the  market.  It  was  possible 
he  had  been  too  confiding;  but  he  had  believed,  when  he  first 
heard  of  the  sale,  that  this  was  its  explanation,  and  he  had  not 
now  a  doubt  that  such  would  prove  to  be  the  truth  of  the  case, 
whenever  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should  have  an  opportu 
nity  to  answer  the  inquiries  of  the  Senator. 

"  If  the  honorable  gentleman  did  not  entertain  the  same  con 
fidence  in  the  executive  officers  of  the  government  as  himself,  he 
could  regret  the  fact,  but  it  gave  him  no  right  to  complain,  nor 
did  he  complain  that  it  was  so;  though,  when  the  Senator  had 
assumed  to  himself  the  character  of  an  inquirer  after  the  fact.s, 
and  then  had  felt  at  liberty,  before  his  inquiry  was  made,  to 
draw  inferences  and  pronounce  conclusions  of  a  highly  censorious 
and  condemnatory  character,  which  inferences  and  conclusions 
could,  with  justice,  only  be  drawn  from  the  facts  to  be  inquired 
after,  he  did  feel  and  must  express  disappointment  and  regret. 
Had  it  been  his  case,  whatever  might  have  been  his  feelings 
toward  the  executive  officers  concerned,  however  much  he  might 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  797 

have  distrusted  their  intelligence,  or  integrity,  or  official  faithful 
ness,  if  he  had  proposed  to  inquire  and  to  call  upon  them  to 
answer,  he  would  have  allowed  them  the  opportunity  to  answer, 
before  he  would  either  have  censured  or  condemned  ;  and  he 
must  say  that  it  would  have  afforded  him  sincere  gratification  if 
the  Senator  from  Virginia  had  found  it  consistent  with  his  feel- 

O 

ings  and  sense  of  duty  to  have  pursued  that  more  just  and 
generous  course. 

"At  the  opening  of  the  honorable  Senator's  speech,  Mr.  W. 
was  led  to  suppose  that  an  opportunity  for  sincere  congratulation 
was  to  be  afforded  to  himself  and  the  majority  of  the  Senate. 
They  had  long  looked  upon  the  dangers  and  mischiefs  attendant 
upon  any  connection  between  the  treasury  of  the  nation  and 
banks  of  any  character,  as  among  the  most  serious  and  alarming 
evils  which  had  grown  up  under  the  administration  of  our  repub 
lican  system  of  government,  while  the  Senator  had,  heretofore, 
but  too  successfully  defended  that  connection.  His  early  remarks 
seemed  to  present  it  now  to  his  mind,  charged  with  such  horrible 
and  frightful  consequences,  that  Mr.  W.  could  not  but  suppose 
that  he  and  those  with  whom  he  had  acted  were  again  to  have 
the  powerful  co-operation  of  the  able  Senator  in  breaking  up 
and  eradicating  forever  that  unnatural,  improper  and  vicious 
connection.  In  this,  however,  he  had  met  hasty  disappointment, 
as  it  seemed  to  be  the  connection  with  a  single  bank,  and  not  a 
connection  with  banks  generally,  which  had  given  the  Senator 
his  deep  alarm,  and  drawn  down  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  and  the  President  his  unmeasured  censures.  It  was  a  con 
nection  with  Mr.  Biddle's  bank,  with  the  Pennsylvania  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  which  had  thus  aroused  the  Senator's  eloquence 
and  indignation. 

"Even  here,  however,  Mr.  W.  found  cause  for  earnest  con 
gratulation.  He  well  remembered  that,  upon  repeated  occasions 
within  the  last  two  years,  when  he,  and  other  friends  who  enter 
tained  opinions  in  accordance  with  his  own,  had  made  their 
feeble  attempts  to  arouse  the  honorable  .Senator  himself,  the 
Senate  and  the  country  to  a  sense  of  the  dangers  and  corrup 
tions  of  that  giant  institution,  they  had  been  calmly  and  con 
fidently  told  by  the  Senator,  and  others  who  then  acted  with 


798  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

him,  that  they  were  practicing  an  imposition  upon  the  country; 
that  they  were  attempting  to  conjure  up  the  ghost  of  a  buried 
enemy,  a  phantom,  a  mere  shadow,  to  produce  alarm  and  appre 
hension;  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  in  any  form  of 
existence,  was  effectually  destroyed,  was  dead  and  buried,  never 
again  to  be  disinterred  to  alarm  or  injure  the  people  ;  that  our 
apprehensions  were  too  late  and  were  unreal. 

"Notwithstanding  these  repeated  and  positive  assurances, 
which,  coming  from  the  sources  they  did,  he  always  desired  to 
consider  friendly  and  sincere,  Mr.  W.  had  never  for  a  moment 
permitted  himself  to  be  misled  or  deceived  by  them.  There 
never  had  been  a  moment  when  he  had  considered  the  dangers 
from  that  institution  at  an  end,  or  materially  lessened.  The 
change  of  its  form,  from  a  national  to  a  State  institution,  con 
nected  with  the  facts  which  accompanied  and  characterized  that 
change,  had  given  no  relief  to  his  apprehensions,  and  they  were 
now,  at  this  moment,  as  lively  and  active  and  strong  as  they  had 
ever  been. 

"  Not  so  with  the  honorable  Senator.  There  had  been  a  time 
when  he  had  considered  these  dangers  as  not  sleeping  merely, 
but  buried  forever;  and  that  he  had  now  again  become  sensible 
of  their  existence,  of  their  magnitude  and  of  their  impending 
character,  was  a  matter  of  just  congratulation  to  Mr.  W.  If 
they  could  not  agree  about  the  banks  generally,  the  Senator's 
speech  of  this  day  had  proved  that  about  this  particular  banking 
institution  they  did  and  could  agree.  Here  again  they  could 
meet  and  unite  their  labors  for  the  general  benefit  of  the  whole 
country.  Not  a  man  in  these  seats  could  have  failed  to  feel  the 
dangers  and  mischiefs  of  this  great  banking  institution,  as  the 
Senator  had  so  eloquently  and  forcibly  and  vividly  depicted 
them.  To  Mr.  W.  the  effort  had  not  raised  new  apprehensions, 
but  confirmed  all  former  impressions;  and  he  would  now  promise 
the  Senator,  and  all  others,  his  most  anxious  co-operation  in  any 
efforts  finally  and  forever  to  remove  the  particular  dangers  so 
clearly  pointed  out,  and  all  dangers  to  our  republican  institutions 
of  a  like  character,  come  from  what  description  of  banking  insti 
tutions  they  might.  He  would  repeat  that  he  was  entirely  igno 
rant  of  the  connection  now  formed  between  the  treasury  and  this 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  799 

dangerous  institution.  He  was  willing  and  desirous  to  let  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  answer  that  inquiry.  He  believed  it 
was  only  a  connection  growing  out  of  the  sale  of  the  bond  to 
which  he  had  before  referred,  and  growing  out  of  that  sale  in 
the  manner  he  had  pointed  out;  that  it  was  necessity,  arising 
from  the  law  of  Congress  directing  the  sale,  and  not  from  the 
choice  of  the  executive  officers.  If  it  was  any  other  or  different 
connection,  he  was  further  ready  to  say  that  it  had  been  formed 
without  his  knowledge  or  consent,  and  should  not  meet  his 
approbation.  Here  he  had  been  and  was  still  willing  to  rest  his 
comments  upon  this  matter. 

"Neither  the  honorable  Senator  nor  the  body  he  addressed 
would  expect  him,  upon  an  occasion  like  this,  to  go  into  a  gene 
ral  debate  upon  the  independent  treasury  bill,  or  to  follow  the 
Senator  through  that  large  portion  of  his  remarks.  It  had 
appeared  to  him  that  the  gentleman  had,  as  he  himself  admitted, 
indulged  extensively  in  the  wide  field  of  debate  allowed  by  the 
courtesy  of  the  Senate,  in  this  part  of  his  speech;  but  as  Mr.  W. 
had  arisen  to  remark  upon  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  speech, 
rather  than  to  answer  its  argument  in  any  aspect,  he  should  be 
justified  in  passing  this  portion  without  notice. 

"There  was  another  feature  of  the  address,  however,  which 
fell  more  appropriately  than  any  other  within  the  limits  he  had 
prescribed  for  himself,  and  which  must  receive  attention.  It  was 
the  extraordinary  position  assumed  by  the  Senator,  that  the  politi 
cal  opinions  of  the  President,  and  the  course  and  policy  of  his 
administration,  were  to  be  interpreted  and  proved  by  a  letter 
from  Nicholas  Biddle,  voluntarily  published  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  country.  Was  it  upon  such  evidence  that  the  President 
of  the  United  States  was  to  be  judged  and  condemned  ?  Was 
his  democracy  and  his  attachment  to  republican  principles  to  be 
tried  by  such  a  test  ?  Had  his  publicly  expressed  opinions,  and 
the  public  course  of  his  whole  life,  authorized  a  judgment  against 
him  upon  such  evidence  ?  Mr.  W.  had  never  yet  seen  the  letter 
alluded  to,  but  he  had  heard  of  it,  and  lie  now  found  the  honor 
able  Senator  a  perfect  master  of  its  contents.  All  this  was  well, 
as  a  matter  with  which  he  had  nothing  to  do,  and  about  which 
he  felt  no  anxiety.  All  he  wished  to  say  was,  that  his  friends 


800  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

were  not  to  be  bqund  by  its  terms,  its  language  or  its  spirit,  until 
they  were  made  parties  to  it  by  some  higher  proof  than  the  letter 
itself.  He  had  never  yet  judged  them  by  such  a  standard,  nor 
should  he  ever  do  so,  until  they  had  been  permitted  to  hear  and 
answer  the  charges  thus  predicated. 

"  Even  this  letter,  however,  had  not  answered  the  purposes  of 
the  honorable  Senator,  and  a  different,  and  not  less  singular, 
description  of  testimony  had  been  brought  in  to  supply  the  defi 
ciency  in  the  argument  he  had  attempted  to  make.  What  was 
that  other  proof?  The  comments  of  opposition  newspapers 
upon  Mr.  Biddle's  letter !  The  remarks  and  inferences  of  the 
Baltimore  Chronicle  upon  that  singular  production  !  !  Mr. 
W.  was  not  disposed  to  extend  remarks  upon  such  a  case,  based 
upon  such  evidence  and  coming  from  such  a  quarter.  He  would, 
therefore,  only  add  that  such  never  had  been  and  such  never 
should  be  the  standard  by  which  he  would  judge  his  friends. 
Neither  the  President  nor  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should 
ever  receive  condemnation  from  him  upon  such  authority.  If 
they  were  to  be  convicted  of  a  design  to  fasten  upon  the  country 
a  national  bank  of  any  character,  he  must  learn  the  fact  from 
better  authority  than  the  Baltimore  Chronicle  or  the  comments 
of  any  other  opposition  newspaper,  before  he  should  subscribe  to 
the  verdict. 

"  A  single  other  position  of  the  Senator  should  receive  a  pass 
ing  notice,  and  Mr.  W.  would  come  to  a  conclusion.  A  charge 
had  been  preferred  against  the  President  of  the  gravest  charac 
ter,  drawn  from  the  face  of  his  late  message.  It  was  said  that 
he  had  made  an  arrogant  and  unconstitutional  recommendation, 
calculated  to  sink  Congress  from  its  high  estate  to  the  feet  of  the 
executive ;  that,  in  that  recommendation,  the  disposition  to  ren 
der  the  executive  superior  and  paramount  to  the  legislative 
power  of  the  government  was  conclusively  manifested.  What 
was  the  specific  charge  from  which  this  grave  inference  was  so 
confidently  drawn  ?  It  was  that  the  President  had  recommended 
that  a  committee  of  Congress,  to  be  appointed  by  the  body, 
should  examine  at  intervals  the  books,  accounts  and  money  in 
the  hands  of  the  officers  charged  with  the  collection,  safe-keeping 
and  disbursement  of  the  public  moneys,  as  such  committee  had 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  801 

been  authorized  by  the  charter  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  when  it  was  the  depository  of  the  public  money,  to  exam 
ine  its  accounts.  For  what  purpose  did  the  President  propose 
this  examination  ?  The  Senator  says,  that  the  committee  might 
make  report  thereof  to  the  President ;  that  a  committee  of  Con 
gress  might  be  made  the  servants  of  the  executive  and  might  be 
brought  to  the  foot  of  the  throne  to  give  an  account  of  their 
doings,  instead  of  making  a  report  to  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress  of  which  they  themselves  would  be  a  component  part,  and 
which,  as  independent  representatives  of  the  people  or  the  States, 
they  could  do  without  humiliation  or  disgrace. 

"  Mr.  W.  would  appeal  to  the  Senator  himself  to  say  if  this 
was  a  fair  or  candid  statement  of  the  recommendation  of  the 
President?  Did  it  convey  to  the  Senate,  to  this  audience,  to 
the  country,  a  true  idea  of  the  message  and  of  the  views  and 
wishes  of  the  President  as  communicated  in  it  ?  He  did  not 
charge  the  Senator  with  intended  unfairness  or  want  of  candor. 
With  his  intention  he  had  nothing  to  do,  but  his  inquiry  went  to 
the  fact.  Was  the  representation  of  the  Senator  fair  and  candid 
in  fact?  Let  the  message  itself  answer.  This  is  its  language: 

' ' '  When  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  incorporated  and  made 
the  depository  of  the  public  moneys,  a  right  was  reserved  to  Congress  to 
inspect  at  its  pleasure,  by  a  committee  of  that  body,  the  books  and  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  bank.  In  one  of  the  States,  whose  banking  institutions  are 
supposed  to  rank  amongst  the  first  in  point  of  stability,  they  are  subjected 
to  constant  examination  by  commissioners  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and 
much  of  the  success  of  its  banking  system  is  attributed  to  this  watchful 
supervision.  The  same  course  has  also,  in  view  of  its  beneficial  operation, 
been  adopted  by  an  adjoining  State  favorably  known  for  the  care  it  has 
always  bestowed  upon  whatever  relates  to  its  financial  concerns.  I  submit 
to  j'our  consideration  whether  a  committee  of  Congress  might  not  be  profit 
ably  employed  in  inspecting,  at  such  intervals  as  might  be  deemed  proper, 
the  affairs  and  accounts  of  officers  intrusted  with  the  custody  of  the  public 
moneys.  The  frequent  performance  of  this  duty  might  be  made  obligatory 
on  the  committee  in  respect  to  those  officers  who  have  large  sums  in  their 
possession,  and  left  discretionary  in  respect  to  others.  They  might  report 
to  the  executive  such  defalcations  as  were  found  to  exist,  with  a  view  to  a 
prompt  removal  from  office  unless  the  default  was  satisfactorily  accounted 
for;  and  report  also  to  Congress,  at  the  commencement  of  each  session, 
the  result  of  their  examinations  and  proceedings.  It  does  appear  to  me 

51 


802  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

that,  with  a  subjection  of  this  class  of  public  officers  to  the  general  super 
vision  of  the  executive,  to  examinations  by  a  committee  of  Congress  at 
periods  of  which  they  should  have  no  previous  notice,  and  to  prosecution 
and  punishment  as  for  felony  for  every  breach  of  trust,  the  safe-keeping  of 
the  public  moneys  under  the  system  proposed  might  be  placed  on  a  surer 
foundation  than  it  has  ever  occupied  since  the  establishment  of  the  govern 
ment.' 

"  Has  the  criticism  of  the  gentleman  presented  this  recommen 
dation,  or  rather  suggestion,  fairly  and  candidly?  For  what 
purpose  does  the  President  suggest  that  this  committee  should 
report  to  him,  and  what  does  he  suggest  should  be  reported  to 
him  ?  '  They  might  report  to  the  executive  such  defalcations  as 
were  found  to  exist,'  says  the  message,  and  for  what?  'With  a 
view  to  a  prompt  removal  from  office. '  But  what  further  are  the 
committee  to  do  ?  'And  report  also  to  Congress,  at  the  com 
mencement  of  each  session,'  what  ?  '  The  result  of  their  exami 
nations  and  proceedings.'  Is  there  here  an  attempt  to  evade  the 
Legislature  and  draw  power  to  the  executive  ?  The  power  of 
removal  from  office  rests  with  the  President  by  the  Constitution, 
and  it  is  only  to  advise  him  when  the  exercise  of  that  power  is 
required,  for  the  safety  of  the  public  money,  that  a  report  to  him 
from  the  committee  of  examination  is  suggested.  Is  that  an 
attempt  to  degrade  the  legislative  power  and  bring  it  into  sub 
serviency  to  the  executive?  Does  it  manifest  a  disposition  to 
bring  down  Congress  from  its  high  estate  ?  Who  would  hold  a 
committee  of  Congress  blameless  which  should  find  a  defalcation 
such  as  is  contemplated  in  the  message,  and  should  not  immedi 
ately  report  the  defaulting  officer  to  the  President,  '  with  a  view 
to  a  prompt  removal  from  office  '  of  the  delinquent  ?  Would  a 
single  Senator  who  heard  him  hold  a  committee  guiltless  which 
should  omit  this  plain  public  duty  ?  Was  it  then  a  crime  in  the 
President  to  suggest  the  performance  of  it  ?  Or  was  it  an  offense 
against  Congress  to  mention,  as  proper,  what  all  were  compelled 
to  admit  would  be  an  imperious  obligation  ?  He  could  not  antici 
pate  such  a  conclusion  from  such  premises.  Was  it,  then,  fair  or 
candid  to  have  commented  with  such  severity  upon  the  sugges 
tion,  and  not  to  have  stated  the  object  of  the  report  proposed  to 
be  made  to  the  President,  or  the  fact  that  a  full  and  perfect  report 
to  Congress  was  also  recommended  ?  He  could  not  so  consider  it. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  803 

"  Had  the  remarks  which  had  fallen  from  the  Senator  proceeded 
from  one  of  the  gentlemen  declaredly  in  the  opposition,  his  sur 
prise  would  have  been  less.  They  did  not  always,  in  the  warmth 
of  debate,  and  acting  under  feelings  of  general  political  hostility, 
feel  bound  to  give  their  opponents  an  opportunity  to  be  heard 
before  they  bestowed  censures,  nor  did  they  always  find  it  suit 
able  to  their  purposes  to  state  the  whole  case  upon  which  to 
found  the  inferences  they  might  wish  to  draw.  But,  from  a 
Senator  standing  in  the  relation  to  the  administration  which  he 
had  supposed  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  did,  he  had  expected 
fairness  and  candor  at  least;  that  if  a  judgment  of  condemnation 
must  be  rendered,  it  would  be  after,  and  not  before,  an  opportu 
nity  had  been  afforded  to  present  the  facts  upon  which  it  must 
rest,  and  that  a  statement  of  the  whole  case  would  be  spread 
upon  the  record. 

"  He  had,  however,  doubtless  mistaken  the  position  of  the 
Senator.  He  remembered  that  some  person  had,  during  the  sum 
mer  past,  defined  the  condition  of  a  certain  political  party  of  the 
country  to  be  that  of  '  an  armed  neutrality,'  in  reference  to  the 
two  great  contending  parties  of  the  day.  Of  this  party  he 
believed  the  Senator  called  himself  a  member,  and  from  his 
speech  of  this  day  it  was  plain  that  he,  Mr.  W.,  must  have  been 
mistaken  as  to  the  true  definition  of  an  '  armed  neutrality.'  He 
had  supposed  it  indicated  a  relation  purely  defensive,  but  he 
must  suppose,  from  the  example  the  Senator  had  presented,  that 
it  was  one  wholly  offensive;  that  it  was  exclusively  belligerent, 
and  authorized  offensive  war  upon  all  parties.  In  this  sense,  all 
cause  for  his  surprise  and  disappointment  was  removed.  But  if 
there  was  anything  of  neutrality  in  the  relation  in  which  the 
Senator  had  placed  himself  to-day  toward  the  party  to  which  he 
belonged,  it  was  surely  an  armed  neutrality  at  the  best.  [To 
these  remarks  Mr.  Rives  replied  at  some  length,  and  Mr.  WRIGHT 
rejoined  in  a  very  few  words,  and  substantially  as  follows  :] 
Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  did  not  wish  to  protract  this  debate,  and 
he  found  it  so  impossible  to  make  himself  understood  by  the 
honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Rives]  that  he  should  not  attempt  to 
answer  him  farther.  He  would  further  assure  the  gentleman  and 
the  Senate  that  he  should  not  permit  himself,  in  any  degree,  to 


804  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

partake  of  the  heat  and  passion  which  had  characterized  the  last 
remarks  to  which  they  had  listened.  He  rose  for  a  single  pur 
pose,  to  correct  a  single  error.  The  Senator  had  represented 
Mr.  W.  as  menacing  him  with  executive  displeasure  ;  as 
attempting  to  terrify  him  by  the  dread  of  executive  censures. 
He  had  done  no  such  thing,  nor  had  he,  to  his  knowledge,  said 
anything  from  which  such  an  inference  could  be  possibly  drawn. 
The  Senate  were  the  witnesses  of  what  he  had  said,  and  he 
appealed  to  them,  individually  and  collectively,  to  say  if  the 
language  he  had  used  was  possibly  susceptible  of  any  such  inter 
pretation.  He  would  go  farther,  and  say  that  no  intention  to 
use  language  of  that  character  had  existed  in  his  mind,  and  he 
could  not  think  he  had  made  expressions  so  foreign  from  his 
feelings  and  intentions.  He  was  not  authorized  to  speak  of 
executive  displeasure  or  to  wield  executive  censures,  nor  had  he 
attempted  to  do  either. 

"  A  single  other  remark.  If  the  inference  which  might  follow 
from  the  last  remark  of  the  Senator  was  intended  for  him,  he 
repelled  and  spurned  it.  [Mr.  Rives  rose  as  Mr.  W.  was  resum 
ing  his  seat,  and  inquired  to  what  remark  of  his  Mr.  WEIGHT 
alluded,  saying  he  did  not  know  what  allusion  was  intended. 
Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  understood  the  Senator  to  have  closed 
with  the  words,  '  I  am  no  vassal  of  the  President.  Let  the 
Senator  from  New  York  understand  that.'  [Mr.  Rives,  turning 
from  Mr.  WEIGHT,  and  addressing  the  Senate,  said  :  '  I  am  not 
a  vassal  of  the  President,  or  any  one  else,  and  I  wish  that  under 
stood  everywhere.' " "] 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  805 


CHAPTER  LXXVI. 

SALE  OF  THE  BONDS  HELD  BY  THE  UNITED  STATES,  GIVEN 
BY  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

When  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  about  to 
expire,  in  1836,  and  all  hope  of  securing  a  new  charter 
from  Congress  had  ceased,  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature 
granted  a  State  charter  under  which  it  acted.  The  capital 
of  the  old  bank  was  transferred  to  the  new  and  formed  its 
basis  for  banking.  One-fifth  of  this,  $7,000,000,  belonged 
to  the  United  States,  which  they  alone  could  control. 
On  the  23d  of  June,  1836,  Congress  passed  an  act  author 
izing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  receive  pay  for  the 
same,  and  exercise  other  powers  in  relation  thereto.  The 
new  bank  subsequently  proposed  terms  of  adjustment  of 
these  matters. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1837,  Congress,  by  a  joint  resolu 
tion,  authorized  the  Secretary  to  settle  with  the  new 
bank,  "and  take  such  obligations  for  the  payment  of  the 
several  installments,  in  said  proposed  terms  of  settlement 
mentioned,  as  he  may  think  proper."  The  Secretary 
exercised  the  powers  conferred,  and  took  the  bonds  of 
the  bank  for  the  amount  due,  payable  at  different  periods. 

On  the  7th  of  July,  1838.  Congress  passed  an  act 
authorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  make  sale 
of  the  bonds  thus  taken,  in  aid  of  the  treasury,  which  he 
did,  and  reported  to  Congress.  On  this  report  a  discus 
sion  arose,  in  which  Mr.  WEIGHT  defended  the  President 
and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  following  extended 
remarks : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said :  I  rise,  Mr.  President,  to  perform  a  task 
from  which  I  had  hoped  to  be  discharged.  I  had  hoped  that 


806  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

some  other  member  of  the  Senate,  more  capable  and  less  likely 
to  be  suspected  of  partiality  upon  the  one  side,  and  of  prejudice 
upon  the  other,  would  have  relieved  me  from  it.  Hence,  to  some 
extent,  the  long  delay,  on  my  part,  to  ask  the  Senate  to  bring  the 
subject  of  these  reports  again  to  its  attention.  And  hence,  too, 
the  extreme  reluctance  I  have  felt,  and  some  of  which  I  have 
manifested  to  this  body,  to  seem  to  court  a  continuance  of  debate 
upon  it.  The  clearest  convictions  of  duty,  however,  to  myself, 
to  the  hitherto  tried  and  faithful  public  officers  whose  conduct  is 
brought  under  suspicion,  and,  above  all,  to  that  great  public, 
whose  servants  we  all  are,  to  whom  we  are  all  responsible,  and 
whose  full  and  clear  and  perfect  understanding  of  the  truth,  in 
reference  to  every  public  act  of  every  public  servant,  ought  to  be 
an  object  of  primary  interest  with  us  all,  impel  me  to  the  course 
I  pursue. 

"  The  recent  business  transactions  between  certain  executive 
officers  of  the  government  and  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
chartered  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  has  justly  excited  some 
interest  throughout  the  country.  That  interest  has  been  materi 
ally  increased  and  strengthened  by  the  manner  in  which  the  chief 
officer  of  that  banking  institution  has  felt  himself  authorized  to 
speak  to  the  public  of  these  transactions.  It  was  not,  therefore, 
to  have  been  expected,  much  less  hoped,  that  Congress  would  fail 
to  make  the  whole  subject  one  of  inquiry  and  examination.  The 
Senate  has  not  disappointed  this  reasonable  expectation.  On  the 
contrary,  a  lively  and  pervading  interest,  in  this  body,  has  been 
given  to  the  whole  matter,  by  the  peculiar  care  with  which  the 
calls  for  information  have  evidently  been  drawn,  and  by  the 
anticipatory  debates  which  accompanied  those  calls.  The  reso 
lutions  were  passed  without  objection;  and,  when  I  remember 
their  particularity  and  precision,  I  feel  authorized  to  assume  that 
all  the  facts  are  now  before  us,  embodied  in  the  reports  under 
consideration.  A  fair  and  full  examination  of  those  facts,  and  of 
the  conclusions  properly  and  naturally  to  be  drawn  from  them,  is 
my  present  purpose  ;  and  I  take  great  pleasure,  Mr.  President,  in 
promising  you  that  the  duty  shall  be  discharged  with  as  little 
consumption  of  the  time,  and  as  light  a  tax  upon  the  patience,  of 
the  Senate  as  shall  be  possible. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  807 

"Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  pre-existing  relations  between  the 
government  of  the  United  States  and  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  have  given  foundation  for  the  transactions  complained  of, 
a  very  brief  notice  of  those  relations  will,  in  my  estimation,  con 
tribute  essentially  to  a  full  and  clear  understanding  of  the  matters 
under  discussion.  The  first  of  these  relations  was  that  of  a  part 
nership  in  banking,  and  the  second  was  that  of  a  creditor  and 
debtor  ;  and  out  of  both  have  grown  the  proceedings  which  form 
the  subject  of  this  debate. 

"  The  Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  a  national  institution,  com 
menced  its  chartered  existence  on  the  4th  day  of  March,  1816. 
By  the  terms  of  the  charter,  the  United  States  were  to  hold  the 
one-fifth  part  of  its  whole  stock,  an  amount  equal  to  $7,000,000. 
That  stock  was  taken,  and,  with  very  trifling  exceptions  compara 
tively,  was  held  throughout  the  term  of  twenty  years  which  the 
charter  had  to  run.  I  believe  that  some  transfers  of  stock,  from 
the  general  treasury  to  the  navy  pension  fund,  had  varied,  very 
limitedly,  the  amount  of  that  direct  interest  ;  but  the  variation 
is  immaterial  to  the  purposes  of  this  argument,  and,  as  the  trans 
fer  was  made  to  a  trust  fund,  in  the  safety  and  protection  of  which 
an  interest  was  felt,  and  actually  existed,  equal  to  that  for  the 
safety  and  protection  of  any  other  equal  portion  of  the  public 
treasure,  the  real  public  interest  was  not  at  all  changed. 

"  Upon  the  expiration  of  the  charter  of  the  bank  as  a  national 
institution,  in  March,  1836,  this  great  interest  was  left  subject  to 
the  management  of  the  directors  and  other  officers  of  the  bank 
during  the  two  years  allowed  by  the  charter  for  the  winding  up 
of  its  affairs,  and  left,  almost  necessarily,  in  an  unproductive 
state.  Hence  the  early  interest  felt  and  manifested,  as  well  in 
Congress  as  by  the  chief  fiscal  officer  of  the  government,  to  give 
prompt  and  efficient  attention  to  this  portion  of  the  public  trea 
sure.  The  charter  of  the  bank  expired  during  the  session  of 
Congress;  and,  before  its  adjournment,  a  law  was  passed  consti 
tuting  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  agent  of  the  United 
States  to  superintend  this  interest,  with,  full  power  to  liquidate 
the  amount,  to  receive  payment,  or  to  take  security  for  payment 
at  a  future  day,  submitting  to  his  sole  discretion  the  forbearance 
to  be  extended  and  the  sufficiency  of  the  security  to  be  offered. 


808  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  In  the  meantime,  and  at  about  the  period,  if  not  upon  the 
very  day,  of  the  expiration  of  the  charter,  a  proceeding  was  had 
by  the  board  of  directors  of  the  bank  which  I  must  be  permitted 
to  call  singular,  at  the  least,  and  especially  so  as  it  was  a  pro 
ceeding  to  which  the  government  was  in  no  sense  a  party.  The 
whole  bank,  its  stocks,  debts,  credits  and  effects,  of  every  name 
and  character,  were  sold  and  transferred  to  a  banking  institution 
chartered  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  This  transfer  took  place 
in  March,  and  the  law  of  Congress,  last  referred  to,  did  not  pass 
until  the  twenty-third  of  June  after.  The  transfer  was  to  an  in  stitu- 
tion  in  which,  upon  the  face  of  its  charter,  the  United  States  were 
prohibited  from  holding  stock,  so  that  the  government  could 
take  nothing  in  the  new  bank  by  this  sale  of  its  property  in  the 
old.  Such  was  the  condition  of  this  public  interest  at  the  time 
Congress  adjourned  in  1836. 

"It  is  proper  to  pause  here,  and  see  what  was  the  state  of  the 
public  treasury  at  this  period,  that  we  may  estimate  the  willing 
ness,  on  the  part  of  all  the  public  functionaries,  to  accept  security 
for  the  payment  of  this  debt  at  a  future  day,  instead  of  payment 
in  hand,  and  consequently  the  willingness  of  Congress  to  submit 
the  time  of  payment  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  alone.  The 
treasury  was,  at  the  time  referred  to,  full  to  overflowing,  and 
statesmen  of  the  greatest  experience  and  deepest  reflection  consid 
ered  the  abundance  of  our  revenues  and  the  surplus  of  our  treasure 
as  one  of  the  severest  evils  which  then  did,  or  which  ever  had, 
threatened  the  purity  and  permanency  of  our  institutions.  So 
great  was  the  desire  to  discharge  the  country  from  the  corrupting 
and  demoralizing  influences  of  this  flood  of  moriey,  that,  on  the 
very  day  on  which  this  agency  over  our  interest  in  the  bank  was 
given  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  law  was  passed  to  set 
apart  from  the  general  and  ordinary  uses  of  the  treasury,  and  dis 
tribute  to  the  States,  in  the  form  of  a  deposit,  more  than  thirty- 
seven  millions  of  dollars  of  the  public  money.  This  law  stands 
upon  the  statute  book  next  before  that  which  authorizes  the 
Secretary  to  extend  a  credit  upon  the  debt  due  from  the  bank. 

"I  will  now  pass  to  the  next  session  of  Congress  —  the  annual 
session  of  1836-37.  On  the  1st  day  of  January,  1837,  the  balance 
was  to  be  struck,  and  all  the  money  found  in  the  treasury,  deduct- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  809 

ing  five  millions  of  dollars  to  meet  outstanding  appropriations, 
was  to  be  laid  aside,  and  deposited  with  the  States  in  the  ratio 
of  their  representation  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress;  the 
one  quarter  on  that  day,  one  other  quarter  on  the  first  day 
of  April,  the  third  quarter  on  the  first  day  of  July,  and  the 
remaining  quarter  on  the  first  day  of  October,  of  that  year. 
This  left  the  treasury  with  five  millions  of  dollars  of  means, 
and  something  more  than  fourteen  millions  of  dollars  of  out 
standing  appropriations.  The  current  revenue  of  the  year, 
therefore,  must  meet  the  balance  of  outstanding  appropriations 
beyond  the  five  millions  of  dollars  left  in  the  treasury,  and 
also  the  current  appropriations  of  the  year,  or  the  money  placed 
in  deposit  with  the  States  must  be  called  back  to  pay  the  defi 
ciency.  This,  I  think,  was  about  the  state  of  facts,  and  the 
condition  of  the  treasury,  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1837;  though 
I  have  not  looked  at  the  figures  for  this  occasion,  and,  speaking 
from  memory,  may  not  be  precisely  accurate.  During  this  ses 
sion  of  Congress,  a  report  was  received  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  detailing  the  efforts  which  had  been  made  under  the 
law  of  1836  to  liquidate,  settle  and  secure  the  bank  debt;  giving 
the  then  state  of  the  negotiation,  and  showing  that  no  definite 
or  satisfactory  result  had  been  reached.  It  appeared,  however, 
that  examinations  had  been  made,  facts  ascertained  and  conclu 
sions  formed,  as  to  the  fair  value  of  the  interest  of  the  United 
States  arising  from  their  stock;  and  that  distinct  offers  to  sell 
the  claim  to  the  new  Pennsylvania  bank,  at  a  given  price,  and 
upon  specified  terms,  as  to  time  and  interest,  had  been  made 
by  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Secretary,  but  that  no 
answers  had  been  obtained  to  their  propositions. 

"After  this  report  was  laid  before  Congress  and  the  public, 
the  board  of  directors  of  this  Pennsylvania  bank,  through  their 
president,  addressed  a  memorial  to  Congress,  giving  their  accept 
ance  of  one  of  the  offers  which  had  been  made  to  them,  and 
Congress,  on  the  3d  of  March,  1837,  passed  a  concurrent  resolu 
tion,  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  take  the  security 
offered,  and  close  the  business. 

"  The  whole  value  of  the  claim,  as  liquidated  by  the  offer  and 
acceptance,  was  $7,946,356.16.  This  was  the  amount  conceded 


810  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

to  have  been  due  to  the  United  States  on  the  day  after  the  expi 
ration  of  the  charter  of  the  bank  as  a  national  institution,  the 
4th  day  of  March,  1836  ;  ajd,  by  the  terms  of  the  bargain,  pay 
ment  was  to  be  made  in  four  equal  installments  of  $1,986,589.04 
each,  the  first  to  be  paid  in  the  month  of  September,  1837,  and 
the  remaining  three  installments  in  one,  two  and  three  years  from 
that  time,  with  interest  upon  the  whole  amount  from  and  after 
the  3d  day  of  March,  1836,  until  paid,  at  the  rate  of  six  per 
centum  per  annum.  The  Secretary  proceeded  to  carry  into  effect 
the  resolution  of  Congress,  to  ascertain  the  amounts  as  above 
stated,  and  to  take  the  bonds  of  the  United  States  Bank  of  Penn 
sylvania  to  secure  the  payments,  that  being  the  security  agreed 
to  be  given  by  the  terms  of  the  acceptance. 

"  In  this  way  the  claim  of  the  United  States  was  transferred 
from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  chartered  by  Congress,  to 
that  chartered  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania;  and  thus  the  bonds 
against  the  latter  institution,  which  have  given  rise  to  the  trans 
actions  principally  complained  of,  came  into  existence.  These 
bonds  were  each  for  the  same  amount,  $1,986,589.04.  Each 
bears  an  interest  of  six  per  centum  per  annum  from  the  3d  day  of 
March,  1836 ;  and  the  first  was  payable  in  all  the  month  of  Sep 
tember,  1837,  the  second  in  1838,  the  third  in  1839  and  the  fourth 
in  1840.  All  these  bonds  bear  date  on  the  10th  day  of  May, 
1837;  and  it  is  impossible  not  to  mark  the  singular  coincidence  of 
dates  between  the  conclusion  of  this  negotiation,  which  postponed 
the  payment,  and  placed  beyond  the  power  and  control  of  the 
treasury  this  almost  eight  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  universal 
suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks  of  the  country,  which 
instantly  deprived  the  treasury  of  means  to  pay  the  public  credit 
ors,  and  compelled  an  extra  call  of  Congress.  I  have  stated  that 
the  bonds  were  dated  on  the  10th  day  of  May,  1837.  They  were, 
therefore,  executed  on  that  day,  either  at  Washington  or  Phila 
delphia,  while  at  New  York,  on  the  very  same  day,  specie  pay 
ments  were  suspended.  I  speak  from  recollection  upon  this 
point,  but  feel  sure  that  the  suspension  took  place  at  New  York 
on  the  10th  of  May,  1837 ;  and  it  was  certainly  followed,  almost 
instantly,  where  it  had  not  been  preceded,  by  nearly  every  bank 
ing  institution  in  the  whole  Union.  A  consequence  of  this  was 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  811 

to  render  unavailable,  for  legal  payments,  all  the  balances  in  the 
deposit  banks,  and  to  throw  back  upon  the  treasury,  thus  deprived 
of  its  means,  masses  of  outstanding  drafts  which  had  been  drawn 
upon  these  deposits,  but  which  had  not  reached  their  places  of 
destination  and  been  presented  for  payment  when  the  suspension 
was  proclaimed.  At  this  crisis  the  bank  debt  would  have  been  a 
most  timely  and  important  aid,  if  it  could  have  been  realized  in 
cash;  but  the  consummation,  on  the  very  day  of  the  suspension 
by  the  banks,  of  the  terms  of  a  compromise,  tendered  on  the  part 
of  the  government  when  the  treasury  was  more  than  full,  and 
accepted  by  the  bank  several  months  after  it  was  tendered,  had 
postponed  payment  upon  this  debt  for  one,  two,  three  and  four 
years. 

"  Under  circumstances  like  these,  the  proclamation  of  the 
President  was  issued,  bearing  date  on  the  15th  of  May,  1837,  and 
calling  a  special  meeting  of  Congress  for  September  of  that  year. 
The  deposits  with  the  States,  to  be  made  on  the  first  of  January 
and  first  of  April,  of  between  nine  and  ten  millions  of  dollars 
each,  had  been  nearly  completed,  and  drafts  had  been  issued  for 
the  principal  part,  if  not  for  the  whole,  of  the  deposit,  of  like 
amount,  to  be  made  on  the  first  of  July,  when  the  suspension  of 
specie  payments  by  the  banks  placed  the  very  moneys,  out  of 
which  these  deposits  were  to  be  made,  beyond  the  control  of  the 
law  or  of  the  fiscal  officers  of  the  government.  The  consequence 
was,  that  many  of  the  outstanding  drafts  for  the  July  deposits, 
and  some  few  of  those  for  the  previous  installments,  were  dis 
honored  by  the  banks  upon  which  they  were  drawn,  and  returned 
upon  the  treasury  for  payment,  while  the  whole  means  of  the 
treasury,  to  meet  these  and  other  payments,  were  locked  up  in 
the  suspending  banks.  Hence  the  aid  of  Congress  was  invoked, 
at  the  earliest  practicable  period,  and  the  ability  of  the  treasury 
to  get  on  until  the  commencement  of  the  extra  session  was  ren 
dered  extremely  doubtful.  So  rapid  was  our  transition,  in  a 
public  sense,  from  superabundant  wealth  to  extreme  poverty, 
from  plethoric  fullness  in  the  public  treasury  to  extreme  want  and 
almost  perfect  destitution ! 

"  It  will  now  be  proper  to  see  what  legislation  was  adopted  by 
Congress  affecting  the  public  treasury  at  the  extra  session  of 


812  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

September  and  October,  1837.  In  the  way  of  supply,  a  bill  was 
passed,  on  the  twelfth  day  of  October,  authorizing  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  to  issue  paper,  upon  the  credit  of  the  govern 
ment,  in  the  shape  of  treasury  notes,  as  the  wants  of  the  treasury 
should  require,  not  to  exceed,  in  all,  the  amount  of  $10,000,000, 
but  with  such  restrictions  in  the  law  as  to  prohibit  the  reissue 
of  any  single  note  which  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  an  officer 
of  the  government,  in  payment  to  the  United  States,  while  all  the 
notes  were  made  a  legal  tender  for  all  such  payments. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  nearly  every  ordinary  resource  of  the 
treasury  was  cut  off,  for  a  period,  by  a  law  which  suspended,  for 
the  space  of  nine  months  after  maturity,  all  payments  upon  all 
outstanding  duty  bonds,  and  gave  a  credit  of  three  and  six 
months  upon  such  cash  duties  as  had  become  due  and  were 
unpaid,  or  should  become  due  upon  importations  to  be  made  pre 
vious  to  the  month  of  November,  1837;  and  by  another  law 
which,  at  the  option  of  the  deposit  banks,  suspended  payment 
upon  the  balances  due  from  them,  for  previous  deposits,  for  periods 
of  eight,  fourteen  and  twenty  months,  and  required  that  the 
bonds  of  the  institutions  for  payment,  at  the  expiration  of  those 
periods,  of  equal  third  parts  of  their  respective  debts,  satis 
factorily  secured,  should  be  received  in  lieu  of  payments  in 
hand. 

"Another  law  was  also  passed,  at  this  extra  session,  materially 
affecting  the  treasury  in  both  directions.  I  allude  to  the  law 
*  postponing  the  payment  of  the  fourth  installment  of  deposits 
with  the  States.'  This  law  relieved  the  treasury  from  this  call  of 
between  $9,000,000  and  $10,000,000,  until  the  1st  day  of  January, 
1839;  but  it,  at  the  same  time,  prohibited  the  Treasurer  from 
drawing,  under  any  circumstances,  or  for  any  purpose,  upon 
the  $28,000,000  which  had  been  previously  deposited  with  the 
States  in  obedience  to  the  provisions  of  the  deposit  law  of  1836. 
Its  effect,  therefore,  was  to  deprive  the  treasury  of  three  dollars 
of  means  for  every  one  dollar  of  demand  from  which  it  was 
relieved. 

"  With  the  exception  of  the  necessary  appropriations  made  at 
the  extra  session,  no  other  legislation  materially  affecting  the 
public  treasury  has  been  discovered. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  813 

"I  will  now  pass  on  to  the  annual  session  of  Congress  of 
1837-38,  and  see  in  what  manner  the  legislation  of  that  session 
was  made  to  influence  the  operations  of  the  treasury.  On  the 
21st  of  May,  1838,  a  law  passed  giving  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  the  power  to  issue  new  treasury  notes  in  the  place  of 
all  those  which,  having  been  issued  under  the  law  of  the  extra 
session,  had  been  paid  in  and  canceled  or  should  be  so  paid  in 
and  canceled  under  the  provisions  of  that  law.  The  same  pro 
hibition,  however,  against  a  reissue  of  the  new  notes  was  retained 
in  the  law  of  1838,  while  these  notes  also  were  made  a  legal  ten 
der  in  all  public  payments. 

"The  only  other  legislation  of  this  session  intended  for  the 
supply  of  the  treasury  was  the  law  of  the  7th  of  July,  1838, 
authorizing  a  sale  in  the  market  of  the  two  bonds  against  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  of  Pennsylvania  which  were  to  become 
due  and  payable  in  September,  1839  and  1840,  being  the  third  and 
fourth  of  the  four  bonds  taken  in  the  manner  before  related  to 
secure  the  debt  due  to  the  United  States  from  the  late  Bank  of 
the  United  States  chartered  by  Congress,  for  the  stock  held  by 
the  United  States  in  that  institution  at  the  time  of  the  expiration 
of  its  charter.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  bond  was 
made  payable  in  September,  1837,  which  time  had  passed  and 
that  bond  had  been  paid  and  canceled.  The  second  bond,  made 
payable  in  September,  1838,  would  fall  due  so  soon  after  the  pas 
sage  of  the  law  that  it  was  not  thought  advisable  to  include  in  it 
a  provision  for  its  sale,  as  the  money  might  be  received  upon  it 
from  its  maturity  before  a  negotiation  for  the  sale  could  be 
brought  to  a  successful  termination.  Hence  the  law  provided 
for  the  sale  of  the  two  last  bonds  only ;  and  this  law  it  is,  and 
the  practical  execution  of  it  by  the  Secretary,  which  has  given 
rise  to  this  discussion  and  now  compels  me  to  obtrude  myself 
upon  the  attention  of  the  Senate. 

"The  law  made  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  agent  of  the 
government  for  the  sale  of  the  bonds;  limited  him  to  the  par 
value  of  each  bond  in  the  market,  '  calculated  according  to  the 
rules  for  estimating  the  par  value  of  securities  upon  which  inte 
rest  has  run  for  a  time,  but  which  securities  have  not  reached 
maturity;'  opened  to  him  the  markets  of  our  own  and  foreign 


814  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

countries,  and  directed  that  the  sale  should  be  made  for  c  money 
in  hand.' 

"  This  brings  me  to  an  examination  of  the  facts  in  relation  to 
the  execution  of  this  law,  and  for  them  I  must  refer  to  the  reports 
under  consideration  and  to  the  documents  accompanying  them. 
From  this  time  forward  I  shall,  as  far  as  practicable,  let  the 
reports  and  the  correspondence  speak  for  themselves;  as,  not 
withstanding  the  tediousness  to  myself  and  the  Senate  of  read 
ing  documents  here,  I  prefer  that  the  facts  themselves  and  the 
language  of  the  parties,  rather  than  my  understanding  of  either, 
should  guide  the  judgment  of  this  body  and  the  country  upon 
the  issue  presented. 

"  It  will  be  proper  here  to  remark  that  but  one  of  the  bonds 
authorized  to  be  sold  has  as  yet  been  sold  under  the  law  —  the 
bond  to  become  due  in  September  of  the  present  year  —  that  to 
fall  due  in  September,  1840,  being  yet  held  by  the  treasury  as 
the  property  of  the  United  States.  It  will,  however,  be  seen  that 
various  negotiations,  all  at  the  instance  of  the  bank,  have  been 
carried  on  between  that  institution  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  the  object  of  which  was  to  arrange  the  mode  and  man 
ner  of  payment  of  the  second  bond,  to  fall  due  in  September, 
1838,  and,  as  an  inducement  to  the  officers  of  the  treasury  to 
yield  to  the  mode  and  manner  desired  by  the  bank,  offering  on 
its  part  to  anticipate  portions  of  that  payment,  at  times  which 
should  be  most  desirable  to  the  government  in  reference  to  the 
calls  for  public  disbursement.  It  is  indispensable  to  a  perfect 
understanding  of  the  transactions  that  the  negotiations  for  this 
object  and  those  for  the  sale  of  the  third  bond,  under  the  law 
before  referred  to,  should  not  be  confounded;  while  the  dates 
and  order  and  manner  of  the  correspondence  upon  the  two  sub 
jects,  and  the  similarity  of  the  propositions  from  the  bank  in 
both  cases,  require  some  care  to  preserve  the  separation  perfectly, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  comprehend  the  whole  force  of  the  facts 
as  applicable  to  each  transaction. 

"  Hence  I  propose  to  examine  all  the  facts  in  relation  to  the 
time,  mode  and  manner  of  payment  of  the  second  bond,  due  in 
September,  1838,  and  which  was  not  sold,  before  I  refer  to  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  815 

facts  attending  the  sale  of  the  third  bond,  which  was  sold  to  the 
bank. 

"  The  first  question  which  arises  in  this  course  of  inquiry  is, 
was  the  state  of  the  treasury,  at  the  time  the  negotiation  was 
concluded  for  an  anticipation  of  the  payment  of  two-thirds  of 
this  bond,  and  a  postponement  for  the  period  of  fifteen  days  only 
of  the  remaining  third,  such  as  to  warrant  the  arrangement,  on 
the  part  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  as  one  calculated  to 
promote  the  public  interests,  and  to  secure  more  certainly  the 
payment  of  the  public  creditors  ?  This  question  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  himself  shall  answer.  And  as  the  same  question 
will  necessarily  arise  in  reference  to  the  sale  of  the  third  bond, 
and  as  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  in  answer  to  the  call  of  the 
Senate,  frequently  speaks  of  the  condition  and  necessities  of  the 
treasury  in  reference  to  both  of  these  negotiations  in  the  same 
sentence,  his  answer  as  to  both  shall  be  given  here.  I  read  first 
from  page  four  of  the  report,  which  relates  more  particularly  to 
the  payment  of  the  second  bond,  to  fall  due  in  September,  1838, 
though  clauses  of  the  extract  allude  also  to  the  sale  of  the  third 
bond.  The  Secretary  says  : 

"  '  To  avoid  the  payment  of  the  bond  that  was  to  fall  due  on  the  first  of 
October  being  made  in  neic  treasury  notes,  not  reissuable,  nor  available  in  any 
way  to  discharge  appropriations,  and  which  event  was  appreJiended  by  the 
department,  the  written  agreement  was  made  with  the  bank,  which  will  be 
found  among  the  documents,  stipulating,  among  other  things,  for  the  pay 
ment  of  that  bond  on  drafts  to  the  public  creditors,  and  in  specie  or  its 
equivalent.  This,  though  collateral  to  the  sale  of  the  other  bond,  was  a 
part  of  the  same  negotiation. 

"  '  It  was  very  clear  at  the  time,  and  has  been  confirmed  by  subsequent 
events,  that  the  payment  by  the  bank  of  its  bonds  in  such  treasury  notes, 
and  a  failure  to  make  that  arrangement,  the  only  practicable  one  for  the  sale 
of  the  third  bond,  would  render  either  a  special  call  of  Congress  or  a  sus 
pension  of  payment  of  some  of  the  demands  upon  the  treasury  inevitable. 
The  department  did  not  feel  itself  at  liberty  to  hesitate  in  deciding  between 
an  exposure  of  the  public  service  to  either  of  those  extremities,  by  insisting 
upon  having  the  whole  of  these  large  sums  of  money  paid  at  one  time,  and 
placed  elsewhere  in  other  suitable  depositories,,  if  any  could  be  found  in  the 
present  imperfect  state  of  the  law,  or  a  consent  to  leave  them  in  the  hands 
of  the  public  debtor  until  they  were  actually  wanted,  and  then  to  draw  for 
them,  in  specie  or  its  equivalent,  when  and  where  the  public  service  required. 
Especially  could  the  department  not  hesitate,  when  this  course  was  not  injuri- 


816  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ous  to  that  service,  and  it  was  unable  at  that  time  to  withdraw  those  funds 
except  by  the  debtor's  voluntary  consent.' 

"Again,  on  page  five,  with  more  exclusive  reference  to  the 
arrangements  in  relation  to  the  second  bond,  and  to  the  places 
and  manner  of  disbursement  required  by  the  wants  of  the  public 
service,  he  says  : 

"  '  In  relation  to  another  inquiry  concerning  "  the  period  when  the  sum  of 
$1,600,000,  in  part  payment  of  the  second  bond  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  was  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  treasury,"  I  state  that  $800,000  was 
placed  to  his  credit  on  the  15th  day  of  August,  and  $800,000  more  on  the 
15th  September,  1838.  As  to  the  "nature  of  the "  whole  agreement  on  that 
subject,  I  reply  that  it  will  be  found  in  the  correspondence  annexed. 

"  '  The  substance  of  it  was  that  about  one-third  of  the  amount  of  the  bond 
should  be  paid  in  the  middle  of  August,  one-third  in  the  middle  of  Septem 
ber,  and  the  other  third  in  the  middle  of  October,  as  these  periods  and 
amounts  of  payments  were  deemed  likely  to  promote  the  convenience  of  the 
treasury,  if  not  of  both  parties,  better  than  to  pay  the  whole  large  sum  of 
near  $2,500,000  at  once  at  the  close  of  the  month  of  September.  It  was 
further  stipulated  that  interest  should  cease  on  each  of  the  installments 
thus  paid  on  the  day  they  were  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  and 
made  subject  to  his  draft.  As  the  money  was  wanted  at  different  points 
to  meet  the  public  expenditures  near  them,  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  on 
the  bank,  payable  at  those  several  points,  were  engaged  to  be  met  there  with 
promptitude,  and  in  specie  or  its  equivalent.'1 

"Here  is  a  condensed,  but  full  and  clear,  statement  of  the 
result  of  the  negotiations  as  to  the  mode  and  manner  and  times 
of  payment  of  the  second  bond,  with  suggestions  as  to  the  con 
venience  to  the  treasury  of  this  manner  of  payment  over  that  of 
the  receipt  of  the  whole  sum  of  about  $2,400,000,  in  a  single  pay 
ment,  on  the  first  day  of  October,  while  the  extract  closes  with 
showing  that  the  payments,  at  the  times  and  places  stipulated, 
were  to  be  made  '  in  specie  or  its  equivalent.' 

"Again,  upon  pages  two  and  three  of  the  report,  and  refer 
ring  principally  to  the  sale  of  the  third  bond,  the  Secretary  goes 
more  fully  into  the  state  of  the  treasury,  and  shows  most  clearly 
the  necessity  for  the  sale  and  anticipation  of  the  proceeds  of  this 
bond,  which  were  not  to  become  due  until  September,  1839,  to 
meet  the  appropriations  of  1838,  Avhich,  he  says,  'proved  to  be 
unusually  great.'  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that,  if  such  was  the 
condition  of  the  treasury  and  the  anticipated  wants  of  the  public 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  817 

service  in  July  as  to  prove  the  necessity  for  the  sale  of  the  third 
bond  before  the  close  of  that  fiscal  year,  the  same  facts  must 
have  proved,  more  clearly,  the  necessity  of  anticipating,  so  far  as 
that  could  be  done,  the  payments  upon  the  second  bond,  the 
whole  of  which  was  to  fall  due  on  the  first  day  of  October.  The 
language  of  the  Secretary  is  : 

"'The  appropriations  actually  made  having  proved  to  be  unusually 
great,  and  the  expenditures  anticipated  during  the  two  next  ensuing 
months  being  much  larger  in  amount  than  the  immediate  means  which  the 
department  could  expect  to  derive  in  money  from  other  sources  within 
those  months,  I  at  once  addressed  letters  to  the  bankers  of  the  United 
States  at  London,  and  to  our  minister  at  Paris,  requesting  that  measures 
might  be  taken,  without  delay,  to  obtain  offers  for  those  bonds,  if  possible, 
from  capitalists  in  Europe.  To  these  letters  answers  were  received  in  due 
season,  stating  that,  from  the  short  time  the  bonds  had  to  run,  the  absence 
of  the  guarantee  of  the  United  States  for  their  eventual  payment,  and  other 
causes,  no  sale  could  probably  be  effected  of  them  either  in  London  or 
Paris  within  the  limits  fixed  by  law.  In  the  meantime,  however,  finding 
that  the  demands  for  the  public  service  during  the  month  of  June  had 
exceeded  $4,500,000,  and  expecting,  as  the  fact  turned  out  to  be,  that  they  would 
equal  about  $7,000,000  in  July  and  August,  and  finding,  also,  that  the  available 
balance  in  the  treasury,  applicable  to  general  purposes,  and  subject  to  draft,  fell 
below  §1,000,000,  and  that  payments  were  making  at  times  in  new  treasury  notes, 
which  could  not  be  rendered  at  all  available,  I  considered  it  necessary  to 
effect  a  sale  of  at  least  one  of  the  bonds  at  an  earlier  day  than  advices  could 
be  received  and  any  proceeds  realized  from  Europe.  Particular  inquiry 
was,  therefore,  instituted  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  elsewhere,  concern 
ing  the  probability  of  selling  soon  one  or  more  of  the  bonds,  and  also  a  public 
advertisement  was  issued,  inviting  proposals  generally  for  their  purchase. 

"  '  The  result  was,  that  from  the  abundance  of  State  stocks  in  the  market, 
at  very  reduced  prices,  the  lower  rate  at  which  other  securities  of  tlie  bank 
were  selling,  and  the  want  of  a  guarantee  by  the  United  States,  the  sale  was 
found,  with  the  exception  hereafter  stated,  to  be  wholly  impracticable  in 
this  country,  and  was  expected  to  be  so  abroad,  under  the  conditions  pre 
scribed  in  the  act.  Indeed,  no  bids  were  at  any  time  made  for  either  of  the 
bonds,  in  conformity  to  those  conditions,  except  that  of  Charles  Macalester, 
Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  who  offered  to  purchase  both  of  them  within  the 
terms  of  the  law.' 

"  Here  is  the  most  full  and  clear  answer  to  the  question.     The 
expenditures  for  June  had  been  more  than  '$4,500,000;'  those 
for  July  and  August  were  expected  to  be  '.about  $7,000,000, 
which  expectation  was  realized  by  the  fact,  and  the  '  balance  in 
52 


818  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

the  treasury,  applicable  to  general  purposes  and  subject  to  draft, 
fell  below  $1,000,000.'  Hence  the  Secretary  'considered  it  neces 
sary  to  effect  a  sale  of  at  least  one  of  the  bonds  at  an  earlier  day 
than  advices  could  be  received  and  any  proceeds  realized  from 
Europe.' 

"  I  will  now  proceed  to  notice  the  correspondence,  and  first, 
that  in  relation  to  the  payment  of  the  second  bond.  And  here  it 
will  be  interesting,  if  riot  useful,  to  notice  dates  and  coincidences 
between  the  proceedings  in  Congress  toward  a  sale  of  the  bonds, 
and  the  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  bank  to  gain  possession  of 
them  or  make  arrangement  for  their  payment. 

"On  the  5th  of  April,  1838,  the  Senate,  by  a  resolution, 
instructed  the  Committee  on  Finance  to  inquire  into  the  state  of 
the  treasury,  and,  in  case  there  should  be  a  prospect  that  more 
means  would  be  wanted  than  had  been  provided  by  Congress, 
further  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  raising  those  means  by 
a  sale  of  the  bank  bonds. 

"  On  the  twenty-first  of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Macalester 
addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  a  note,  making  dis 
tinct  propositions  for  anticipating  the  payment  of  the  second 
bond,  to  fall  due  in  September,  1838,  and  inviting  a  correspond 
ence.  The  documents  exhibiting  this  negotiation  will  be  found 
appended  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  now 
under  consideration,  commencing  at  page  11,  and  are  marked 
A  1  to  7  inclusive.  The  negotiation  was  unsuccessful,  because  the 
parties  could  not  agree  as  to  the  medium  in  which  the  proposed 
payments  should  be  made;  but  there  are  certain  points  in  this 
correspondence  which  I  consider  it  important  to  notice,  for  future 
reference,  and  will,  therefore,  read  to  the  Senate  a  few  short 
extracts.  The  Secretary,  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Macalester's  first 
note,  under  date  of  twenty-eighth  April,  writes  as  follows  : 

' '  In  the  meantime,  as  you  do  not  state  that  the  proposal  contained  in 
your  letter  is  made  under  authority  from  the  bank,  and  as  the  discussion 
of  such  a  proposal,  unless  made  directly  by  the  bank,  or  its  authorized 
agent,  might  be  liable  to  misconstruction,  and  lead  to  no  useful  result,  you 
will  see  the  necessity,  before  my  replying  fully,  that  any  arrangement 
desired  should  be  made  in  that  form.' 

"  In  reply  to  this  part  of  the  Secretary's  note,  Mr.  Macalester, 
under  date  of  the  second  of  May,  says : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  819 

"'Sin. —  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of 
twenty-eighth  ultimo.  In  answer  to  which  I  have  to  state  that  1  am  author 
ized  by  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  chartered  by  Pennsylvania,  to  enter 
into  the  arrangements  proposed  in  my  letter  of  twenty-first  ultimo.' 

"This  establishes  the  fact  that  Mr.  Macalester  was  here  acting 
as  the  agent  of  the  bank,  with  full  power  to  make  the  arrange 
ment  lie  proposed;  and  as  he  continues,  throughout  all  the  nego 
tiations  as  to  both  bonds,  to  act  as  the  principal  agent  and 
instrument  of  the  institution,  without  anything  further  appearing 
upon  the  face  of  the  papers  as  to  his  character  or  powers,  the 
above  inquiry  and  answer  were,  doubtless,  considered  by  both 
parties  sufficient  upon  that  point. 

"  In  the  answer  of  the  Secretary  to  Mr.  Macalester's  note  of 
the  second  of  May,  from  which  the  above  is  extracted,  and  in 
which  he  makes  formal  propositions  as  to  the  times,  places  and 
manner  of  payment  of  the  second  bond,  is  the  following  para 
graph,  which  closes  the  letter  : 

"  '  To  prevent  misapprehension,  it  should  be  distinctly  understood  that, 
with  the  exception  of  treasury  notes,  the  general  course  has  been  to  accept 
no  credit  unless  the  deposit  is  made  in  specie  01*  its  equivalent,  or  unless  the 
deposit  has  been  received  by  some  public  claimants  as  equivalent  to  specie. 
The  right  of  every  claimant  to  be  paid  in  the  legal  currency  of  the  United 
States  is  fully  recognized  by  this  department;  and  considering  the  opinion 
entertained  by  the  executive,  and  at  least  one  branch  of  the  Legislature, 
tJie  idea  must  be  expressly  excluded  that  the  notes  of  the  second  Bank  of  tlie 
United  States,  chartered  in  1816,  can  be  permitted  to  be  employed  in  any  of  the 
transactions  growing  out  of  this  arrangement.'' 

"This  letter  bears  date  on  the  third  of  May,  and,  under  date 
of  the  fifth  of  May,  Mr.  Macalester  replied,  which  terminated 
that  negotiation.  Among  other  things  he  says:  'I  did  not  and 
could  not  have  intended  to  propose  a  negotiation  on  the  basis  of 
a  specie  payment.'' 

"  These  are  the  only  references  to  this  correspondence  neces 
sary  to  my  purpose,  and  they  are  necessary  because  they  establish 
the  character  of  Mr.  Macalester  as  agent  of  the  bank,  and  the 
further  fact  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  the  negotiation, 
adhered  to  'the  basis  of  a  specie  payment,  or  a  payment  equiva 
lent  to  specie.'' 

"  This  correspondence  covered  the  time  from  the  twenty-first 


820  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

April  to  the  fifth  of  May.  We  have  before  seen  that,  on  the 
fifth  of  April,  the  Committee  on  Finance  was  instructed  to  inquire 
as  to  the  inexpediency  of  a  sale  of  the  bonds,  and  the  inquiry  was 
general,  relating  as  well  to  the  second  as  to  the  third  and  fourth 
bonds,  all  of  which  remained  unpaid.  On  the  second  of  May  the 
committee  reported  a  bill  providing  for  the  sale  of  the  third  and 
fourth  bonds,  but  not  affecting  the  second  ;  and  on  the  fifth  of 
the  same  month,  the  negotiation  as  to  anticipating  the  payment 
of  this  latter  bond  was  terminated  by  the  agent  of  the  bank, 
unless  some  other  than  a  specie  basis  for  the  payment  could  be 
acceded  to.  On  the  eleventh  of  May,  the  bill  for  the  sale  of  the 
third  and  fourth  bonds  passed  the  Senate,  and,  on  the  seventh 
of  July  after,  it  became  a  law. 

"  On  the  twenty-third  of  July,  a  second  negotiation  was  opened 
by  Mr.  Macalester,  by  inviting  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
make  specific  propositions  for  the  payment  of  the  second  bond  in 
three  installments,  to  be  paid  on  the  15th  days  of  August,  Septem 
ber  and  October,  1838,  the  bond  being  pay  able,  by  its  terms,  on  the 
first  day  of  October  of  that  year.  To  this  invitation  the  Secre 
tary  answered,  under  date  of  the  twenty-fourth  of  July,  consent 
ing  to  the  times  of  payment  proposed,  and  naming  the  places  of 
payment,  and  the  sums  to  be  paid  at  each  place,  and  closing  with 
the  following  language: 

"  'In  all  cases,  however,  it  is,  of  course,  understood  that  payments  will  be 
made  in  specie  or  its  equivalent.'' 

"  These  terms  Mr.  Macalester  accepted,  by  a  note  dated  the 
twenty-fifth  July,  merely  requesting  that  the  negotiation  might  be 
considered  open  in  relation  to  the  places  of  payment,  and  the 
sums  to  be  paid  at  each,  so  far  as  the  convenience  of  the  treasury 
and  the  wants  of  the  public  service  would  permit.  On  the  twenty- 
seventh  the  Secretary  replied,  consenting  to  make  such  changes 
in  the  places  of  payment,  and  the  amounts  at  each,  as  could 
be  made  without  material  inconvenience  to  the  department. 
This  correspondence  will  be  found  annexed  to  the  report  of  the 
Secretary,  commencing  at  page  34,  and  marked  inclosures  No.  1 
to  4  inclusive. 

"  On  the  thirteenth  of  August,  the  negotiation  in  relation  to  the 
payments  upon  the  second  bond  was  renewed  by  a  letter  from 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  821 

Mr.  Biddle,  the  president  of  the  bank,  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  suggesting  such  changes  in  the  places  of  payment,  and 
in  the  amounts  to  be  paid  at  each  place,  as  he  desired  to  have 
made,  and  referring  to  the  correspondence,  above  detailed,  with 
Mr.  Macalester  as  the  basis  of  the  arrangement  in  relation  to  this 
bond.  This  correspondence,  thus  reopened,  was  continued  be 
tween  the  officers  of  the  bank  and  those  of  the  treasury  up  to 
the  eighteenth  of  August,  when  all  the  places  of  payment,  and 
th$  sums  payable  at  each,  were  mutually  agreed  upon,  and  the 
negotiation  was  completed;  but,  in  the  meantime,  and  on  the 
fifteenth  of  August,  a  certificate  of  deposit,  to  the  credit  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  was  issued  by  the  bank,  and 
transmitted  for  the  first  installment  of  $800,000,  payable  on  that 
day  toward  the  second  bond.  These  documents  will  be  found 
appended  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  now 
Tinder  consideration,  commencing  at  page  37,  and  marked  F  8, 
10,  11,  12. 

"This  gives  a  distinct  and  separate  view  of  all  the  material 
negotiations  in  relation  to  the  payment  of  the  second  bond,  the 
times  of  payment,  the  places  of  payment  and  the  manner  of  pay 
ment.  From  the  facts  detailed,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  bond  was 
to  be  paid,  and  was  paid,  in  three  equal  installments  of  about 
$800,000  each,  on  the  15th  days  of  August,  September  and  Octo 
ber,  1838,  which  would  occasion  the  first  installment  to  be  paid 
forty-five  days  before  the  bond  became  due  and  payable,  the 
second  installment  fifteen  days  before,  and  the  third  installment 
fifteen  days  after  that  time;  that  each  installment,  on  the  day  it 
became  payable  by  the  arrangement,  was  to  be,  and  was,  deposi 
ted  in  the  bank  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States;  that  upon  the  strength  of  these  deposits  the  Treasurer 
was  to  draw  his  drafts  upon  the  bank,  payable  at  the  several 
places  named,  and  for  the  several  sums  agreed  upon  in  the 
arrangement;  that  those  drafts  were  to  be  paid  by  the  bank  at 
the  places  at  which  they  were  made  payable,  without  being  first 
presented  at  the  bank  or  returned  to  it  for  payment;  and  that 
interest  was  to  cease  upon  the  two  installments  anticipated  when 
the  money  was  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  in  the  bank, 


822  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS 

and  was  to  continue  upon  the  third  installment  until  that,  also, 
was  so  placed  to  his  credit. 

"  This  is  the  arrangement  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
did  make  for  the  payment  of  the  second  bond,  which,  upon  its 
face,  became  due  and  payable  on  the  1st  of  October,  1838.  That 
the  state  of  the  treasury  required  the  anticipated  payments 
secured  by  the  arrangement  seems  to  be  made  certain  by  the 
report  of  the  Secretary,  and  that  the  places  and  manner  of  pay 
ment  were  such  as  best  suited  the  public  wants  and  the  con 
venience  of  the  department  is  shown  by  the  whole  correspondence. 
If,  then,  there  be  fault  on  the  part  of  the  Secretary,  in  consenting 
to  the  arrangement,  it  must  be  because  it  was  wrong  to  enter 
into  a  negotiation  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  chartered 
by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to  conclude  an  arrangement 
for  the  anticipated  payment  of  a  debt  which  the  wants  of  the 
public  treasury  required,  upon  terms  not  only  convenient  and 
advantageous  to  the  public  interests  and  the  public  service,  but 
upon  which  alone  payments  could  be  anticipated,  and  because  it 
was  wrong,  by  such  an  arrangement,  to  secure  those  payments  in 
money,  which  otherwise  might  be  made  in  treasury  notes,  and 
thus  rendered  wholly  unavailable  to  supply  the  wants  of  a  reduced 
treasury.  Deep  as  my  feelings  of  hostility  have  been,  and  still 
are,  against  this  bank,  both  as  a  national  and  State  institution, 
I  cannot  carry  those  feelings  so  far  as  to  censure  a  faithful  public 
officer  for  acts  like  these;  nor,  when  by  our  legislation  we  have 
driven  him  to  these  resorts  to  supply  our  treasury  placed  under 
his  charge,  can  I  suspect  him  of  improper  motives  for  having 
consented  to  negotiate  with  a  dangerous  banking  institution, 
when  it  was  the  only  alternative  left  to  him  to  preserve  the  pub 
lic  faith,  carry  on  the  business  of  the  nation  and  maintain  its 
credit,  or  condemn  him  for  having  accomplished  these  great 
results  by  such  means. 

"  I  pass  now  to  the  sale  of  the  third  bond  and  the  negotiations 
which  preceded  and  accomplished  that  object.  The  law  author 
izing  that  sale,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  was  introduced 
into  the  Senate  on  the  second  of  May,  and  the  resolution  of 
inquiry  on  the  fifth  of  April  previous.  With  his  accustomed 
vigilance,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  anticipated  the  action  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  823 

Congress  by  opening,  on  the  eighth  of  May,  a  correspondence 
with  an  intelligent  banker  in  each  of  the  cities  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  to  inform  himself  whether,  in  case  of  the  passage  of 
a  law  like  that  proposed,  a  sale  could  probably  be  made  of  one  or 
both  of  the  bonds,  either  in  the  markets  of  our  own  or  a  foreign 
country.  Copies  of  the  bill  were  transmitted  to  each  of  these 
gentlemen  and  their  early  opinions  solicited.  Answers  to  these 
letters  were  returned  within  a  very  few  days,  and  both  expressed 
opinions  wholly  unfavorable  as  to  the  prospect  of  a  sale  in  this 
country,  unless  to  the  bank  itself,  without  the  guaranty  of  the 
government  for  the  payment  of  the  bonds;  while  one  of  the 
writers  supposed  that  a  sale  might  be  effected  in  Europe  upon 
advantageous  terms,  and  that  the  agent  of  the  bank  in  London 
might  be  induced  'by  weighty  considerations  to  enter  the  field 
as  a  purchaser;'  and  the  other  said,  'the  bonds  have  too  short 
a  time  to  run  to  warrant  any  reasonable  expectation  of  a  sale  o£ 
them  in  Europe  on  favorable  terms,  during  the  present  rate  of 
exchange.'  These  letters  will  be  found  accompanying  the  report 
of  the  Secretary,  marked  B  1,  2,  3. 

"The  bill  became  a  law,  without  any  alteration  of  form,  on  the 
seventh  of  July.  Under  date  of  the  ninth  the  Secretary  wrote 
to  N.  M.  de  Rothschild  and  Sons,  bankers,  of  London,  sending 
them  a  copy  of  one  of  the  bonds  and  requesting  them  to  nego 
tiate  a  sale  in  England  if  possible.  A  copy  of  the  law  was  also 
transmitted.  On  the  eleventh  similar  communications  were 
addressed  to  the  American  minister  at  Paris,  with  a  request 
that  he  would  consult  certain  bankers  named,  and  such  other 
persons  as  he  might  think  proper,  and  learn  if  a  sale  of  the  bonds 
could  be  effected  in  France  within  the  terms  of  the  law.  On  the 
seventeenth  of  July  a  gentleman  of  Baltimore,  of  known  and 
approved  qualifications  for  such  a  service,  was  addressed  by  the 
Secretary  to  learn  if  he  would  consent,  for  the  compensation  of 
eight  dollars  per  day  and  the  payment  of  his  expenses,  to  go  to 
Europe  as  the  agent  of  the  department  to  make  sale  of  the  bonds. 
In  the  meantime,  and  on  the  ninth  of  July,  letters  were  addressed 
to  the  president  of  one  of  the  leading  banks  in  each  of  the  cities 
of  New  York  and  Boston,  and  to  a  gentleman  in  New  York 
known  as  the  resident  agent  there  of  the  banking-houses  of  the 


824  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Rothschilds  in  London  and  Paris,  invoking  the  advice  and  aid  of 
these  individuals  as  to  the  sale  of  the  bonds  in  this  country  or  in 
any  foreign  market. 

"Such  were  the  efforts  promptly  made  by  the  Secretary  to 
secure  a  sale  of  these  bonds  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the 
act  of  Congress,  and  upon  the  most  favorable  terms  which  could 
be  obtained.  The  condition  of  the  treasury,  and  the  consequent 
necessity  for  the  sale  of  one  or  both  of  the  bonds,  has  been 
already  seen  in  the  extracts  from  the  report  of  the  Secretary, 
before  given. 

"Under  date  of  the  twenty-third  of  July,  the  gentleman 
applied  to  to  act  as  agent  for  the  sale  of  the  bonds  abroad 
replied  to  the  Secretary's  request,  expressing  an  opinion  that, 
as  the  state  of  the  money  market  in  Europe  was  peculiarly  favor 
able,  the  bonds  might  probably  be  sold  there  within  the  limita 
tions  prescribed  in  the  law,  and  possibly  upon  terms  more 
favorable  'if  the  agency  is  judiciously  executed;'  but  charac 
terizing  the  bonds  as  'a  less  current  or  salable  description  of 
securities'  than  are  ordinarily  'tendered  for  sale  in  any  market,' 
and  declining  the  agency  at  the  compensation  proposed,  but  offer 
ing  to  undertake  it  for  a  commission  of  one-fourth  of  one  per  cent 
upon  the  amount  of  the  bonds  if  sold,  and  for  the  pay  and  mile 
age  of  a  member  of  Congress  in  case  of  a  failure  to  effect  a  sale. 
[See  documents  C,  6  and  7.] 

"  The  letters  of  the  Secretary  to  the  gentlemen  in  New  York 
and  Boston  were  promptly  answered;  the  one  from  the  agent  of 
the  foreign  banking-houses  containing  an  offer  for  the  bonds, 
which  did  not  come  within  the  limitations  of  the  law;  and  the 
two  others  holding  out  no  prospect  of  a  sale  of  either  bond  in 
this  country,  within  the  terms  of  the  law.  The  correspondence 
with  the  two  New  York  gentlemen  was  continued  to  great 
length,  covering  the  time  from  the  ninth  to  the  twenty-seventh 
of  July,  and  embracing  efforts  to  effect  a  sale  as  well  abroad  as 
at  home,  but  without  any  prospect  of  success. 

"  Inasmuch  as  the  Secretary  is  now  charged  with  a  willingness, 
if  not  a  desire,  to  be  driven  to  make  the  sale  of  these  bonds  to 
the  bank  itself,  it  will  be  but  just  to  him  to  make  one  or  two 
references  to  his  correspondence  with  these  gentlemen,  as  indica- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  825 

tive  of  his  feelings  upon  this  point.  I  will  read  from  his  letter 
of  the  sixteenth  of  July,  written  to  Geo.  Newbald,  Esq.,  president 
of  the  Bank  of  America,  New  York.  It  will  be  found  on  pages 
23  and  24  of  the  report  under  consideration,  and  is  marked  D,  6. 
The  first  paragraph  of  this  letter  is  in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  SIR.  —  I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  four 
teenth  instant.  I  wrote  you  on  yesterday  in  consequence  of  observing  in 
the  Philadelphia  newspapers  some  intimations  affecting  the  credit  of  the 
bonds  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  the  market.  It  seems  to  be 
evident  that  the  maker  of  these  bonds  intends  that  no  other  corporation  or 
individual  shall  purchase  them.  So  many  suggestions  injurious  to  their 
value  have  been  made,  and,  what  is  more  remarkable,  considering  their 
obvious  origin  and  motive,  have  been  listened  to,  that  I  shall  probably  be 
compelled  either  to  sell  the  bonds  to  Mr.  Biddle,  who  is  expected  here  in 
the  course  of  the  present  week,  or  to  send  them  abroad  for  sale.' 

"  Does  this  language,  I  ask,  Mr.  President,  does  this  look  like 
a  desire,  or  even  a  willingness,  to  make  the  sale  to  the  bank  ? 
Does  it  look  like  a  wish  to  be  compelled  to  make  the  negotiation 
with  Mr.  Biddle  ?  Do  you  believe,  sir,  that  the  president  of  the 
Pennsylvania  bank  will  look  upon  this  language  as  conveying 
such  a  kindly  feeling  toward  himself  and  his  institution?  I  will 
read  the  last  paragraph  of  this  same  letter.  It  is  in  these 
words : 

"  '  Any  bank  which  co-operates  in  the  purchase  of  these  bonds,  at  a  point 
like  New  York,  cannot  fail  to  derive  great  advantage  from  the  operation. 
The  money  will  probably  be  required  to  be  drawn  for  at  the  rate  of  about 
half  a  million  monthly.  The  drafts  will  be  mostry  sent  to  the  south  and 
southwest,  and  the  greater  portion  of  them  will  be  out  thirty,  sixty  and 
ninety  days  before  presented  at  bank.' 

"  Here  are  the  very  benefits,  which  the  charge  presupposes  it 
was  the  desire  and  intention  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
confer  upon  the  Pennsylvania  bank,  specifically  pointed  out  and 
earnestly  urged  upon  the  Bank  of  America  in  New  York,  and 
which,  be  it  remembered,  that  bank  would  not  accept.  It  cannot 
be  necessary  that  I  should  trouble  the  Senate  with  further  extracts 
from  this  correspondence  to  rebut  so  groundless  and  improbable 
a  charge. 

"  The  correspondence  to  which  I  have  hitherto  alluded,  in  rela 
tion  to  the  sale  of  these  bonds,  will  be  found  among  the  docu- 


826  LIFE  AJSD  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ments  appended  to  the  Secretary's  report,  commencing  at  page 
20,  and  marked  D,  1  to  17  inclusive. 

"  This  brings  me,  in  point  of  time,  to  the  negotiations  which 
did  take  place  between  the  bank  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  resulted  in  the  sale  of  one  of  the  bonds  upon  the  terms  pre 
scribed  in  the  law.  The  first  step  in  this  negotiation  is  a  letter 
under  date  of  the  twenty-first  of  July,  written  by  Mr.  Macalester 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  is  in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  WASHINGTON,  July  21, 1838. 

"  '  SIR.  —  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you  the  following  proposition  for 
the  purchase  of  two  bonds  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  chartered  by 
Pennsylvania,  referred  to  in  your  advertisement  of  eighteenth  instant. 

"  '  I  will  give,  for  one  or  both  of  them,  the  par  value,  calculated  according 
to  the  rules  for  estimating  the  par  value  of  securities  upon  which  interest 
has  run  for  a  time,  but  which  securities  have  not  reached  maturity  ;  the 
settlement  to  be  made  on  first  of  August  next,  on  which  day  I  will  deposit 
the  amount  thereof,  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  in 
special  deposit  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  in  Philadelphia,  in  specie 
or  its  equivalent;  this  being  done,  you  will  then  execute  to  me  an  assignment 
of  the  bonds. 

"  'I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

'"C.  MACALESTER. 
"  '  Hon.  LEVI  WOODBURY,  Secretary  of  t7ie  Treasury.' 

"  The  reply  of  the  Secretary  to  this  proposition  is  under  date 
of  the  thirtieth  of  July,  and  is  an  acceptance  only  so  far  as  relates 
to  the  one  bond  to  fall  due  in  September,  1839.  The  following 
is  the  letter  : 

"  '  TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  July  30,  1838. 

" '  SIR.  —  Your  offer  of  the  twenty-first  instant,  to  purchase  one  or  both  of 
the  bonds  of  the  Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United  States,  at  the  par  value, 
as  limited  in  the  act  of  Congress,  is  accepted  for  the  bond  due  in  September, 
1839. 

The  proposal  being  to  deposit  the  money  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer, 
in  special  deposit  in  said  bank,  on  the  first  day  of  August  next,  I  have  caused 
a  computation  to  be  made  of  the  amount  then  payable  by  you.  It  is  sup 
posed  to  be  $2,254,871.38,  and  is  ascertained  in  the  mode  of  calculation 
explained  in  the  letter  annexed. 

That  sum  can  be  deposited ;  and  if  any  error  is  found  in  the  calculation, 
it  will  be  corrected.  On  receiving  the  certificate  of  deposit,  I  will  execute 
to  you  an  assignment  of  the  bond.  It  is  understood  that  the  bank  is  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  827 

keep  this  money  safely  till  drawn  out  by  the  Treasurer,  without  making  any 
charge  to  the  United  States  for  keeping  or  paying  it  over  on  his  drafts. 

"  '  I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

'"LEVI  WOODBURY, 

41  *  Secretly  of  the  Treasury. 
"  'CHARLES  MACALESTER,  ESQ.,  Philadelphia.' 

"In  conformity  with  this  proposition  and  acceptance,  the  presi 
dent  of  the  bank  writes  to  the  Secretary,  under  date  of  the  first 
August,  as  follows : 

"  '  BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  August  1,  1838. 

"  '  SIR. — You  will  be  informed  by  Mr.  Macalester  of  his  having  this  day 
deposited  in  this  bank  the  sum  of  $2,254,871.38,  to  the  credit  of  the  Trea 
surer  of  the  United  States. 

"  '  In  your  letter  to  Mr.  Macalester  of  the  thirtieth  ultimo,  directing  that 
the  money  should  be  deposited  in  the  bank,  you  add :  "  It  is  understood  that 
the  bank  is  to  keep  this  money  safely  till  drawn  out  by  the  Treasurer,  with 
out  making  any  charge  to  the  United  States  for  keeping  or  for  paying  it 
over  on  his  drafts." 

"  '  On  the  part  of  the  bank  I  confirm  that  understanding. 

"  '  With  great  respect,  yours, 

"'N.  BIDDLE,  President. 
"  '  Hon.  LEVI  WOODBURY, 

"  'Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Washington,  D.  C.y 

"  Of  the  same  date  the  cashier  of  the  bank  transmits  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States,  the  following  certificate  of  deposit,  being  for  the  precise 
amount  mentioned  in  the  Secretary's  letter  of  acceptance,  above 
given  : 

"  '  BANK  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  August  1,  1838. 

"  '  I  hereby  certify  that  Charles  Macalester,  Esq.,  has  this  day  deposited 
to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  in  special  deposit,  the  sum 
of  $2,254,871.38,  subject  to  the  drafts  of  the  said  Treasurer. 

U'J.  COWPERTHWAIT,  Cashier: 

"  This  presents  the  negotiation,  the  sale  and  the  payment  of 
the  third  bond,  in  the  language  and  acts  of  the  parties,  and  from 
it  a  few  inferences  are  to  be  drawn. 

"First.  The  negotiation  proceeds  from  the  bank,  and  not  from 


828  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  does  not  solicit  the  bank  to 
purchase,  but  the  bank  solicits  him  to  sell,  and  offers  its  terms. 

"  Second.  Although  the  proposition  from  the  bank  is  before 
the  correspondence  between  the  Secretary  and  the  president  of 
the  Bank  of  America  was  closed,  and  on  the  same  day  on  which 
the  agent  of  the  foreign  banking-houses  closed  the  correspondence 
between  him  and  the  Secretary,  by  a  letter  written  at  New  York, 
yet  the  Secretary  does  not  accept  that  proposition  until  nine 
days  after  its  date,  and  three  days  after  the  final  close  of  every 
other  negotiation  for  the  sale  of  the  bonds  in  this  country,  with 
out  the  least  prospect  of  success. 

"  Third.  It  was  the  only  proposition  for  the  purchase  of  the 
bonds  coming  within  the  limitations  of  the  law,  which  he  had 
been  able  to  obtain,  or  was  likely  to  obtain,  in  this  country. 

"  Fourth.  The  proposition  was  accepted  as  to  one  bond  only, 
although  it  was  an  offer  to  purchase  both  upon  the  same  terms, 
and  those  the  terms  prescribed  in  the  law. 

"  Is  it  possible,  then,  that  the  Secretary  was  desirous  of  a  con 
nection  with  this  bank,  and  to  benefit  it  by  a  sale  of  these  bonds 
to  it  ?  If  so,  why  did  he  not  invite  this  bank  to  purchase  during 
the  ten  or  twelve  days  upon  which  he  was  so  faithfully  soliciting 
offers  from  other  banking  institutions,  and  from  individuals  ? 
Why  did  he  not  accept  at  once  the  proposition  of  this  bank, 
when  made  on  the  twenty-first  of  July,  and  not  wait  till  the 
thirtieth,  and  until  all  prospect  of  obtaining  an  offer  from  any 
other  quarter  was  put  entirely  at  rest  by  the  final  close  of  two 
separate  negotiations,  both  of  which  were  open,  so  far  as  his 
knowledge  extended,  when  this  offer  was  received  ?  Why  did 
he  not  accept  the  proposition  as  to  both  bonds,  and  thus  confer 
upon  the  bank  double  the  benefits  which  were  conferred,  if  bene 
fits  they  were,  by  his  partial  acceptance  ?  Until  these  questions 
are  answered,  the  charge  that  the  Secretary  sought  this  transac 
tion  with  the  bank,  or  sought  the  advantage  of  the  bank  in  the 
sale  of  these  bonds,  should  cease  to  be  made. 

But  the  Secretary  had  not  heard  from  the  negotiations  opened 
by  him  in  England  and  France  for  the  sale  of  these  bonds,  and 
how,  it  may  be  asked,  did  he  know  that  favorable  propositions 
might  not  come  from  those  quarters  ?  Or  why  did  he  not  wait 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  829 

to  be  informed  upon  those  points,  before  he  closed  the  transac 
tion  with  the  bank,  by  the  sale  of  the  third  bond  ?  This  inquiry 
has  already  been  answered  in  the  extracts  read  from  the  report 
of  the  Secretary  now  under  consideration.  He  says  at  page  3 
of  the  report: 

'"In  the  meantime,  however,  finding  that  the  demands  for  the  public 
service  during  the  month  of  June  had  exceeded  $4,500,000  and  expect 
ing,  as  the  fact  turned  out  to  be,  that  they  would  equal  about  $7,000,000 
in  July  and  August,  and  finding  also  that  the  available  balance  in 
the  treasury,  applicable  to  general  purposes  and  subject  to  draft,  fell  below 
$1,000,000,  and  that  payments  were  making  at  times  in  new  treasury  notes, 
which  could  not  be  rendered  at  all  available,  I  considered  it  necessary  to  effect 
a  sale  of  at  least  one  of  the  bonds  at  an  earlier  day  than  advices  could  be  received 
and  any  proceeds  realized  from  Europe.1 

"This  is  the  answer  of  the  officer  himself,  made  upon  his  offi 
cial  responsibility,  in  reply  to  the  inquiry  above  anticipated, 
made  by  the  Senate  itself.  What  is  it?  That  the  state  of  the 
treasury  would  not  permit  him  to  wait  for  a  sale  of  both  of  the 
bonds;  that  it  was,  in  his  opinion,  *  necessary  to  effect  a  sale  of  at 
least  one  of  the  bonds  at  an  earlier  day  than  advices  could  be 
received  and  any  proceeds  realized  from  Europe.'  Is  this  answer 
true  ?  Does  any  one  here  doubt  it  ?  Will  any  one  here  attempt 
to  impeach  it?  Then  the  inquiry  is  answered,  arid  here  is  the 
reason  why  the  Secretary,  in  July,  and  before  he  had  received 
returns  from  his  foreign  correspondents,  accepted  the  offer  of 
the  bank  as  to  one  and  not  as  to  both  bonds. 

"These  correspondents  abroad,  however,  were  heard  from  in 
due  time,  and  what  were  their  answers?  That  the  bonds  were 
too  large  and  could  not  be  divided  into  smaller  sums  for  the 
market;  that  they  had  too  short  a  time  to  run  to  make  them  an 
object  for  the  investment  of  such  heavy  sums;  and  that  their 
final  payment  was  not  to  be  guaranteed  by  the  United  States; 
that  for  these  reasons,  principally,  they  could  not  be  sold  in  Eng 
land  or  France  within  the  terms  of  the  law.  I  will  not  trouble 
the  Senate  with  reading  this  correspondence.  It  will  be  found 
among  the  documents  appended  to  the  report,  marked  C,  1  to  5, 
inclusive. 

"  It  is  further  complained  that  the  Secretary  of  War  took  a  part 
in  this  negotiation  with  the  bank.  He  did  so,  and  what  was  it? 


830  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

He  shall  answer  for  himself,  as  his  language  upon  the  subject 
will  convey  the  truth  more  clearly,  concisely  and  intelligibly  than 
any  I  can  employ  will  do  it.  I  read  from  the  documents  appen 
ded  to  the  message  of  the  President  of  the  eleventh  instant,  in 
answer  to  the  call  made  by  the  Senate  upon  him  for  all  the  infor 
mation  upon  this  point,  being  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War 
in  replv  to  the  interrogatories  propounded.  At  pages  1  and  2  of 
the  document  the  Secretary  says : 

"  '  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that,  some  time  in  July  last,  in  order  to  facili 
tate  the  speedy  and  successful  termination  of  a  negotiation  at  that  time  pend 
ing  between  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  Mr.  Macalester,  I  acceded  to 
the  proposition  of  the  latter  that,  in  the  event  of  the  sale  of  the  bond  being 
perfected,  the  amount  of  the  purchase-money  should  be  absorbed  by  the 
expenditure  of  this  department,  and  the  funds  to  be  placed  by  the  bank  at 
such  points  and  in  such  amounts  as  they  might  be  required,  not  to  exceed 
$500,000  a  month  from  this  source;  and  gave  him  an  assurance  that  this 
arrangement  should  be  carried  into  effect,  provided  no  objection  were  made 
to  it  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Mr.  Macalester  was  accordingly 
furnished  with  a  statement,  showing  at  what  places  and  periods  and  in  what 
amounts  these  funds  would  be  wanted,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  fur 
nished,  marked  A.  This  arrangement  was,  on  proper  explanation,  subse 
quently  concurred  in  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  its  details  have 
been  carried  into  effect  through  his  office ;  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  that 
it  aided  essentially  to  produce  the  favorable  issue  of  the  negotiation.  It  has 
been  carried  into  effect  in  a  manner  perfectly  satisfactory  to  this  depart 
ment,  the  public  creditor  having  been  paid  in  such  funds  as  he  preferred  to 
receive.  I  think  it  proper  to  mention  that,  while  Mr.  Macalester  was  con 
ducting  his  correspondence  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasuiy,  in  April, 
he  applied  to  me  to  know  the  probable  requirements  of  this  department  for 
the  residue  of  the  year;  and  finding  that  in  all  probability  they  would  be 
very  heavy,  he  expressed  a  desire,  which  was  subsequently  reiterated  by  the 
bank,  that  the  purchase  of  the  bond  should  be  negotiated  by  me  and  the 
bond  be  transferred  to  the  use  of  the  War  department;  to  which  I  replied, 
as  stated  by  Mr.  Biddle  in  his  published  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  thir 
teenth  August,  that  such  an  arrangement  could  not  legally  be  made.  That 
subsequently  entered  into  by  this  department  with  Mr.  Macalester,  on  which 
in  a  great  measure  depended  the  success  of  the  negotiation  for  raising  the 
necessary  funds  for  carrying  on  the  operations  of  the  government,  and 
which  was  afterward  sanctioned  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  being 
both  legal  and  advantageous  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States,  I  deem  it 
unnecessary  to  say  more  than  to  repeat  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  in  his  report  on  this  subject,  that  the  agreement  finally 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WKIGHT.  831 

concluded  with  the  bank  was  forced  upon  the  government  by  the  conditions 
imposed  upon  the  sale  of  the  bonds,  and  was  entered  into  upon  the  fullest 
conviction  —  which  subsequent  events  have  proved  to  be  well-grounded  — 
that  it  was  not  only  the  most  advantageous  which  could  be  made  for  the 
interests  of  the  government,  but  presented  at  that  time,  in  connection  with 
the  arrangement  for  the  mode  of  paying  the  bond  due  in  September,  1838, 
the  only  means  by  which  a  failure  to  meet  the  pecuniary  engagements  of 
the  United  States  or  the  alternative  of  another  call  of  Congress  by  the  Presi 
dent  could  be  avoided.  Under  these  circumstances  and  with  these  convic 
tions,  I  regarded  it  to  be  my  duty  to  use  my  best  endeavors  to  assist  in 
bringing  the  negotiations  for  the  sale  of  the  bond  to  the  bank  to  a  success 
ful  issue,  especially  as  these  funds  were  required  to  carry  on  the  important 
operations  of  this  department,  on  which  at  that  particular  period  the  peace 
and  the  character  of  the  country  so  essentially  depended.' 

"  From  the  facts  here  stated,  we  learn  that  the  bank,  in  making 
its  propositions  for  anticipating  the  payment  of  the  second  bond, 
to  become  due  in  September,  1838,  as  well  as  to  purchase  the  two 
bonds  which  did  not  fall  due  until  September,  1839  and  1840, 
kept  steadily  in  view  the  disbursements  of  the  War  department, 
and  constantly  manifested  the  intention  of  making  the  payments 
by  meeting  those  disbursements.  Hence,  in  April,  when  Mr. 
Macalester  was  holding  his  correspondence  with  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  and  making  his  propositions,  as  the  agent  of  the 
bank,  for  anticipating  the  payments  upon  the  second  bond,  which 
correspondence  has  been  before  particularly  referred  to,  he  applied 
to  the  Secretary  of  War,  as  is  here  stated,  to  ascertain  the  require 
ments  of  that  department  for  the  residue  of  the  year  1838,  and, 
finding  they  would  be  large,  urged  that  the  bank  bonds  should 
be  assigned  to  that  department,  so  that  the  negotiations  of  the 
bank  might  be  carried  on  with  it.  Being  informed  that  such  an 
assignment  could  not  be  legally  made,  the  negotiation  was  prose 
cuted  to  its  unsuccessful  termination  with  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  as  has  been  before  seen.  On  the  twenty-first  of  July, 
and  after  the  law  had  passed  for  the  sale  of  the  third  and  fourth 
bonds,  a  negotiation  was  opened  by  the  bank  with  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  for  the  sale  of  those  bonds,  and  again,  as  appears 
by  the  above  statements  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  the  same 
appeals  were  made  to  him,  and  the  same  desire  expressed  that  the 
payments  by  the  bank  might  be  made  in  the  disbursements  of  his 
department,  Being  convinced  that  payments  in  that  manner 


832  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

would,  by  the  bank,  be  made  an  essential  condition  in  the  nego 
tiation,  the  Secretary  expressed  his  willingness  to  accept  the  pay 
ments  as  desired,  provided  such  an  arrangement  should  meet  the 
approbation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

"  On  the  twenty-third  day  of  July  Mr.  Macalester  reopened 
the  negotiation  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  for  an  arrange 
ment  as  to  the  payments  upon  the  second  bond,  which  negotiation 
was  continued  open  until  the  fifteenth  of  August,  when  it  was 
closed,  by  an  agreement  that  that  bond  should  be  paid  in  three 
monthly  installments  of  equal  amounts,  and  that  the  drafts  of  the 
Treasurer,  for  the  money,  should  be  met  by  the  bank,  at  the  places 
where  they  should  be  made  payable,  which  places,  and  the  amount 
of  drafts  to  be  drawn  upon  each,  constituted  a  material  part  of 
the  treaty. 

"  If,  now,  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  same  mode  of  payment  of 
the  purchase-money  for  the  third  bond  was  the  object  of  the 
collateral  negotiation  carried  on  with  the  Secretary  of  War, 
anterior  to  the  purchase  of  that  bond  by  the  bank,  we  shall  be 
able  to  understand  the  facts,  without  the  danger  of  becoming 
confused  by  blending  the  two  distinct  transactions.  The  Secre 
tary  of  War  tells  us  that,  being  convinced  it  was  necessary  to  a 
favorable  issue  of  the  pending  negotiation  for  the  sale  of  this 
third  bond,  he  entered  into  the  stipulation  to  have  the  proceeds 
of  this  bond  devoted  to  the  disbursements  of  the  War  depart 
ment;  to  have  the  payments  made  at  stipulated  places  in  the 
south  and  west,  in  stipulated  amounts  at  each  plaee,  and  to  draw 
but  about  $500,000  monthly  from  this  source,  upon  the  condition 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  should  consent  to  the  arrange 
ment;  that  he  supposed  the  matter  was  subsequently  submitted 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  concurred  in  by  him,  and 
he  now  thinks  the  agent  of  the  bank  closed  the  contract  for  the 
purchase  of  the  bond  with  this  understanding,  and  that  the  suc 
cessful  termination  of  that  negotiation,  in  a  great  measure, 
depended  upon  that  collateral  arrangement.  He  also  expresses 
his  full  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  the  sale  of  this  bond  for 
the  successful  prosecution  of  the  affairs  of  government  intrusted 
to  his  charge,  '  on  which,  at  that  particular  period,  the  peace  and 
character  of  the  country  so  essentially  depended. ' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  833 

"  Not  a  Senator  in  these  seats  can,  for  a  moment,  mistake  the 
important  and  delicate  interests  to  which  the  Secretary  of  Wai- 
refers  in  using  this  language.  None  here  can  forget  the  intense 
interest  felt  throughout  the  whole  country  in  the  successful 
removal  of  the  numerous  and  powerful  tribes  of  Indians  from 
the  south  and  south-western  States.  None  here  are  ignorant  of 
the  vast  sums  of  money  the  government  had  stipulated  to  pay  to 
extinguish  the  title  of  these  Indians  to  their  lands  within  the 
States,  to  pay  the  expenses  of  their  removal,  and  to  subsist  them 
at  their  new  homes;  and  none  anywhere  who  know  anything  of 
the  Indian  character  can  be  ignorant  of  the  necessity  of  having, 
at  the  moment,  the  money  stipulated  to  be  paid  to  or  for  him. 
If  money  is  due  to  the  Indian,  he  must  have  money;  and  he  must 
have  it  when  you  have  stipulated  to  pay  it,  or  your  business  trans 
actions  with  him  are  at  an  end.  You  cannot  tell  him  of  embar 
rassments  or  disappointments.  You  cannot  talk  to  him  of  credit, 
beyond  the  letter  of  your  bond,  and  retain  his  confidence.  Who, 
then,  will  be  surprised  at  the  anxiety  manifested,  and  the  respon 
sibility  assumed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  secure,  by  the  sale 
of  this  bond,  the  requisite  funds  in  the  treasury  to  accomplish 
that  complete  removal  of  these  great  tribes  which  has  been 
accomplished  during  the  past  year,  and  which  does,  and  will, 
reflect  so  much  honor  upon  that  capable  and  persevering  public 
servant  ? 

"  I  am  aware  that  some  of  the  correspondence  would  seem  to 
imply  some  misunderstanding  between  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Treasury  and  of  War,  in  relation  to  this  collateral  arrangement 
as  applied  to  the  proceeds  of  the  third  bond,  and  the  correspond 
ence  renders  it  more  than  probable  that  the  one  or  the  other  had 
labored  under  a  misapprehension,  and  had  interpreted  verbal  con 
versations  intended  to  be  applied  to  the  mode  and  manner  of 
payment  of  the  third  bond  as  relating  to  the  mode  and  manner 
of  making  the  anticipated  payments  upon  the  second  bond.  Still, 
the  facts  show  that  the  agent  of  the  bank  made  these  stipulations 
essential  to  the  closing  of  his  contract  in  both  cases,  and  that  he 
was  authorized  to  believe  that  they  were  understood  by  all  the 
parties  to  constitute  a  component  part  of  that  contract.  The 
facts  also  show  that  the  money  to  be  derived  from  both  negotia- 
53 


834  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tions  was  indispensable  to  the  healthful  operations  of  the  public 
treasury,  while  national  interests  of  the  gravest  character  depended 
upon  the  ability  of  the  treasury  to  redeem  the  plighted  faith  of 
the  country. 

"What,  then,  I  ask,  Mr.  President,  with  some  confidence,  is 
the  judgment  to  be  rendered  upon  these  transactions  ?  Are  the 
executive  officers  of  the  country  to  be  censured  and  condemned  for 
having  entered  into  any  negotiations  with  this  bank  in  relation 
to  the  payment  of  these  bonds,  and  the  supply  of  an  exhausted 
treasury  from  that  source  ?  And,  if  so,  upon  what  ground  ? 
Had  Mr.  Woodbury  said  to  Mr.  Biddle,  '  I,  sir,  am  opposed  to 
your  bank;  the  political  party  to  which  I  belong,  and  with  which 
I  act  and  feel,  are  strongly  opposed  to  it,  and  I  will  not,  therefore, 
negotiate  with  you  about  your  bonds;  I  will  not  sell  to  you  upon 
any  terms,  be  the  consequences  what  they  may;  my  political 
hostility,  and  the  hostility  of  my  political  party,  forbid  that  I 
should  have  any  business  transaction  with  you  ; '  had  our  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  taken  this  course,  and  failed  to  realize  the 
money  upon  the  bonds,  in  time  to  meet  the  calls  upon  the  treasury, 
as  in  that  event  he  must;  and  had  we  returned  here  and  found 
the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  not  removed  from  Georgia,  Alabama 
and  Tennessee;  the  military  force  withdrawn  from  Florida  for 
want  of  subsistence;  the  western  and  northern  frontiers  unguarded 
and  the  public  works  abandoned,  what  would  have  been  the  pub 
lic  judgment  upon  the  conduct  of  the  Secretary  then  ?  What 
would  have  been  the  judgment  of  this  body  ?  Who  then  would 
have  stood  up  here  to  defend  the  conduct  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  who  to  accuse  and  condemn  him  ? 

"  Sir,  so  broad  and  untenable  ground  as  this  will  not  be  assumed  ; 
but  it  may  be  said  that  the  informal  and  collateral  understanding, 
to  which  the  Secretary  of  War  was  a  party,  has  vitiated  the  trans 
actions  and  gives  cause  for  censure.  Let  us,  for  a  moment,  look 
at  the  facts.  The  money  could  be  realized  upon  the  bonds,  in 
time  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  treasury,  from  no  other  quarter 
than  this  bank.  It  could  not  be  realized  from  the  bank  but  by 
consenting  to  these  collateral  arrangements  as  to  the  times,  places 
and  manner  of  payment.  The  money  was  to  be  placed  in  the 
bank,  <  in  special  deposit?  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  and  it 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  835 

was  so  placed.  Upon  the  strength  of  this  deposit  the  Treasurer 
was  to  draw  his  drafts  for  the  public  disbursements  in  stipulated 
amounts,  and  make  them  payable  at  stipulated  places,  and,  with 
out  presentment  at  the  bank,  it  was  to  pay  them  at  those  places 
'  in  specie  or  its  equivalent,'  and  there  is  no  allegation  that  they 
were  not  so  paid.  The  places  of  payment  were  named  by  the 
heads  of  the  departments  which  had  the  superintendence  of  the 
disbursements,  as  were  also  the  sums  to  be  paid  at  each,  and  both 
with  a  strict  reference  to  the  wants  and  convenience  of  the  public 
service ;  and  it  has  not  been  asserted  that  inconvenience  or  loss 
arose  to  that  service  from  either,  while  the  contrary  is  positively 
shown  by  both  the  reports  under  consideration.  The  negotiation 
for  the  sale  of  the  third  bond  was  closed,  and  the  money  paid, 
on  the  first  of  August ;  and  that  for  the  payment  of  the  second 
bond,  and  the  first  installment  paid,  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  same 
month.  On  the  thirteenth,  two  days  before  the  last  payment 
mentioned,  the  bank  resumed  specie  payments,  so  that,  however 
much  these  negotiations  may  have  contributed  to  that  highly 
desirable  result,  the  bank  became  a  specie-paying  bank  before  a 
single  draft  upon  the  money  in  deposit  to  the  credit  of  the 
Treasurer  could  have  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  officers  and 
agents  of  the  government,  if  any  such  drafts  had  been  drawn  at 
that  period. 

"These  are  the  facts,  and  would  they  have  justified  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  even  supposing  him  to  have  known  and 
assented  to  the  collateral  stipulations  as  to  the  manner  of  pay 
ment  for  the  bond  sold,  in  refusing  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by 
the  bank,  and  thus  to  have  incurred  the  consequences  to  which  I 
have  before  alluded  ?  I  think  not,  Mr.  President ;  but,  as  my 
task  in  reference  to  this  part  of  the  connection  between  the 
government  and  the  Pennsylvania  bank  is  performed,  as  I  have 
recounted  the  facts  and  the  history  of  the  transactions,  I  know 
tediously,  but  I  hope  faithfully,  I  cheerfully  leave  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  and  all  the  other  actors  in  them,  to  the  judgment 
of  the  Senate  and  the  country.  If  condemnation  is  to  follow,  I 
only  desire  that  the  judgment  may  rest  upon  the  truth,  and  that 
I  have  attempted  to  exhibit. 

"  Another  connection  has  been  formed  between  the  government 


836  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  this  bank,  which  is  represented  as  still  more  alarming  and 
ominous  than  the  one  from  which  we  have  just  passed.  I  con 
gratulate  the  Senate,  and  certainly  myself,  that  the  facts,  in  this 
latter  case,  are  concise,  simple  and  plain.  I  propose,  therefore,  to 
read  them  all  to  the  Senate  ;  first  seeing  out  of  what  relations 
they  have  arisen. 

"  The  Bank  of  Kentucky  was  one  of  the  deposit  banks,  under 
the  law  of  1836,  'to  regulate  the  deposits  of  the  public  money.' 
It,  with  almost  all  the  banking  institutions  of  the  country,  sus 
pended  specie  payments  in  May,  1837,  then  having  a  very  large 
amount  of  the  public  money  in  its  hands,  for  which  it  could  not 
account  according  to  law.  This  bank  availed  itself  of  the  pro 
visions  of  the  law  of  the  extra  session  of  Congress  of  1837, 
granting  time  for  payment  to  the  deposit  banks  at  their  option, 
and  gave  bonds  to  secure  the  payment  of  the  amount  due  from  it 
to  the  treasury  in  three  equal  installments  ;  the  first  to  be  paid  on 
the  1st  day  of  July,  1838,  the  second  on  the  1st  day  of  January, 
1839,  and  the  third  on  the  1st  day  of  July,  1839,  with  six  per 
cent  interest.  The  installment  due  in  July,  1838,  was  paid,  and 
nothing  more  was  due  upon  the  bonds  until  the  first  day  of  the 
present  month.  Still,  under  date  of  the  5th  day  of  September, 
1838,  the  president  of  the  bank  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  as  follows  : 

"  '  I  shall,  during  the  course  of  the  present  week,  remit  to  you  a  check  on 
Philadelphia,  for  $300,000,  in  part  payment  of  the  debt  due  by  this  bank.' 

"  Under  date  of  the  tenth  September,  the  president  of  the  bank 
again  writes  from  Louisville,  Kentucky,  to  the  Secretary,  in  the 
following  words : 

" '  SIR.  —  I  hand  you,  inclosed  herewith,  a  check  on  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  Philadelphia,  in  your  favor,  for  $300,000,  intended  as  a  pay 
ment  on  the  amount  due  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  by  this  bank.' 

"On  the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  McClintock  Young,  the 
chief  clerk  in  the  Treasury  department,  and,  at  the  time,  acting  as 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  during  a  temporary  absence  of  the 
Secretary,  acknowledges  the  receipt  of  the  check  mentioned  in 
the  above  note  from  the  president  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  in 
the  following  language: 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  837 

"  '  SIR. — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  tenth,  with 
its  inclosure.  I  have  specially  directed  the  check  for  $300,000,  drawn  by  your 
cashier  upon  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  in  favor  of  Levi  Woodbury, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  be  placed  to  the  special  credit  of  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States,  with  whom  all  accounts  are  kept,  and  to  whom  all 
payments  and  transfers  of  balances  of  that  kind  should  be  made.  Whether 
the  bank  will  consider  my  indorsement  sufficient  for  that  purpose,  remains 
to  be  seen.' 

"  On  the  same  day  Mr.  Young,  acting  in  the  same  character, 
writes  to  the  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  of  Penn 
sylvania,  at  Philadelphia,  as  follows: 

"  '  SIB. — The  inclosed  check  has  been  this  day  received  from  the  Bank  of 
Kentucky;  and  I  will  thank  you  to  place  the  amount  ($300,000)  to  the  spe 
cial  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  and  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  sum  to 
him.' 

"  The  request  of  Mr.  Young  was  complied  with  by  the  bank, 
and  the  amount  of  the  check  placed  to  the  special  credit  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States  upon  its  books.  These  are  all 
the  facts  in  this  case,  and,  from  them,  some  see  a  most  dangerous 
and  alarming  evidence  of  a  disposition,  on  the  part  of  the 
executive  officers  of  the  government,  to  reunite  the  treasury 
of  the  country  to  this  banking  institution,  in  its  new  character 
of  a  State  bank.  Is  such  a  conclusion  fairly  deducible  from 
the  premises?  The  Bank  of  Kentucky  was,  at  this  period, 
indebted  to  the  United  States  in  the  sum  of  about  $600,000. 
No  part  of  the  amount  was  due  until  the  1st  of  January,  1839, 
and  therefore  the  officers  of  the  treasury  were  not  authorized  to 
expect  remittances  from  that  quarter,  until  the  receipt  of  the 
notice  from  the  president  of  the  bank  on  the  fifth  of  September. 
In  five  days  from  the  date  of  that  note  the  draft  followed,  which 
must  have  been  before  the  notice  could  have  reached  the  Treasury 
department.  On  the  seventeenth  of  September  the  draft  comes, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  It  is  drawn 
payable  to  him  in  his  individual  and  official  name,  and  is  upon 
the  Pennsylvania  bank.  Was  it  wrong  in  Mr.  Young  to  take  a 
draft  upon  that  bank  in  payment  of  a  debt  due  to  the  treasury, 
provided  it  should  be  duly  honored  ?  Much  as  I  have  and  do 
dislike  that  institution,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  the  officers 
of  the  government  would  be  justified  in  visiting  it  with  that 


838  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

measure  of  proscription,  and  I  do  not  suppose  any  will  pronounce 
censure  upon  that  act.  Mr.  Young  took  the  check  and  acknow 
ledged  its  receipt  in  the  language  above  quoted,  informing  the 
president  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky  that  it  ought  to  have  been- 
made  payable  to  the  Treasurer,  riot  to  '  Levi  Woodbury,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,'  and  that  he  did  not  know  whether  the 
Pennsylvania  bank  would  consider  his  indorsement  sufficient  to 
warrant  the  payment  of  the  amount  to  the  Treasurer.  He  must 
send  the  check  to  the  bank  to  determine  this  point,  and  he  must 
send  it  there  for  collection.  The  bank  was  then  holding  a  large 
sum  on  deposit,  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  as  the  proceeds  of 
the  bonds,  and  was  meeting  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  for  dis 
bursements,  at  a  greater  number  of  points,  and  to  larger  amounts, 
than  any  other  banking  institution  in  the  country.  The  money 
to  be  realized  as  the  proceeds  of  this  draft  would  be  as  valuable 
at  Philadelphia  as  at  any  point  in  the  country,  and  more  valuable 
than  at  any  other  points  except  New  York  and  Boston  ;  and  for 
disbursements  in  the  south  and  south-west,  it  would  be  even 
more  valuable  at  Philadelphia  than  at  the  latter  place.  There 
were  no  general  deposit  banks  holding  public  money  under  the 
deposit  law  of  1836,  to  which  the  proceeds  of  this  draft  could 
have  been  transferred,  without  depreciating  the  funds,  and 
placing  them  more  inconveniently  for  public  use.  By  what  obli 
gation  of  duty,  then,  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  called 
upon  to  transfer  this  amount  at  all,  for  the  mere  purpose  of  safe 
keeping  ?  Will  it  be  pretended  that  the  money  was  unsafe  in 
the  Pennsylvania  bank  ?  I  presume  not.  Little  as  is  my  con 
fidence  in  the  institution,  in  any  sense,  it  is  not  yet  so  per 
fectly  impaired  as  to  enable  me  to  believe  that  this  money 
is  not  secure,  for  the  short  time  it  may  remain  in  its  vaults,  before 
it  is  called  out  for  the  use  of  the  public  creditors.  I  cannot,  as 
yet,  by  my  public  acts,  express  such  an  opinion  of  this  bank. 
Why,  then,  I  again  ask,  was  the  Secretary  to  withdraw  the  money 
from  that  resting  place  but  for  purposes  of  public  disburse 
ment?  That  bank  was,  at  the  time,  a  depository  of  public 
money  of  a  special  character,  and  for  a  temporary  purpose  and 
period,  but  it  was  making  disbursements  and  meeting  the  drafts 
of  the  Treasurer,  and  was  therefore  a  convenient  location,  so  far 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  839 

as  the  public  service  was  concerned,  for  this  money.  If  the  Sec 
retary  had  transferred  it,  he  must  either  have  placed  it  in  some 
other  bank,  which  was  also  a  depository  of  a  special  character, 
holding  the  trust,  like  this  bank,  by  the  selection  and  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  Secretary,  and  not  under  the  law  of  1836,  or  to  a 
general  deposit  bank  inconveniently  located,  and  where  the 
money  would  be  less  valuable.  Was  it  his  duty  to  do  either; 
and,  if  so,  upon  what  ground  ?  Not  to  secure  the  safety  of  the 
funds,  because  they  were  as  safe  where  they  were  as  in  any  place 
it  was  in  his  power  to  place  them.  Not  to  make  the  money  more 
valuable,  because  it  was  at  a  point  where  it  was  as  valuable  for 
public  disbursement  as  any  point  which  the  country  presented. 
Not  to  promote  the  convenience  of  the  public  service,  because 
that  convenience  was  best  consulted  by  leaving  the  money  where 
it  was.  He  did  not  put  the  money  in  this  bank.  It  was  to  be 
paid  to  the  Treasurer  there ;  it  was  paid  to  the  Treasurer  there, 
and  there  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  acting  through  his  chief 
clerk,  Mr.  Young,  left  it  in  safe-keeping  until  the  wants  of  the 
treasury  should  call  it  thence.  This  is  his  fault,  if  fault  he  has 
committed.  Was  he,  then,  bound  to  transfer  this  money,  merely 
to  show  his  hostility  against  this  particular  banking  institution  ? 
If  transferred  at  all,  it  must  have  been  transferred  to  some  other 
bank,  for  neither  the  laws  of  Congress  nor  the  practice  of  the 
department  authorized  the  Secretary  to  transfer  the  proceeds  of 
this  draft  to  any  public  officer  of  the  country,  simply  for  the 
purpose  of  safe-keeping.  Was  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
then,  bound  to  transfer  these  funds  to  a  general  deposit  bank, 
where  their  value  to  the  public  would  be  diminished,  or  to  some 
other  special  deposit  bank  of  his  own  selection,  not  for  any  pur 
pose  of  public  utility,  but  merely  to  show  the  hostility  of  himself 
and  his  friends  toward  this  particular  bank  ?  This  is  the  plain, 
direct  and  simple  question  presented,  and  this  the  issue  formed  in 
relation  to  this  deposit  in  the  Pennsylvania  bank. 

"  It  may  be,  Mr.  President,  that  blame  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  blame  to  other  executive  officers  of  the  country, 
should  proceed  from  this  transaction.  It  is  not  my  province,  nor 
is  it  my  desire,  to  pronounce  the  judgment  which  the  Senate  or 
the  people  will  form.  It  is  enough  for  me  that  I  have  exhibited 


840  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  facts  fully,  and  presented  these  consequences,  which  were 
unavoidable  in  any  course  the  Secretary  might  have  chosen  to 
take.  That  being  done,  I  leave  the  matter  to  this  body  and  the 
country,  with  a  respectful  confidence  that  the  motives  of  that 
officer  will  be  spared,  in  any  event,  who  has  had  the  magnanimity 
to  sacrifice  his  personal  feelings  and  strong  hostilities  to  the  profit 
and  convenience  of  that  branch  of  the  public  service  committed 
to  his  charge. 

"  I  now  pass,  sir,  to  a  very  different  branch  of  the  facts  pre 
sented  in  the  case  before  us.  I  refer  to  the  published  letter  of 
Mr.  Biddle,  the  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  bank,  which  has 
been  adduced  to  the  Senate  as  evidence  of  the  improper  connec 
tion  between  the  government  and  his  bank.  The  paragraph  of 
that  letter  to  which  I  particularly  allude  is  in  the  following 
words  : 

"  *  In  the  month  of  July  the  government  agreed  to  receive  an  anticipated 
payment  of  the  bonds  of  the  bank  to  the  amount  of  between  $4,000,000  and 
$5,000,000,  in  a  credit  to  the  Treasurer  on  the  books  of  the  bank  — and 
arrangements  were  made  for  the  more  distant  public  disbursements  in  the 
notes  of  the  bank.  These  arrangements,  as  honorable  to  the  executive 
officers  as  they  were  beneficial  to  the  public  service,  brought  the  government 
mto  efficient  co-operation  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  currency,  and 
opened  the  way  to  a  resumption  of  specie  payments.  The  resumption 
accordingly  took  place  throughout  the  middle  States  on  the  thirteenth  of 
August,  and  in  many  of  the  southern  and  western  States  soon  after.' 

"  If  I  have  been  at  all  successful  in  my  exertions  hitherto,  the 
Senate  now  fully  understands  the  whole  affair  of  the  c  anticipated 
payment  of  the  bonds,'  and  is  able  clearly  to  judge  how  far  this 
brief  and  easy  mention  of  a  compliance,  on  the  part  of  the  officers 
of  the  government,  with  the  repeated  and  untiring  solicitations  of 
this  bank  to  arrange  the  payment  of  one  of  these  bonds  partly 
by  anticipation,  and  to  sell  another  of  them  to  the  institution, 
from  an  utter  inability  to  find  another  purchaser  in  the  markets 
of  the  whole  world,  makes  a  true  representation  of  the  facts  of 
the  case  to  the  mind  of  the  reader, —  how  far  the  public,  to 
whom  this  letter  is  given  by  its  author,  would  be  likely  to  be 
impressed  with  the  truth  from  this  assumed  representation  of  it. 
An  agreement  to  make  payment  in  a  'special  deposit'  to  the 
credit  of  the  Treasurer  is  converted  into  an  agreement  to  antici- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  84] 

pate  the  payment  of  the  bonds  'in  a  credit  to  the  Treasurer  on 
the  books  of  the  bank,'  while  the  certificate  of  the  bank  of  the 
special  deposit  is  a  matter  of  record  in  the  Treasury  department. 
An  agreement  to  pay  '  in  specie  or  its  equivalent ,'  an  invariable 
qualification  to  all  the  stipulations,  is  converted  into  'arrange 
ments  '  '  for  the  more  distant  public  disbursements  in  the  notes 
of  the  bank.'  This  is  the  evidence  from  this  source,  and  such  is 
the  witness  upon  whose  testimony  before  the  country,  volunta 
rily  given,  our  highest  executive  officers  are  to  be  condemned 
unheard.  How  far  this  witness  is  supported  by  the  facts  I  most 
cheerfully  leave  the  Senate  to  determine;  but  I  must,  on  behalf 
of  the  officers  concerned,  protest  against  the  compliment  so  con 
fidently  and  so  injuriously  forced  upon  them  by  the  president  of 
the  bank.  They  can  bear  the  hostility  of  this  institution  but 
they  cannot  bear  its  praise,  and  most  certainly  not  when  that 
praise  is  shaped  —  as  it  is  in  this  part  of  the  letter  from  which  I 
have  read  —  to  suit  the  views  of  a  malignant  opponent. 

"  To  give  to  the  writer  of  the  letter,  however,  all  the  founda 
tion  which  possibly  can  be  claimed  for  his  statement  of  the  facts, 
I  will  detain  the  Senate  to  make  a  few  references  to  another  docu 
ment.  I  refer  to  the  message  of  the  President,  of  the  ninth  instant, 
in  answer  to  a  call  from  the  Senate  for  all  orders  and  instructions 
issued  by  heads  of  departments,  heads  of  bureaus  and  the  Post 
master-General  relative  to  the  kind  of  money  and  bank-notes 
which  might  be  paid  out  on  account  of  the  United  States,  since 
the  14th  day  of  April,  1836.  The  message  communicates 
answers  to  the  call  from  all  the  heads  of  all  the  departments 
and  bureaus  who  have  issued  any  such  orders  or  instructions 
within  the  period  mentioned,  but  the  present  purpose  does  not 
require  that  I  should  refer  to  any  other  than  those  from  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  the  heads  of  bureaus  in  that  department. 
These  references  shall  be  as  brief  as  the  occasion  will  permit, 
and  it  is  here  also  my  intention  to  let  these  officers  speak,  princi 
pally,  for  themselves. 

"The  Secretary  of  War,  in  submitting  to  the  President  the 
answers  to  the  call  from  his  department,  says: 

"  '  In  submitting  these  reports,  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  the  circulars 
from  the  Paymaster's,  Quartermaster's,  Engineer  and  Indian  departments,  in 


842  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

October,  were  issued  at  a  period  which  required  the  exercise  of  great  forbear 
ance  and  discretion  in  the  management  of  the  fiscal  operations  of  this  depart 
ment,  in  order  to  avoid,  as  far  as  practicable,  embarrassing  the  money  concerns 
of  the  country.  I  had  been  informed,  from  credible  sources,  that  a  rigid  exac 
tion  of  specie  to  meet  all  our  disbursements  in  the  south  and  west  would 
retard  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  embarrass  the  operations  of  those 
banks  that  had  resumed,  and  prove  seriously  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of 
commerce  in  that  portion  of  the  country. 

"  'Influenced  by  these  impressions  and  acting  under  these  views,  which  I 
had  urged  upon  all  branches  of  the  department,  these  circulars  were  issued, 
and  in  some  respects  exceed  what  was  intended;  and  upon  being  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  present  chiefs  of  bureaus  they  have  modified  them  so  as  to  ren 
der  the  instructions  more  strictly  and  distinctly  conformable  to  existing  enact 
ments.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  was,  at  the  period  of  issuing  the  circulars,  a  specie-paying 
bank;  and  that  to  have  exacted  specie  from  the  banks  in  the  south  and 
west  which  were  indebted  to  that  institution,  or  in  which  it  had  deposited 
funds  to  meet  the  drafts  of  the  treasury  for  war  warrants,  would  not  only 
have  been  of  no  aid  to  the  public  service,  but  would  have  inflicted  injury 
alone  upon  those  banks  and  been  prejudicial  only  to  tlie  trade  of  the  south  and 


"Here  we  have  the  views  of  the  Secretary,  and  the  motives 
and  policy  by  which  he  intended  to  be  governed  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  affairs  of  his  department.  The  time  was  one  of 
great  difficulty.  The  banks  of  the  north  and  middle  States  had 
resumed  specie  payments  and  those  of  the  south  and  west  were 
struggling  to  reach  that  desirable  point.  The  disbursements  of 
his  department  were  to  be  principally  made  in  the  south  and 
west;  and  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  for  that  purpose  were,  by 
the  arrangement  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  relation 
to  the  payment  of  two  of  its  bonds,  to  be  met,  to  much  the  great 
est  extent,  by  that  institution.  The  supposition  of  the  Secretary 
was  natural  and  necessary,  that  those  drafts  would  be  met  by  calls 
upon  its  debtor  banks  in  those  sections  of  the  Union  where  the 
payments  were  to  be  made,  and  by  deposits  of  funds  in  the  banks 
there.  Hence  his  proper  and  laudable  anxiety,  so  far  as  an  observ 
ance  of  the  law  and  of  the  unquestioned  rights  of  the  public 
creditors  would  permit,  to  make  those  heavy  disbursements  in  a 
manner  the  least  injurious  to  the  banking  institutions,  the  trade 
and  commerce,  and  the  business  generally  of  those  sections,  and 
so  as,  in  the  least  possible  degree,  to  'retard  the  resumption 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  843 

of  specie  payments'  in  the  south  and  west;  and  hence,  too,  he 
urged  these  views  and  this  policy  *  upon  all  the  branches  of  the 
department.'  Still,  he  tells  us  that  the  orders  and  instructions 
issued  by  some  of  the  heads  of  bureaus  in  the  department  '  in 
some  respects  exceed  what  was  intended.' 

"Satisfied  that  the  motives  of  the  Secretary,  as  avowed  by 
himself,  must  be  universally  approved,  and  that  the  policy  he 
adopted  for  the  government  of  his  department  was  proper  and 
right,  so  far  as  it  was  wisely  pursued  and  properly  carried  out, 
I  now  proceed  to  refer  to  such  of  these  '  orders  and  instructions ' 
as,  if  any,  must  be  considered  exceptionable.  The  first,  in  the 
order  of  time,  is  a  direction  given  by  the  Secretary  himself,  in 
relation  to  the  payment  of  pensioners.  The  date  of  this  circular 
is  May,  1837,  the  month  in  which  all  the  banks  of  the  country, 
comparatively  speaking,  suspended  specie  payments,  and  is  in 
the  following  language: 

"  '  In  the  present  state  of  the  currency,  and  during  the  general  suspension 
of  specie  payments,  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  pensioners  to  withhold  from 
them  the  means  of  purchasing  the  necessaries  of  life,  by  a  rigid  adherence 
to  the  letter  of  the  law.  The  agents,  therefore,  will  be  authorized  to  pay 
them  in  such  currency  as  the  receivers  demand  and  are  willing  to  consider 
an  equivalent  for  specie.' 

"This  order  furnishes  upon  its  face  the  best  justification  of 
which  it  is  susceptible,  and,  therefore,  without  a  single  other 
remark,  I  pass  to  the  circular  of  the  Chief  Engineer,  which  bears 
date  6th  October,  1838,  and  is  in  the  following  words: 

"'Sra.  —  It  will  conform  with  the  understanding  existing  between  the 
department  and  the  depository  banks,  that  whenever  your  payments  on  the 
public  account  cannot  be  made  by  checks  on  the  banks,  a  tender  of  the 
notes  of  the  bank  on  which  the  treasury  draft  was  drawn  will  be  made,  and 
that  in  no  case  specie  be  exclusively  exacted,  unless  the  notes  of  said  bank 
will  not  be  received  by  the  public  creditor. 

"  '  The  observance  of  this  rule  will  be  of  general  accommodation,  and  be 
sustained  by  the  department.' 

"  This  is  one  of  the  *  orders '  to  which  the  Secretary  expressly 
applies  the  remark,  in  his  report  above  quoted,  that  they  '  in  some 
respects  exceed  what  was  intended.'  It  will  be  proper  here  to 
add  that,  under  date  of  the  20th  October,  1838,  the  head  of  the 
Indian  bureau  issued  a  circular  in  the  precise  language  of  this 


844  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

one,  and  that  the  present  heads  of  both  these  bureaus,  when  the 
existence  of  these  directions  from  their  respective  branches  of 
the  department  were  made  known  to  them,  instantly  so  modified 
them  as  to  bring  them  within  the  express  and  unquestioned  terms 
of  the  existing  laws  in  reference  to  the  disbursement  of  bank 
notes. 

"A  circular  from  the  office  of  the  Paymaster-General  was  issued 
under  date  of  the  8th  October,  1838,  which  is  as  follows: 

"  '  SIK.  —  Arrangements  having  been  made  with  the  United  States  bank  to 
pay  the  Treasurer's  drafts  to  a  certain  amount  at  different  places,  and  it 
being  probable  the  notes  of  that  bank  will  be  as  acceptable  to  claimants, 
and  in  some  cases  more  convenient  than  specie,  you  will,  should  you  receive 
drafts  on  that  bank  or  its  agents,  make  as  many  of  your  payments  by  check 
as  you  can,  which  will  give  the  receiver  the  option  of  taking  paper  or  specie ; 
and  the  department  has  no  objection  to  your  using  the  paper  of  that  bank 
in  all  your  payments,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done  legally.' 

"  The  only  other  of  these  '  orders  and  directions '  to  which  I 
propose  to  refer  was  issued  from  the  office  of  the  Quartermaster- 
General,  and  bears  date  31st  October,  1838.  Its  language  is  : 

"  'Whenever  remittances  on  the  public  account  are  made  to  you  by  the 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States  in  notes  of  the  United  States  Bank  of  Penn 
sylvania,  or  by  drafts  of  that  institution  on  local  banks  or  agents,  it  is  desir 
able  that,  instead  of  demanding  specie  from  the  local  banks  or  agents,  you 
receive  from  them  and  disburse  the  bills  of  said  u  Bank  of  the  United  States," 
in  all  cases  when  such  bills  may  be  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  individuals  to 
whom  payment  may  be  made.' 

"  The  Quartermaster-General  states  that  this  circular  was  sent 
to  but  eight  officers  of  that  department,  and  that,  understanding 
a  construction  had  been  given  to  it  to  authorize  the  payment  out 
of  notes  of  less  denominations  than  those  allowed  by  the  law  of 
the  14th  of  April,  1836,  those  officers  were  immediately  instructed 
that  the  direction  was  to  be  construed  in  conformity  with  that 
law,  and  not  otherwise. 

"  The  number  of  orders  and  directions  transmitted  with  the 
message  of  the  President  is  very  great;  but,  upon  a  careful  perusal 
of  them  all,  I  consider  those  referred  to  above  the  only  ones  which 
have  material  reference  to  the  disbursements  to  be  made  under 
the  arrangements  with  the  bank,  and  all  which  go  a  step  to  show 
that  the  bills  of  the  bank  were  agreed  to  be  disbursed,  as  a  part 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  845 

of  these  arrangements.  And  now,  Mr.  President,  permit  me  to 
ask  how  far  any  of  these  orders  authorize  the  assertion  of  the 
president  of  that  institution  that  '  arrangements  were  made  for 
the  more  distant  public  disbursements  in  the  notes  of  the  bank?* 
We  have  seen  that  the  arrangements  between  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  and  the  bank,  in  fact,  were  that  the  payments 
should  be  made  '  in  specie  or  its  equivalent^  and  so  far  as  the 
collateral  stipulation  with  the  Secretary  of  War  may  be  consid 
ered  a  part  of  those  arrangements,  that  the  same  medium  of  pay 
ment  was  required  and  agreed  to  be  made  by  that  also.  In  these 
negotiations,  then,  there  were  no  '  arrangements  made  for  the 
more  distant  public  disbursements  in  the  notes  of  the  bank,'  or 
for  any  disbursements,  near  or  distant,  in  those  notes,  any  further 
than  they  might  be  considered  embraced  in  the  terms  equivalent 
to  specie ;  and  how  far  that  might  be  would,  of  course,  in  all 
cases,  depend  upon  the  will  and  choice  and  estimation  of  the 
public  creditor  to  whom  payment  was  to  be  made.  It  will  cer 
tainly  not  be  pretended  that  orders  from  the  head  of  a  depart 
ment  or  a  bureau,  containing  simply  directions  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  subordinates  of  that  branch  of  the  service,  can 
change  the  terms  of  these  contracts,  or  give  to  either  party  rights 
which  were  not  conferred  by  the  contracts  themselves.  If 

*  arrangements  were  made  '  between  the  executive  officers  and  the 
bank  '  for  the  more  distant  public  disbursements  in  the  notes  of 
the  bank,'  the  right  was  conferred  upon  the  latter  to  make  those 
disbursements   in    such   notes,  independent    of  any  relations  or 
rights  between  the  government  and  its  creditors,  and  a  tender 
of  the  notes  would  be  good  payment  as  between  the  government 
and  the  bank.     Is  such  a  right  pretended  or  claimed  by  the  bank, 
growing  out  of  the  arrangements  for  the  sale  and  payment  of  its 
bonds  ?     It  has  not  been  and  is  not.     On  the  contrary,  if  no  such 

*  arrangements '  were  made  or  right  conferred  by  the  contracts, 
then  nothing  in  the 'orders  and  directions' from  the  heads  of 
departments  and  bureaus  to  the  disbursing  officers  could  make 
the  one  or  confer  the  other.     In  this  aspect  of  the  case,  there 
fore,  the  president  of  the  bank  was  not  authorized  by  the  facts 
to  say  that  '  arrangements  were  made  for  the  more  distant  public 
disbursements  in  the  notes  of  the  bank.' 


846  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  While  upon  this  part  of  the  case,  another  inquiry  should  be 
made.  Did  these  '  orders  and  directions '  assume  to  confer  upon 
the  bank  the  right  to  make  disbursements  in  its  notes  ?  I  here 
most  freely  express  my  dissent  from  the  policy  and  practice  indi 
cated  by  some  of  these  circulars.  The  Secretary  tells  us  that 
some  of  them,  '  in  some  respects,  exceed  what  was  intended '  by 
him,  and  I  think  some  of  them  go  beyond  a  sound  and  safe  rule. 
I  cordially  concur  in  the  views  and  policy  upon  which  the  Secre 
tary  acted,  as  expressed  by  himself;  but  I  think  some  of  the 
circulars  go  much  farther,  and,  instead  of  adopting  a  policy  which 
was  calculated  to  hasten  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  in 
the  south  and  west,  and  to  restore  the  currency  to  a  sound  state 
in  those  sections  of  the  Union,  must,  if  continued  in  force  and 
acted  upon,  have  had  a  strong  tendency  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Did  they,  however,  assume  to  confer  the  right  to  make  public 
disbursements  in  bank-notes  ?  Not  one  —  not  even  the  broadest 
of  them.  They  urged  the  policy  of  making  disbursements  in 
that  medium,  '  so  far  as  it  can  be  legally  done,'  '  in  all  cases 
where  such  bills  may  be  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  individuals  to 
whom  payment  maybe  made;'  *  unless  the  notes  of  said  bank 
will  not  be  received  by  the  public  creditor,'  etc.  Thus,  in  all 
cases,  deferring  to  the  option  of  the  public  creditor,  and  to  his 
legal  rights,  the  question  of  making  disbursements  in  bank  paper. 
The  orders,  therefore,  did  not  assume  to  confer  the  right  to  make 
'  public  disbursements  in  the  notes  of  the  bank,'  and  even  they, 
broad  and  indefensible  as  some  of  them  seem  to  me  to  be,  do  not 
bear  out  the  president  of  the  bank  in  the  declaration  referred  to. 
Yet  this  individual  goes  on  to  say,  '  these  arrangements,  as 
honorable  to  the  executive  officers  as  they  were  beneficial  to  the 
public  service,  brought  the  government  into  efficient  co-operation 
for  the  re-establishment  of  the  currency,  and  opened  the  way  for 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments.'  What  '  arrangements '  are 
here  referred  to?  Evidently  those  spoken  of  in  the  previous 
sentence  of  the  letter,  '  for  the  more  distant  public  disbursements 
in  the  notes  of  the  bank.'  Having  shown  that  no  such  '  arrange 
ments  '  had  been  made  between  '  the  executive  officers  '  and  the 
bank,  I  may  be  permitted  to  hope  that  those  worthy  officers  will 
not  be  made  to  suffer  in  the  public  estimation  under  the  blight- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  847 

ing  influence  of  the  compliment  so  gratuitously  bestowed  upon 
them. 

"  Here,  Mr.  President,  suffer  me  to  ask,  why  do  you  think  this 
letter  of  Mr.  Biddle  was  given  to  the  public  ?  Was  it,  do  you 
believe,  to  bestow  credit  upon  the  executive  officers  of  this  gov 
ernment,  or  to  manifest  his  connection  with  and  attachment  to 
this  administration  ?  If  this  was  the  motive,  some  of  his  able 
and  sagacious  friends  upon  my  right  must  feel  surprise  at  his 
want  of  sagacity.  They  tell  us,  almost  daily,  that  the  cause  of 
this  administration  is  a  sinking  cause ;  that  ours  is  a  falling  house, 
and  they  must  deeply  regret  that  this  sagacious  banker  should 
now  conclude  to  join  his  fortunes,  and  those  of  his  institution,  to 
such  an  interest.  Sir,  these  gentlemen  will  tell  you  that  no  such 
desires  and  objects  have  given  this  letter  to  the  light.  Was  it, 
then,  to  speak  of  the  negotiations  between  those  executive 
officers  and  the  bank,  and  to  do  them  justice  in  that  particular? 
No,  sir.  No.  In  my  opinion  no  such  negotiations  have  prompted 
this  letter,  but  certain  negotiations  which  the  sagacious  writer 
foresaw  were  about  to  take  place  at  Harrisburg,  in  his  own  State, 
were  the  moving  causes  to  this  public  address,  in  the  shape  of  a 
letter  to  an  individual  correspondent.  The  bank  had  been  too 
deeply  concerned  in  the  singular  political  transactions  which 
were  agitating  a  great  State.  Success  began  to  be  doubtful,  and 
a  change  of  position,  in  advance,  was  found  to  be  advisable. 
Hence  these  quiet  and  peaceful  declarations,  and  these  amicable 
appearances  toward  ancient  enemies.  Hence  this  abandonment 
of  mercantile  speculations,  and  this  neutrality  of  posture  in  refer 
ence  to  future  events.  From  considerations  like  these,  sir,  I 
believe  this  letter  was  written,  and  not  from  any  change  of  feel 
ing  or  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  writer,  or  the  institution  over 
which  he  presides. 

"  I  must  ask  a  little  more  of  your  time,  Mr.  President,  upon 
this  letter.  The  writer  says  the  transactions  between  the  gov 
ernment  and  the  bank,  of  which  I  have  spoken  so  elaborately, 
1  brought  the  government  into  efficient  co-operation  for  the 
re-establishment  of  the  currency,  and  opened  the  way  to  a  resump 
tion  of  specie  payments  ! '  The  arrogance  of  this  expression  is  so 
excessive  as  to  excite  no  other  emotion  than  that  of  ridicule. 


848  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

That  the  government  had  been,  from  May,  1837,  not  co-operating 
with  the  bank,  but  efficiently  operating  against  the  irredeemable 
policy  and  declarations  of  the  bank  and  its  president,  '  for  the 
re-establishment  of  the  currency,'  is  now  matter  of  history ;  that 
the  'arrangements'  to  which  the  letter  refers,  and  which  the 
wants  of  the  public  treasury,  occasioned  by  the  suspension  of 
the  banks,  and  the  legislation  of  Congress  consequent  thereupon, 
compelled,  were  calculated  to  enable  the  bank  the  more  easily  to 
pay  its  debts  to  the  government,  and  thus  to  abandon  its  irre 
deemable  doctrines  and  policy,  when,  by  the  action  of  other 
State  institutions,  they  had  become  no  longer  sustainable 
with  a  preservation  of  credit,  and  to  place  itself  upon  the 
list  of  resuming  banks,  is  most  likely.  Mark  dates  and 
facts.  The  negotiation  for  the  sale  of  the  bond  of  1839 
was  completed  and  closed  on  the  1st  of  August,  1838.  The  defi 
nitive  oifer  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  the  anticipations 
and  mode  and  manner  of  payment  upon  the  bond  of  1838  was 
dated  on  the  25th  of  July,  1838,  and  the  broad  acceptance  of 
that  oifer  by  the  agent  of  the  bank  was  of  the  day  following. 
By  this  offer  and  acceptance  the  first  installment  of  $800,000  was 
to  be  paid  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  August,  and  all  the  payments 
upon  both  'arrangements'  were,  by  the  terms  of  the  same,  to  be 
made  'in  specie  or  its  equivalent.'  How,  then,  were  the  notes  of 
the  bank  to  be  made  applicable  to  these  payments  ?  Could  it  be 
done  short  of  a  resumption  of  specie  payments  by  the  bank,  so 
as  to  make  its  notes,  in  form  at  least,  'equivalent  to  specie?' 
What  do  the  acts  of  the  bank  show  to  have  been  its  sense  of  its 
own  course  and  policy  under  these  circumstances  ?  It  resumed 
specie  payments  on  the  thirteenth  of  August,  thirteen  days  after 
the  payment  was  made  at  the  bank  for  the  bond  of  1839,  but 
before  the  drafts  upon  that  deposit  would  be  returned  upon  it 
in  any  considerable  amounts,  and  two  days  before  the  payment 
of  the  first  installment  upon  the  bond  of  1838.  Did  these  trans 
actions  authorize  the  president  of  the  bank  to  say  that  by  them 
the  government  was  brought  into  efficient  '  co-operation '  for  the 
re-establishment  of  the  currency?  Into  efficient  co-operation 
with  whom  or  with  what?  With  an  institution  which  had 
resisted  with  all  its  immense  power  the  resumption  of  specie 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  849 

payments,  the  only  measure  by  which  the  currency  could  be 
re-established;  which  was  a  debtor  to  the  government  to  nearly 
$8,000,000,  and  which  was  compelled  to  ask  time  for  payment  of 
one,  two,  three  and  four  years;  which  found  its  extended  obliga 
tions  falling  due  so  near  the  period  when  specie  payments  must 
be  resumed,  or  its  credit  destroyed,  that  it  was  driven  to  the 
*  executive  officers'  to  seek  terms  of  payment  which  would  enable 
it  to  perform  that  high  duty?  Efficient  co-operation  with  such 
an  institution  and  by  such  means?  Need  I  say,  sir,  that  the 
arrogance  of  the  assumption  is  only  equaled  by  the  closing  sen 
tence  of  the  paragraph? 

"Let  me  read  it  to  you,  Mr.  President.  Here  it  is:  'The 
resumption  accordingly  took  place,'  where  do  you  suppose,  sir? 
The  banks  of  the  whole  Union  had  suspended  specie  payments 
in  May,  1837.  This  immeasurable  calamity  was  visited  upon  the 
whole  country,  and  now  the  president  of  the  largest  and  most 
powerful  bank  in  the  Union  is  telling  us  of  the  resumption,  of 
the  return  of  the  banks  to  their  legal  and  moral  obligations.  He 
has  before  given  us  his  exposition  of  the  causes  which  brought 
about  this  great  and  good  result,  and  now  he  says  'the  resump 
tion  accordingly  took  place.'  Again  I  ask  you,  sir,  where  do  you 
think  it  took  place,  and  when  ?  He  shall  tell  you :  '  Throughout 
the  middle  States  on  the  thirteenth  of  August,  in  many  of  the 
southern  and  western  States  soon  after.'  What,  let  me  ask  you 
as  one  of  the  representatives  of  that  section  of  the  Union,  what 
became  of  the  humble  northern  and  eastern  States  in  this  happy 
annunciation  to  the  American  people  ?  Were  they  not  worth  the 
notice  of  the  president  of  the  bank?  Or  did  he  not  know  that 
this  same  glorious  work  of  resumption,  for  which  he  says  the  way 
was  opened  in  August,  had  taken  place  in  those  States,  and  was 
triumphantly  sustained  against  his  power  and  the  power  of  the 
giant  institution  over  which  he  presided,  from  one  to  three  months 
before  the  period  of  which  he  speaks  —  before  that  'way 'was 
opened  which  enabled  the  State  national  bank  to  come  in,  by  a 
forbearance  of  its  debts  and  an  accommodating  compromise  as  to 
the  manner  of  their  payment  ? 

"  Sir,  I  am  ready  to  relieve  you  from  this  course  of  remark, 
54 


850  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

and  to  dismiss  from  my  consideration  such  testimony  coming 
from  such  a  source. 

"  I  am  also  most  happy,  Mr.  President,  to  be  able  to  assure  you 
that  I  will  very  soon  relieve  the  Senate  from  a  continuance  of  any 
remarks  upon  this  subject.  One  or  two  brief  topics  remain  to  be 
considered  and  I  have  done,  at  least  for  the  present. 

"  In  the  course  of  the  debate  which  the  subjects  under  con 
sideration  have  excited,  my  peculiar  personal  attention  has  been 
called  to  the  language  used  in  the  law  authorizing  the  sale  of  the 
bonds  of  this  bank.  That  language  is  that  the  bonds  shall  be 
sold  '  for  money  in  hand,'  and  I  believe  I  was  the  draftsman  of 
the  law.  I  have,  upon  a  previous  occasion,  and  when  thus  called 
upon,  stated  to  the  Senate  my  best  recollections  as  to  my  inten 
tion  in  the  use  of  the  terms  quoted.  I  had  not  then  made  a 
recent  examination  of  the  law,  and  I  spoke  from  memory  wholly. 
I  now  find  no  cause  to  change  what  I  then  said,  that  it  was  my 
intention  the  bonds  should  be  sold  for  cash,  if  sold  at  all,  but  I 
find  that  the  disposition  of  that  'cash,'  intended  by  the  com 
mittee,  was  fully  explained  on  the  face  of  the  bill,  and  that  I  am 
now  only  called  upon  to  read  to  the  Senate  the  second  section  of 
that  law,  as  it  was  reported  and  passed,  to  make  this  point  per 
fectly  intelligible  to  all  who  hear  me.  That  section  is  in  these 
words  : 

"  '  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  money  received  upon  the  sale  of  the 
said  bonds  shall  be  immediately  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  United  States, 
or  placed  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  thereof  in  some  proper  depository, 
in  the  same  manner  that  other  moneys,  received  from  dues  to  the  govern 
ment,  are,  by  law,  directed  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury.' 

"  It  will  be  recollected  that  but  one  bond  was  sold,  and,  in 
reference  to  that,  how  was  the  money  paid  ?  I  have  already  read 
to  the  Senate,  from  the  documents  appended  to  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  certificate  of  the  bank,  showing 
that  the  proceeds  of  this  bond  were  placed  in  that  institution, 
'  in  special  deposit,'  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States.  Was  that  bank,  then,  a  '  proper  depository '  in  a  legal 
sense,  and  within  the  meaning  of  the  law  above  quoted?  We 
have  seen  that  there  were  no  general  deposit  banks  under  the  law 
of  1836,  or  banks  which  could  be  selected  under  that  law,  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  851 

answer  the  purposes  of  the  treasury.  We  have  also  seen  that 
neither  the  law  nor  the  practice  of  the  Treasury  department 
authorized  the  Secretary  to  transfer  money  to  the  hands  of  indi 
vidual  officers  of  the  government  for  the  mere  purpose  of  safe 
keeping.  Hence,  the  Secretary  has  been  compelled  to  select  banks 
as  special  depositories,  without  reference  to  the  deposit  law,  in 
cases  where  money  comes  into  the  treasury,  as  in  the  case  under 
consideration,  not  in  the  ordinary  course  of  collection,  but  with 
out  passing  through  the  hands  of  an  authorized  collecting  officer. 
The  authority  of  the  Secretary  to  select  and  use  these  banks  for 
these  purposes  is  the  same  which  authorized  the  use  of  banks  by 
the  Treasury  department,  from  the  commencement  of  the  govern 
ment,  under  the  Constitution,  and  the  organization  of  such  depart 
ment,  up  to  the  charter  of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  in 
1816,  and  from  the  removal  of  the  public  deposits  from  that  bank 
in  1833  until  the  passage  of  the  deposit  law  in  1836.  In  his 
selections,  under  this  authority,  there  are  no  restrictions  of  law 
upon  the  officer  ;  and  if,  therefore,  depositories  so  selected  are,  in 
a  legal  sense,  '  proper  depositories,'  then  1  am  unable  to  discover 
why  this  bank  was  not  as  proper  a  depository  of  the  proceeds  of 
these  bonds,  within  the  meaning  of  the  second  section  of  the 
law  for  their  sale,  above  quoted,  as  any  other  bank  which  the 
Secretary  could  have  selected  would  have  been. 

"Some  objections  have  been  made,  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  has,  in  his  annual  report,  confounded,  by  the  use  of 
language,  the  character  of  the  deposits  made  in  the  various  banks 
on  public  account,  and  rendered  it  difficult  to  tell  in  what  con 
dition  the  public  money  is,  or  how  it  is,  in  fact,  kept.  I  have 
taken  some  pains  to  inform  myself  upon  these  points,  and  the 
inferences  which  I  had  drawn  from  the  reading  of  the  annual 
report  have  been  confirmed  by  the  explanations  of  the  Secretary. 
The  terms  c  general  deposit '  are  used  by  him  in  reference  to  those 
moneys  deposited  in  banks  selected  under  the  deposit  law  of  1836. 
The  terms  '  special  deposit '  are  mostly  used  in  their  technical 
sense,  as  a  deposit  of  the  specific  thing,  the  identical  money,  or 
currency,  delivered  to  the  bank  for  safe-keeping  ;  and  the  terms 
'  deposit  to  the  special  credit  of  the  Treasurer^  are  used  to  denote 
such  deposits  as  are  neither  '  general '  nor  '  special,'  within  the 


852  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WKIGUT. 

technical  meaning  of  the  other  terras,  but  as  are  made  in  banks 
selected  by  the  Secretary,  under  his  general  powers,  before  referred 
to,  and  are  placed  there  subject  to  the  drafts  of  the  Treasurer, 
with  a  notice,  and  distinct  understanding,  that  they  are  to  be 
drawn  for  at  an  early  day,  and  are  not,  therefore,  to  be  used  by 
the  institution  holding  them  for  the  general  purposes  of  banking. 
The  remarks  of  the  Secretary  upon  these  points,  in  the  report 
under  consideration,  give  substantially  these  explanations.  They 
are  as  follows : 

"  '  The  arrangements  made  with  the  banks  that  hold  special  deposits,  or 
depostits  to  the  special  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  have  been  regarded  as 
temporary  in  their  nature  or  character,  and  have,  in  most  cases,  therefore, 
been  informal.  It  having  been  expected  that  Congress  would,  at  an  early 
day,  adopt  some  general  system  that  could  be  carried  into  practical  effect, 
on  the  subject  of  keeping  the  public  money,  and  comparatively  few  col 
lections  having  been  made,  except  in  treasury  notes  and  treasury  drafts, 
since  the  suspension  of  specie  payments,  till  within  the  last  three  months 
the  department  has  deemed  it  most  respectful  to  Congress  to  abstain 
from  adopting  any  uniform  anpl  permanent  arrangement  on  the  subject  of 
deposits  in  banks,  not  selected  under  the  general  deposit  act,  but  to  use 
them,  for  the  present  at  least,  only  as  necessity  should  require.' 

"  And  again  : 

' '  In  cases  of  deposits  in  bank,  made  specially,  the  money  has,  in  some 
instances,  been  placed  in  specie,  in  boxes,  fastened  up,  and  not  to  be  with 
drawn  by  the  receiver  or  others,  without  the  draft  of  the  Treasurer  on  him, 
payable  at  the  bank  where  the  special  deposit  was  made.  In  other  cases 
it  has  been  placed  in  specie,  or  bills  of  specie-paying  banks,  to  the  credit 
of  the  Treasurer,  sometimes  as  in  "special  deposit,"  and  sometimes  as  "in 
deposit  to  his  special  credit,"  and  allowing  the  bank  to  have  entire  charge 
of  it  afterward.' 

"  From  this  language  of  the  Secretary,  as  well  as  from  the  facts 
in  the  case  of  the  bonds,  it  is  inferable  that  deposits,  in  their 
inception  special,  in  the  bank  sense  of  that  term,  have  been  sub 
sequently  changed  in  their  character,  by  making  such  deposits 
the  basis  of  drafts  by  the  Treasurer,  which  were  paid  by  the 
bank,  on  presentment,  as  drafts  upon  general  deposits  are  usually 
paid.  Indeed,  the  Secretary  tells  us,  in  his  annual  report,  that 
'this  system  of  special  deposits,  or  of  deposits  to  the  credit  of 
the  Treasurer,  has,  from  convenience,  and  indeed  almost  from 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  853 

necessity,  not  generally  corresponded  with  the  usual  forms  of 
special  deposits.' 

"  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has  not 
upon  all  occasions,  in  reference  to  these  matters,  used  the  lan 
guage  technically  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  and  it  is  equally 
possible  that  he  may  have  committed  errors  of  judgment  in  the 
multiplicity  of  his  arduous  and  most  perplexing  duties;  but  when 
the  trying  period  through  which  the  country  has  passed  under 
his  administration  of  the  Treasury  department  shall  be  remem 
bered  and  appreciated,  I  desire  to  be  no  more  confident  of  any 
thing  than  I  am  of  the  fact  that  he  will  have  no  cause  to  com 
plain  of  the  verdict  which  an  intelligent  and  patriotic  and  grateful 
people  will  render  upon  his  public  services.  None  of  us  here, 
Mr.  President,  can  have  failed  to  see  that  it  is  much  easier  to  find 
fault  than  so  to  act,  in  a  responsible  public  trust,  as  not  to  deserve 
censure,  much  more  so  as  not  to  receive  it,  whether  deserved  or 
not.  It  now  seems  to  be  fashionable  to  complain  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  but  we  should  be  willing  to  do  justice  even  to  a 
political  adversary;  and  none  will,  none  can,  deny  that  Mr.  Wood- 
bury  has  managed  the  finances  of  the  country,  through  one  of 
the  most  difficult  periods  in  our  national  existence,  with  a  degree 
of  success  before  altogether  unknown  under  similar  embarrass 
ments.  Sir,  we  have  had  similar  embarrassments  before,  and 
with  what  result?  We  had  a  suspension  of  specie  payments  by 
the  banks  in  1814,  not  as  general  as  that  of  1837,  and  when  and 
how  were  specie  payments  restored  ?  After  a  continuance  of 
three  years,  by  the  aid  of  a  national  bank.  When  and  how 
have  these  payments  now  been  restored  ?  After  a  continuance 
of  one  single  year,  and  principally,  as  I  verily  believe,  by  a 
sound  and  firm  administration  of  the  national  finances ;  by  a 
rigid  and  unyielding  adherence,  in  all  national  receipts  and  pay 
ments,  to  that  standard  of  value  erected  by  our  glorious  Con 
stitution,  and  which,  if  not  scrupulously  observed  by  the  gov 
ernment  in  times  of  pecuniary  trouble,  cannot  be  continued  as 
a  standard  of  value  for  the  country.  I  know,  Mr.  President, 
there  have  been  many  patriotic  and  good  men  who  have  sin 
cerely  believed,  during  the  late  derangements  in  our  currency, 
that  specie  payments  could  never  be  resumed  by  the  State 


854  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

banking  institutions,  and  the  currency  re-established  at  the  proper 
constitutional  standard,  without  the  aid  of  another  national  bank. 
I  have  been  one  of  those  who  have  uniformly  believed  that,  if  the 
operations  of  the  national  treasury  were  not  suffered  to  be  brought 
down  by  the  general  depreciation,  but  were  kept  up  to  the 
standard  of  gold  and  silver,  the  whole  circulating  medium  would 
speedily  be  raised  to  that  level;  while  I  have  as  firmly  believed, 
if  that  standard  for  the  public  treasury  was  surrendered,  there 
would  be  an  end  of  anything  like  a  fixed  and  permanent  standard 
of  value,  until  financial  embarrassment,  commercial  suffering  and 
universal  derangement  in  every  department  of  business  should 
drive  the  whole  people  to  call  in  the  aid  of  some  artifical  power 
to  assist  in  erecting  it.  The  soundness  of  the  former  opinion  is 
now  demonstrated.  The  standard  of  currency  for  the  treasury 
has  been  preserved  at  the  constitutional  elevation,  through  the 
whole  of  our  late  troubles,  and  the  consequence  has  been  that, 
without  any  other  aid,  a  universal  resumption  of  specie  payment 
has  taken  place  within  little  more  than  one  year,  and  business  is 
reviving,  at  least  as  rapidly  as  can  consist  with  firm  and  enduring 
health.  For  all  these  great  and  good  results,  as  well  as  for  the 
great  success  with  which  the  treasury  has  been  managed  and  its 
wants  supplied,  during  these  severe  embarrassments,  I  speak  the 
solemn  convictions  of  my  judgment  when  I  say  that  no  man  in 
the  country  deserves  more  credit  than  the  present  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury;  and  when  the  political  prejudices  and  party  con 
flicts  of  the  day  shall  have  passed  away,  I  verily  believe  that 
history  will  accord  to  that  faithful  and  laborious  officer  even 
greater  praise  than  I  attempt  to  bestow  upon  him. 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  having  concluded,  Mr.  Rives  replied  at  length; 
after  which 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said :  Before  I  proceed  to  notice  the  arguments 
of  the  honorable  Senator,  you  must  permit  me,  Mr.  President,  to 
make  a  single  allusion  to  his  opening  observations,  and  it  is  the 
only  remark  of  its  character  which  I  intend  to  make  in  the  course 
of  my  brief  reply.  I  heard,  with  unfeigned  pleasure,  the  declara 
tion  of  the  Senator  that  it  would  give  him  sincere  gratification 
if  the  conduct  of  the  executive  officers,  in  the  transactions  alluded 
to,  could  be  fully  justified.  But  for  that  remark  I  should  have 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  855 

been  constrained,  from  the  matter  and  manner  of  the  argument, 
to  suppose  that  the  honorable  gentleman  entertained  a  real  desire 
to  convict  them  of  impropriety  of  intention  and  action.  His 
declaration,  however,  deserves  full  credit,  and  such  are  not  his 
feelings. 

"He  complains  that  I  have  not  answered  his  arguments,  or  met 
the  issues  tendered  by  him  upon  former  occasions.  I  supposed  I 
had  said  all  which  I  could  usefully  say  upon  the  whole  matter; 
but  I  will  now  reply  to  some  of  his  positions  of  to-day,  even  at 
the  risk  of  repeating,  substantially,  what  I  have  already  said,  and 
I  take  this  occasion  to  promise  the  Senate,  after  its  extended 
indulgence  to  me  already,  I  will  not  be  tedious  in  the  perform 
ance  of  this  undertaking. 

"  The  gentleman's  first  and  principal  point  is,  that  the  sale  of 
the  bond  of  1839  to  the  bank  was  illegal,  because  it  was  practi 
cally  sold  upon  credit,  when  the  law  authorizing  the  sale  required, 
in  express  terms,  that  it  should  be  made  for  '  money  in  hand.' 

c*  To  this  I  have  simply  to  reply  that  we  have  seen  what  were 
the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  sale,  and  that  one  of  them  was 
the  payment  of  the  whole  purchase-money  on  the  first  day  of 
August,  by  placing  the  amount  in  special  deposit  in  the  bank  to 
the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States.  We  have  also 
seen  among  the  documents,  appended  to  the  report  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  one  from  the  cashier  of  the  bank,  in  the 
following  words  : 

"  '  BANK  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES,  August  1,  1838. 

U'I  hereby  certify  that  Charles  Macalester,  Esq.,  has  this  day  deposited 
to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  in  special  deposit,  the  sum 
•of  two  million  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-one  dollars  and  thirty-eight-cents,  subject  to  the  drafts  of  the  said 

Treasurer. 

"  '  J.  CO WPERTHWAIT, 

"  *  Cashier: 

"  Now,  this  paper  is  either  true  or  false.  If  true,  then  the  pay 
ment  was  made  according  to  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  for  the 
sale  of  the  bond  was  made  in  '  money  in  hand,'  which  money 
was,  by  the  very  act  of  payment,  .disposed  of  as  the  second  sec 
tion  of  the  act  referred  to  required.  Does  any  one  doubt  the 


856  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

truth  of  the  certificate?  Does  the  gentleman  himself  doubt  that 
this  amount  of  money  was  in  the  bank,  as  its  property  and  sub 
ject  to  its  disposition,  at  the  time  the  certificate  was  given? 
Bad,  Mr.  President,  as  is  the  authority  of  this  bank  and  its  offi 
cers  with  me,  upon  most  subjects,  1  do  not  believe  that  one  of. 
them  would  issue  a  false  official  and  responsible  paper  of  this 
character,  nor  do  I  believe  that  the  cashier  was  ignorant  of  the 
nature  of  a  'special  deposit'  or  of  the  import  of  the  facts  to 
which  he  certified.  Any  collateral  understanding  existing  at  the 
time,  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Treasurer  should  dispose  of 
this  money,  or  in  which  the  bank  might  by  making  certain  other 
payments  discharge  itself  from  its  liability  thus  incurred  for  this 
deposit,  could  neither  destroy  the  fact  of  the  payment  nor  alter 
the  character  of  the  deposit  at  the  time  when  the  certificate  was 
given.  But  suppose,  sir,  that  this  certificate  was  false  at  the 
time  it  was  given.  Then  the  whole  transaction  was  void  from 
the  fraud  practiced  upon  the  Secretary,  and  the  legal  property 
in  the  bond  did  not  pass  to  the  bank  by  the  delivery,  as  that 
delivery  was  in  consideration  of  the  certificate  and  it  was  the 
only  evidence  of  the  value  received.  Upon  this  supposition, 
therefore,  the  bond  was  not  sold,  and  that  could  not  be  an  illegal 
sale  which  was  not  a  sale  at  all. 

"The  honorable  Senator  next  takes  the  position  that  the  trans 
action  was  a  disadvantageous  one  to  the  government,  because 
that  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  bond,  deposited  as  we  have  seen, 
the  bank  was  to  answer  drafts  of  the  Treasurer  for  the  use  of  the 
War  department  to  the  amount  of  but  $500,000  monthly,  while 
the  statements  from  that  department  show  that  its  wants  were 
equal  to  $1,000,000  per  month. 

"This  position  is  susceptible  of  several  answers.  First,  the 
bank  would  agree  to  no  more  favorable  arrangement,  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  must  consent  to  withdraw  the  deposit 
at  the  rate  of  $500,000  monthly  or  he  must  forego  the  sale  of  the 
bond  altogether,  and  thus  get  nothing  from  this  bond  in  aid  of 
the  treasury,  as  no  other  purchaser  could  be  found  who  would 
pay  the  price  fixed  by  the  law.  Second,  the  gentleman  has  over 
looked  the  fact  that  payments  were  making  at  the  same  time 
upon  the  bond  of  1838,  at  the  rate  of  $800,000  per  month,  so  that 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  857 

from  both  sources  the  bank  would  more  than  meet  what  he  says 
were  the  necessities  of  the  War  department.  Third,  the  proceeds 
of  these  bonds  were  not  all  the  means  of  the  treasury;  the  whole 
current  revenue  remained,  besides  other  deferred  debts;  and 
what  the  War  department  should  require,  which  the  bank  was 
not  to  pay,  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  supply  from  these  other  sources. 

"  Another  ground  assumed  by  the  honorable  gentleman  is  that 
the  bonds  might  have  been,  and  should  have  been,  sold  abroad, 
and  that  a  special  agent  should  have  been  sent  abroad  to  nego 
tiate  the  sale;  and  then  he  infers  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  was  not  driven  to  make  the  sale  to  the  bank,  had  he  pursued 
properly  the  course  which  the  law  pointed  out. 

"I  have  before  shown,  generally,  what  the  Secretary  did  do 
by  way  of  effecting  a  sale  of  these  bonds  abroad,  and,  from  the 
results  of  those  efforts,  had  he  any  encouragement  to  pursue 
them  further?  This  is  the  fair  question,  when  we  are  discussing 
the  faith  and  intentions  of  the  officer.  In  May,  pending  the  pas 
sage  of  the  law  and  almost  immediately  upon  its  introduction 
before  Congress,  the  Secretary  wrote  to  a  banker  of  high  stand 
ing  in  each  of  the  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York  to  inquire 
as  to  the  prospect  of  a  sale  of  the  bonds,  at  home  or  abroad, 
within  the  terms  proposed  to  be  prescribed.  They  both  answer 
him,  substantially,  that,  upon  the  terms  of  the  bill  and  without 
a  guaranty,  no  sale  could  probably  be  effected  in  this  country 
unless  to  the  bank  itself.  Mr.  Solms,  the  president  of  the  Moya- 
mensing  Bank,  of  Philadelphia,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  a 
favorable  sale  of  the  bonds  might  be  made  in  England,  and 
seems  to  rest  that  opinion  upon  the  then  state  of  the  English 
money  market  and  the  fact  that  the  agent  of  the  bank  in  London 
would,  he  thought,  be  induced  '  by  weighty  considerations '  to 
become  a  purchaser.  This  is  the  only  direct  opinion  favorable 
to  the  sale  of  those  bonds  abroad  which  I  have  found  among  the 
papers,  and  this  seems  to  have  been  formed  at  least  as  much 
upon  the  expectation  that  the  bank  itself  would  be  the  purchaser 
as  upon  any  other  consideration.  This  gentleman,  therefore,  did 
not  propose  to  free  the  Secretary  from  a  sale  to  the  bank  by 
sending  him  to  London  for  a  market. 


858  LIFE  AND  TIMES  01  SILAS 

"  Mr.  Newbold,  the  president  of  the  Bank  of  America,  New 
York,  says:  'The  bonds  have  too  short  a  time  to  run  to  warrant 
any  reasonable  expectation  of  a  sale  of  them  in  Europe,  on  favor 
able  terms,  during  the  present  rate  of  exchange.' 

"  After  the  passage  of  the  law,  the  Secretary  immediately  wrote 
to  the  house  of  N.  M.  de  Rothschild  and  Sons,  bankers,  of  Lon 
don,  and  requested  them,  if  possible,  within  the  restrictions  of 
the  law,  to  make  sale  of  the  bonds.  They  declined  to  purchase, 
for  reasons  which  I  have  before  stated,  and  say  that  a  sale  upon 
the  terms  prescribed  cannot  be  effected  in  London.  I  cannot 
speak  from  personal  acquaintance  as  to  the  propriety  of  the 
Secretary's  selection  of  his  English  correspondents  for  this  object, 
but  I  understand  the  house  to  be  among  the  first  banking-houses 
in  London,  and  suppose  it  will  be  conceded  by  all  that  there  is 
no  fault  in  the  course  of  the  Secretary  in  this  respect. 

"  He  also  wrote,  without  delay,  to  our  minister  at  Paris,  and 
requested  him  to  consult  the  best  bankers  in  France,  and  effect  a 
sale  of  the  bonds  there,  if  it  could  be  done  within  the  limits  of 
his  authority.  As  the  gentleman  has  commented  upon  the 
unsatisfactory  character  of  the  reply  from  this  quarter,  I  will 
read  a  part  of  Governor  Cass's  answer.  He  says: 

"  'But  Mr.  Welles  sought  information  from  the  bankers,  and  his  views 
may  be  depended  on.  He  states  that,  after  examination,  he  found  it  impos 
sible  to  obtain  an  acceptable  proposition,  because,  in  the  first  place,  the 
bonds  are  too  large,  and  because,  in  the  second  place,  bankers  who  made  an 
offer  would  necessarily  be  compelled  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to 
comply,  after  information  of  the  result  should  be  obtained  from  the  United 
States ;  and  would  thus  be  bound,  for  many  weeks,  to  have  the  money  within 
their  control,  while,  in  the  meantime,  some  event  might  occur  to  change 
the  state  of  the  money  market,  and  thus  to  embarrass  them.  Mr.  Welles 
was  decidedly  of  opinion  that  a  better  arrangement  might  be  made  in  the 
United  States  than  here.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  placing  confidence 
in  his  representations,  I  do  not  think  that  the  object  could  be  effected  in 
Paris,  upon  such  terms  as  you  would  approve.' 

"  Could  the  Secretary,  after  such  an  opinion,  coming  from  such 
a  source,  and  based  upon  such  authority,  longer  hope  to  find,  in 
France,  a  market  for  these  bonds  within  the  limitations  of  the 
law  ?  Can  his  motives  be  suspected  because  he  relied  and  acted 
upon  such  evidence  ? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  859 

"  The  Secretary  further,  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the 
law,  opened  a  correspondence  with  a  Mr.  Belmont,  of  New  York, 
an  agent  resident  there  of  extensive  banking-houses  in  London 
aud  Paris.  This  correspondence  was  continued  from  the  ninth 
to  the  twenty-first  of  July,  and  resulted  in  an  entire  declination 
to  purchase  the  bonds,  within  the  restrictions  of  the  law,  either 
for  himself  or  for  account  of  his  principals  in  Europe. 

"But,  says  the  honorable  Senator,  the  Secretary  ought  to  have 
sent  an  agent  to  Europe  to  negotiate  a  sale  of  the  bonds,  and  not 
to  have  depended  upon  the  uncertainty  of  correspondence.  •  I 
have  shown  that  an  effort  was  made  by  the  Secretary  to  employ 
an  agent  soon  after  the  passage  of  the  law,  but  that  the  person 
applied  to,  conceded  by  the  gentleman  to  be  qualified  and  com 
petent,  declined  to  accept  the  compensation  offered  by  the  Secre 
tary —  eight  dollars  per  day  and  necessary  expenses  —  and 
demanded  a  commission  of  one-fourth  of  one  per  cent  upon  the 
amount  of  the  bonds,  if  a  sale  was  made,  and  the  pay  and  mile 
age  of  a  member  of  Congress,  if  he  should  fail  in  the  mission.  I 
have  made,  upon  my  table,  a  hasty  casting  of  the  amount  of  this 
commission  demanded  by  the  agent,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken, 
it  is,  upon  both  bonds,  a  trifling  fraction  below  $10,000.  This 
expense  the  Secretary  did  not  feel  willing  to  incur,  in  any  event; 
while  the  prospect  of  a  sale  did  not  seem  to  him  to  authorize  the 
pay  and  mileage  of  a  member  of  Congress,  for  a  journey  from 
this  country  to  England  and  France,  and  the  return,  simply  to 
make  the  experiment.  He  did  not,  therefore,  send  the  agent. 
In  this  he  may  have  erred,  for  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  prove  that 
the  Secretary  is  perfect,  or  exempt  from  error.  This  point  I 
cheerfully  leave  to  the  decision  of  this  body  and  the  public.  My 
only  anxiety  is,  that  the  whole  truth  shall  appear  before  the 
decision  is  pronounced;  that  it  shall  be  distinctly  known  that  the 
bond  was  sold  at  the  par  value,  as  fixed  in  the  law,  and  that 
every  dollar  of  the  proceeds  has  paid  a  dollar  of  debt  against  the 
public  treasury,  without  any  deduction  of  $10,000,  or  any  other 
sum,  for  the  expenses  of  negotiating  that  sale.  If,  then,  the 
conclusion  shall  be  that  the  Secretary  has  brought  the  govern 
ment  into  improper  connection  with  a  hostile  bank  by  the  nego- 


860  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tiation,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  has  saved  this  $10,000  to  the 
treasury  of  his  country  by  the  operation. 

"  The  Senator  next  says,  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  necessity 
of  the  sale  of  this  bond  at  all,  and  indicates  an  opinion  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Secretary,  and  of  those  who  are  willing 
to  apologize  for  his  acts,  to  show  that  necessity  before  they 
attempt  to  justify  the  sale  he  made.  To  the  Senator's  argu 
ments  upon  this  position  1  have  several  answers.  First,  the 
Secretary  has  himself  stated  that  the  calls  upon  the  treasury 
for  the  month  of  June  'had  exceeded  $4,500,000;'  that 
he  anticipated,  '  as  the  fact  turned  out  to  be,'  that  those 
calls  would  equal  about  $7,000,000  for  the  two  following 
months  of  July  and  August  ;  'that  the  available  balance 
in  the  treasury,  applicable  to  general  purposes  and  sub 
ject  to  draft,  fell  below  $1,000,000  ;  that  payments  were 
making,  at  times,  in  new  treasury  notes,  which  could  not  be 
rendered  at  all  available  ; '  and  that,  therefore,  he  considered 
it  '  necessary  to  effect  a  sale  of  at  least  one  of  the  bonds,  at 
an  earlier  day  than  advices  could  be  received  and  any  proceeds 
realized  from  Europe.'  This  was  the  state  of  the  treasury,  and 
the  exhibition  of  its  necessities,  from  the  head  of  that  depart 
ment  ;  and  I,  sir,  have  been  accustomed  to  place  confidence 
in  statements  upon  that  point,  from  that  authority.  Second, 
the  law  authorizing  the  Secretary  to  issue  treasury  notes  for 
the  supply  of  the  treasury  expressly  limits  that  power  to  its 
necessities,  after  all  the  other  lawful  means  of  supply  have 
been  exhausted.  Hence  the  sale  of  the  bonds  became  a  duty, 
before  the  credit  of  the  government,  in  the  shape  of  these 
notes,  was  resorted  to  ;  while  the  only  power  existing  to  issue 
notes,  at  the  period  of  these  transactions,  was  the  power  to 
issue  new  notes,  under  the  law  of  1838,  in  the  place  of  those 
paid  in  and  canceled  under  the  law  of  1837  ;  and  it  was,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  impossible  for  human  foresight  to  say 
how  rapidly  the  old  notes  would  come  in,  and,  consequently, 
what  might  be  the  extent  of  the  power,  within  any  given 
period,  to  issue  new  notes.  Third,  the  apparent  balances  of 
money  on  deposit  in  bank,  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer,  afford 
no  standard  by  which  to  form  a  judgment  as  to  the  amount 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  861 

of  available  means  of  the  treasury  on  any  given  day,  because 
those  balances  were  constantly  made  the  basis  of  drafts  by  the 
Treasurer,  which,  the  Secretary  tells  us  in  the  correspondence, 
would  necessarily  be  out  from  thirty  to  ninety  days,  before 
they  would  come  round  to  the  bank  to  be  there  debited  to  the 
Treasurer,  and  deducted  from  the  amount  standing  to  his  credit 
upon  the  books  of  the  bank.  These  are  believed  to  be  full 
and  perfect  answers  to  the  positions  taken  by  the  Senator  to 
show  that  a  necessity  for  the  sale  of  the  bond  did  not  exist. 
The  condition  of  the  treasury,  therefore,  at  the  time  the  sale 
was  made,  appears  from  the  statement  of  the  Secretary  above 
given,  unimpeached  by  the  considerations  to  which  the  Senator 
has  referred,  and  which  he  seemed  to  suppose  inconsistent 
with  it.  Is,  then,  the  officer  having  charge  of  the  Treasury 
department  to  be  taken  as  authority  for  the  state  of  the  trea 
sury,  its  wants,  and  its  necessities,  at  any  given  period  ?  With 
me,  sir,  he  is.  The  honorable  gentleman  has  made  repeated 
appeals  to  me  upon  this  point,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Finance  of  this  body,  and  I  cheerfully  admit  that  the  vigi 
lance  of  his  researches  and  the  minuteness  of  his  inquiries 
may  have  shown  him  much  better  qualified  for  the  head  of 
that  committee  than  myself;  but  I  candidly  tell  him  and  the 
Senate,  that,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  in  the  position  I  hold, 
the  statements  of  the  proper  officers  of  the  government,  as 
to  the  condition  of  the  treasury,  have  been  authority  to  me, 
so  far  as  facts  and  figures  are  concerned.  Until  the  facts  and 
figures,  therefore,  coining  from  that  quarter,  shall  be  shown 
to  be  erroneous,  I  recognize  no  right  to  call  upon  me  to  sustain 
their  accuracy. 

"  The  Senator  further  says,  the  issues  of  treasury  notes  were 
not  made  by  the  Secretary  in  the  most  advantageous  manner;  that 
a  rate  of  interest  might  have  been  given  to  them  which  would 
have  enabled  the  department  to  command  specie  for  them  in  the 
market,  and  would  have  induced  capitalists  to  hold  them  as 
investments  until  they  became  redeemable  by  the  law,  and,  there 
fore,  ceased  to  bear  interest  ;  and  he  contends  that  the  Secretary 
ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  permitted  to  urge  his  apprehension 
that  the  new  treasury  notes  would  come  in  for  redemption,  in 


862  LTFR  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  way  of  payments  upon  the  public  dues,  as  causing  a  necessity 
for  the  sale  of  this  bond.  It  is  not  for  me  to  contend  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  all-wise  as  a  financier,  or  that  the 
issue  of  these  treasury  notes  in  some  other  form  and  manner 
might  not  have  afforded  to  the  treasury  greater  temporary  relief. 
It  is  enough  for  my  purpose  that  the  Secretary  acted  in  good 
faith  and  according  to  his  best  judgment,  and  issued  the  notes  in 
the  manner  which  he  believed  best  calculated  to  afford  to  the 
treasury  and  to  the  country  the  relief  intended  by  the  law  ;  that 
they  were  issued,  were  out,  and  were  returning  upon  the  treasury 
for  redemption,  in  the  shape  of  payments  of  the  revenue,  at  the 
time  the  law  passed  authorizing  the  sale  of  these  bonds.  The 
necessity  from  this  quarter  did,  therefore,  in  fact  exist ;  and  the 
experience  of  the  department,  by  the  payment  by  the  bank  of 
the  first  bond,  paid  in  1837,  almost  wholly  in  treasury  drafts  and 
other  like  government  liabilities,  enabled  the  Secretary  to  judge 
with  certainty  of  the  extent  of  the  necessity  growing  out  of  this 
consideration.  Had  he  then  rested  quietly  until  these  bonds 
reached  maturity,  depending  upon  their  proceeds  for  money  to 
meet  the  public  disbursements,  and  then  met  payments  in  unavail 
able  treasury  notes,  notes  which  could  not  be  reissued  for  any 
purpose,  what  would  have  been  thought  and  said  of  his  financial 
skill  or  official  faithfulness  ?  Or,  if  he  had  sat  down  and  mourned 
over  the  fact  that  the  notes  had  not  been  originally  issued  in 
some  different  manner,  would  that  have  supplied  his  exhausted 
treasury  ? 

"  A  further  complaint  of  the  honorable  Senator  is,  that  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  draft  upon  the  Pennsylvania  bank  for  $300,000, 
transmitted  by  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  in  part  payment  of  its 
debt  to  the  goverment,  were  permitted  to  remain  on  deposit  in 
the  former  institution  until  they  were  required  for  disbursement  ; 
and  he  asks,  with  great  emphasis,  why  was  not  this  sum  trans 
ferred  to  some  other  depository?  Why  not  to  the  Bank  of 
America,  at  New  York  ?  Why  not  to  any  place  other  than  this 
bank,  to  which  the  Secretary  and  his  political  friends  had  been  so 
hostile  ?  I  am  not  aware,  Mr.  President,  that  I  can  say  anything 
which  I  have  not  already  said  upon  this  subject.  I  have  already 
shown  that  this  money  was  as  valuable  to  the  treasury,  as  con- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  863 

venient  for  its  use,  and  as  safe,  where  it  was  left,  as  it  could  have 
been  made  in  any  other  depository ;  and,  in  the  face  of  these 
facts,  if  it  were  perfectly  respectful,  I  would  answer  the  gentle 
man's  queries  by  asking  him  why  should  the  Secretary  have 
transferred  this  money  until  required  for  disbursement  ?  For 
what  public  interest  or  object  ?  Had  he  transferred  it,  was  there 
any  possible  reason  he  could  have  assigned  for  the  act  other  than 
his  own  hostility,  and  that  of  his  political  party,  to  this  bank? 
And  would  the  Senator  from  Virginia  have  advised  the  Secretary 
to  put  himself  upon  such  a  defense,  for  such  an  act,  either  before 
this  body  or  the  country? 

"  I  am  here  compelled,  Mr.  President,  to  make  a  remark  in  self- 
explanation  and  justification,  and  I  am  sorry  to  find  that,  in  this 
debate  especially,  the  most  precise  and  clear  definitions  are 
rendered  constantly  necessary.  The  gentleman  says,  in  my 
former  remarks  I  termed  this  Pennsylvania  bank  '  a  proper 
depository,'  and  he  repeats  the  phrase  with  an  evident  design  to 
carry  the  implication  that  its  use  by  me  was  the  manifestation 
of  a  change  of  feeling  on  my  part  toward  the  institution. 
Sir,  the  gentleman  could  not  have  failed  to  notice  that  I 
was  speaking  of  the  second  section  of  the  law  authorizing  the 
sale  of  these  bonds,  in  which  the  terms  '  proper  depository '  are 
used;  that  I  was  examining  the  legal  power  and  right  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  the  present  state  of  the  law  in  rela 
tion  to  the  public  deposits,  to  select  this  institution  as  a  deposi 
tory  for  the  proceeds  of  these  bonds;  that  I  came  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  the  Secretary  possessed  the  legal  power  and  right  to 
make  this  selection,  as  much  as  that  of  any  other  banking  insti 
tution  not  a  general  deposit  bank  under  the  deposit  law  of  1836; 
and  that  this  bank,  therefore,  in  a  legal  sense,  within  the  powers 
of  the  Secretary  and  the  meaning  of  the  second  section  of  the  act 
for  the  sale  of  the  bonds,  was,  when  so  selected,  cas  proper  a 
depository  for  that  especial  purpose  as  any  other  which  could 
have  been  so  selected.'  These  were  my  words,  or  their  sub 
stance,  and  I  used  the  phrase  which  the  Senator  has  so  frequently 
repeated  in  no  other  sense  or  connection.  If  he  was  not  before 
aware  of  my  meaning,  in  the  use  of  these  terms,  I  now  offer  him 
this  explanation  and  definition  of  it. 


864  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"A  further  objection,  brought  by  the  honorable  gentleman 
against  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  is,  that  the  public  interest? 
were  disregarded  by  depositing  this  $300,000  in  this  bank ;  inas 
much  as,  had  the  deposit  been  made  in  a  general  deposit  bank, 
under  the  deposit  law  of  1836,  of  suitable  capital,  an  interest 
might  have  been  obtained  upon  the  deposit  for  the  time  it 
remained  in  bank.  If  this  objection,  Mr.  President,  is  to  be  con 
sidered  as  developing  the  policy  of  the  deposit  law  of  1836,  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  it  will  make  that  measure  more  objectionable 
to  me  than  it  has  ever  before  been,  unfavorably  as  I  have  ever 
viewed  it.  What  is  the  provision  of  that  law  referred  to  ?  That 
the  bank  shall  pay  an  interest,  at  the  rate  of  two  per  centum  per 
annum,  upon  all  money  remaining  on  deposit  with  it,  for  one 
whole  quarter  of  the  year,  over  and  above  an  amount  equal  to 
the  one-fourth  part  of  the  capital  of  the  bank  actually  paid  in. 
Now,  sir.  to  have  placed  this  $300,000  upon  this  investment  of 
two  per  cent,  a  bank  of  the  very  smallest  capital  must  have  been 
selected,  so  that  the  largest  possible  excess  might  have  existed, 
upon  which  interest  would  be  payable,  while  that  part  of  the 
deposit  which  equaled  one-fourth  of  the  capital  of  the  bank, 
actually  paid  in,  must  have  been  suffered  to  remain  three  full 
months  to  entitle  the  treasury  to  a  recurring  interest  of  two  per 
cent  upon  the  average  excess.  I  have  ever  thought,  sir,  that  to 
make  a  bank  pay  interest  upon  public  deposits  was  the  most 
direct  mode  to  stimulate  those  institutions  to  use  the  public 
money  for  banking  purposes,  and,  therefore,  the  worst  possible 
policy  which  any  government,  State  or  national,  could  possibly 
adopt ;  but  if,  in  addition  to  this  insurmountable  objection,  the 
consideration  of  capital  paid  in,  as  a  security  for  the  deposit,  is  to 
be  abandoned,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  to  be  required 
to  select  the  banks  of  the  smallest  real  capital,  that  the  largest 
amount  of  the  public  money  upon  deposit  may  be  drawing  inter 
est,  the  tendency  of  the  system  of  State  bank  deposits,  as 
adopted  and  established  by  the  deposit  law  of  1836,  is  infinitely 
worse  than  I  have  heretofore  considered  it  to  be.  And  if  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  to  receive  public  censure,  here  or 
elsewhere,  for  not  acting  upon  this  dangerous  principle,  I  must 
stand  closely  by  him  and  share  in  the  condemnation. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  865 

"  The  Senator  has  considered  it  to  be  his  duty  to  make  very 
especial  and  marked  reference  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Biddle  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  written  under  date  of  the  13th  of 
August,  1838,  to  be  found  among  the  documents,  at  pages  36  and 
37  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  marked  F  7,  and  infers  from  it 
that  some  correspondence  between  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the 
bank,  not  communicated  to  Congress,  must  have  taken  place,  in 
reference  to  the  arrangement  for  paying  the  bank  bonds  in  dis 
bursements  for  the  War  department.  The  honorable  gentleman 
has  called  upon  me,  in  my  seat  here,  to  answer  to  any  knowledge 
I  may  possess  as  to  such  a  correspondence,  and  I  frankly  stated 
to  him  and  the  Senate  that  I  neither  know  anything  of  it,  nor  do 
I  find  the  least  reason,  from  this  or  any  of  the  documents,  to  sup 
pose  that  any  such  correspondence  ever  took  place.  If  he  and 
the  Senate  will  have  the  goodness  to  lool$  to  the  letter  from  the 
Secretary  of  War  to  Major  Cooper,  the  then  acting  Secretary, 
written  from  the  Virginia  Springs,  and  to  be  found  with  the 
documents  appended  to  the  President's  message,  in  answer  to  the 
last  call  of  the  Senator,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  the  arrangement 
upon  this  subject  which  the  bank  has  claimed,  or  which  even  sus 
picion  has  alleged  to  have  been  attempted,  is  there  fully  avowed 
by  the  honorable  Secretary,  and  its  prompt  and  honorable  fulfill 
ment  is  respectfully  urged  upon  the  treasury  officers.  I  cannot, 
therefore,  possibly  see  what  motive  is  left  for  concealment,  or 
why  any  correspondence  of  a  private  character  should  be  sup 
posed  to  have  been  wrongfully  withheld,  in  relation  to  an  arrange 
ment  completed,  avowed  and  carried  into  full  execution. 

"  The  gentleman  seems  further  to  apprehend  that  I,  and  those 
with  whom  I  act  here,  have  changed  our  views  and  feelings  in 
relation  to  the  dangers  of  a  national  bank,  and  the  dangerous 
character  of  a  State  institution,  so  powerful  as  that  of  which  we 
speak.  Mr.  President,  he  mistakes  us  utterly.  We  have  expe 
rienced  no  change  of  feeling  or  opinion  upon  either  of  these 
points.  I  say  willingly  and  cheerfully  that  I  listened  to  some  of 
the  remarks  of  the  honorable  gentleman,  in  relation  to  the  dangers 
of  institutions  of  either  character,  with  unmixed  delight.  I 
rejoiced  to  hear  him  refer  to  the  former  expressions  of  opinion  of 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Calhoun]  upon  these  sub- 
55 


866  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

jects,  and  to  declare  his  increasing  convictions  in  their  justice  and 
truth.  Let  him  continue  to  be  governed  by  these  opinions  and 
feelings,  in  reference  to  these  matters,  and  he  need  not  make 
himself  more  sure  of  anything,  in  the  whole  course  of  his  life, 
than  he  may  now  be  of  the  fact  that  I,  and  those  who  think  and 
act  with  me  here,  will  be  found  with  him,  side  by  side  and 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  rendering  him  our  feeble  aid  and  support  in 
any  wars  in  which  he  may  be  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  such 
principles. 

"  I  have  but  a  single  other  remark,  Mr.  President.  The  Senator 
has  made  repeated  allusion  to  the  time  I  have  taken  to  prepare 
for  the  debate  of  this  day.  Sir,  I  pretend  to  no  extraordinary 
powers  of  intuition.  I  require  preparation  to  address  this  body, 
and  my  great  fault  is  that  I  do  not  sufficiently  prepare  for  so 
responsible  a  duty.  Yet  I  must  be  permitted  to  think  that  such 
remarks,  coming  from  that  gentleman,  should  not  have  been 
made  without  qualification.  He  may  not  have  known  that  the  deep 
interest  of  a  large  number  of  the  members  of  the  Senate,  in  a 
measure  depending  before  the  body  (the  land  graduation  bill)  at 
the  time  when  this  debate  was  introduced  by  himself,  induced 
me  and  others  to  consent  to  postpone  the  further  consideration 
of  this  matter  until  that  measure  could  be  definitively  disposed 
of;  but  such  was  the  fact.  The  Senator  did  know,  however, 
upon  whose  request  the  postponement  for  the  last  week  had  taken 
place,  and  I  thought  I  had  a  right  to  expect  that  he  would  not 
have  made  remarks  calculated  to  charge  that  delay  upon  me." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  867 


CHAPTER  LXXVII. 

DISTRIBUTING  BOOKS  AND  CONSTRUCTIVE  MILEAGE. 

The  temptation  to  participate  in  plundering  the  public, 
and  especially  under  plausible  or  disguised  names,  has 
often  proved  too  strong  for  many  members  of  Congress. 
The  book  plunder  has  usually  been  carried  under  the 
pretext  of  promoting  some  approved  object.  Congress, 
on  various  pretenses,  has  purchased,  or  authorized  the 
subscription  to  large  and  sometimes  enormous  publica 
tions,  to  be  distributed  among  members  of  Congress,  such 
as  Gale  &  Seaton's  Annals,  Debates  and  State  Papers, 
Gideon's  Archives,  Blair  &  Rives'  Congressional  Globe, 
Elliott's  Debates,  Madison's  Papers,  Madison's  Writings, 
Clark's  History  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
Contested  Elections,  Geological  Surveys,  Schoolcraf t' s 
Book  on  Indians,  and  many  other  works  —  all  useful  in 
their  way,  but  not  more  needed  by  them  than  by  citizens. 
But  Congress  under  the  Constitution  has  no  power  to 
purchase  or  procure  such  books  to  be  given  to  its  members, 
to  become  their  individual  property.  Most  of  the  votes 
for  these  distributions  are  disguised  thus  :  "that  the  mem 
bers  of  this  Congress,  who  have  not  received  them,  be 
supplied  with  the  same  books  as  the  members  of  the  last 
Congress,"  or  in  a  similar  manner.  Few  imagine  that 
under  such  a  resolution  many  thousand  dollars  are  voted 
away,  and  that  the  members  described  receive,  each, 
books  costing  from  one  to  two  thousand  dollars.  Many 
of  these  books  have  been  long  out  of  print.  When 
ordered,  the  bookseller  procures  them  of  ex-members  at 
a  low  price.  One  set  of  books  has  often  served  to  satisfy 
the  demand  of  a  large  number  of  members.  The  books 


868  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS 

were  shown  to  members  and  receipts  taken,  and  then 
they  were  told  that  a  person  referred  to  would  pay  so 
much  for  them,  which  offer  is  accepted,  the  money  pock 
eted  and  the  books  left  to  serve  the  same  purpose  with  the 
next  caller;  and  so  with  all  who  will  consent  thus  to  sell. 
Few  ever  receive  and  take  away  the  books  voted  to  them. 
The  abuse  of  thus  voting  books  is  not  likely  to  cease 
while  it  adds  hundreds  and  sometimes  thousands  of  dol 
lars  to  the  compensation  of  members. 

It  is  traditional  about  the  capitol  that  Mr.  WRIGHT 
never  consented  to  receive  such  books.  In  the  appro 
priation  bill  passed  at  the  second  session  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  Congress  there  was  this  provision  for  books,  viz.: 
"For  the  balance  due  on  account  of  the  first  volume  of 
the  Documentary  History  of  the  United  States,  $5,602; 
and  the  Secretary  of  State  is  hereby  authorized  to  deliver 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  forty  copies  of  said  work, 
and  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  368  copies 
of  said  work,  to  be  distributed  to  each  of  the  members  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  twenty- 
third,  twenty -fourth  and  twenty-fifth  Congresses  who  are 
not  entitled  to  receive  the  same  under  former  resolutions 
or  acts  of  Congress." 

Mr.  WEIGHT,  by  direction  of  the  Committee  on 
Finance,  moved  to  strike  it  out.  Mr.  Webster  and 
others  opposed.  Mr.  WEIGHT  thus  briefly  presented  his 
views  adverse  to  the  purchase  and  distribution,  March  1, 
1839: 

"Mr.  WEIGHT  said,  if  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  thinks  I 
am  not  aware  of  my  responsibility,  or  that  I  fear  to  meet  it,  he 
does  not  know  me.  Mr.  W.  thought  the  time  was  come  when 
the  Senate  should  make  a  stand  upon  this  subject,  and  said  the 
responsibility  of  defeating  the  bill,  if  it  was  lost,  would  rest  with 
those  who  had  incorporated  this  provision  into  it.  Mr.  W.  went 
on  at  some  length  in  opposition  to  the  practice  of  appropriating 
money  for  the  purchase  of  books  and  distributing  them  among 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  869 

themselves,  and  trusted  that  the  Senate  would  not  countenance 
it  any  longer." 

There  being  no  quorum  present  the  subject  went  over 
until  the  next  day,  when  the  distribution  provision  was 
negatived  by  a  vote  of  29  to  3,  the  nays  being  Davis, 
Southard  and  Webster. 

The  principle  involved  in  this  case  came  before  the 
Senate  again  when  the  civil  and  diplomatic  bill  was  up, 
on  the  4th  of  May,  1840.  A  provision  had  been  inserted 
in  the  House  appropriating  $15,000  for  the  purchase  of 
Clarke  and  Force's  Documentary  History  of  the  Revo 
lution.  By  direction  of  the  Committee  on  Finance,  Mr. 
WEIGHT  moved  to  amend  the  bill  by  striking  out  this 
provision.  During  the  discussion  on  this  amendment, 
which  passed  by  a  vote  of  20  to  8. 

"Mr.  WEIGHT  observed  that  his  anxiety  to  get  the  action  of 
the  Senate  on  this  bill  would,  he  was  sure,  be  appreciated  by  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts.  The  bill  had  only  come  to  them 
to-day,  and  this  was  a  very  late  period  of  the  session  for  the  pas 
sage  of  a  bill  on  which  so  many  interests  of  the  country  depended. 
He  thought,  from  the  disposition  of  the  body  to  adjourn  over, 
if  it  was  not  acted  on  to-day,  it  would  not  probably  be  acted 
on  this  week.  Mr.  W.  then  adverted  to  the  urgency  for  a 
speedy  action  on  this  bill.  In  addition  to  the  vast  number  of 
persons  employed  about  the  seat  of  government,  and  many  others 
who  had  not  received  any  compensation  for  their  services  since 
the  first  of  January,  the  courts  of  justice  were  now  sitting  in 
several  of  the  States,  and  in  the  Senator's  own  State  particu 
larly,  and  they  had  no  means  to  pay  their  jurors,  witnesses,  etc., 
until  this  bill  passed.  The  committee  had,  under  these  circum 
stances,  felt  it  their  duty  to  press  its  passage  with  all  convenient 
speed,  and  had  therefore  made  very  few  and  simple  amendments, 
such  as  would  not  consume  time  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress. 
If  it  was  the  pleasure  of  the  Senate  to  take  up  the  bill  now,  it 
would  certainly  be  gratifying  to  the  committee." 

Constructive  mileage,  although  confined  to  Senators,  is 
an  abuse  of  a  similar  character,  which  seldom  occurs 


870  LJ[FE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

except  every  fourth  year,  on  the  coming  in  of  a  new 
President.  The  outgoing  executive  convenes  the  Senate 
by  proclamation  to  meet  on  the  fourth  of  March,  so  as  to 
be  ready  to  act  on  such  nominations  for  new  cabinet  offi 
cers  and  others  as- the  new  President  may  wish  to  make. 
Such  Senators  as  were  in  the  previous  Congress  receive 
their  pay  and  mileage  before  or  at  its  close.  Having  no 
time  to  do  so  between  the  close  of  the  session  on  the  third 
of  March  and  the  meeting  on  the  fourth,  they  do  not 
return  home.  In  strict  law  they  may  possibly  (but  we 
doubt  it)  be  entitled  to  mileage  for  coming  and  returning, 
although  in  fact  they  do  not  devote  any  time  or  spend 
any  money  in  doing  so.  This  untraveled  journey,  never 
performed  when  paid  for,  is  called  "constructive  mile 
age."  Many  receive  it ;  but  it  comes  to  us  as  a  tradition 
and  is  undoubtedly  true,  that  Mr.  WEIGHT,  although 
tendered  to  him  when  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  Mr.  Harrison 
came  in,  refused  to  receive  it,  because  he  thought  he  had 
not  earned  it.  This  shows  how  extremely  conscientious 
he  was  in  public  as  well  as  in  private  matters. 

ME.  WEIGHT'S  LETTEE  TO  ME.  TILDEN. 

On  the  llth  of  December,  1838,  Mr.  Elam  Tilden 
addressed  a  letter  to  him,  the  contents  of  which  will  be 
inferred  from  the  following  extract  from  his  answer,  dated 
twenty-sixth  December  of  that  year : 

"  You  have  my  thanks  for  your  interesting  history  of  the  meet 
ing,  and  your  son  (Samuel  J.)  deserves  and  will  receive  the  hearty 
thanks  of  all  true  democrats  and  lovers  of  their  country  for  his 
fearless  honesty  in  rebuking  a  traitor  in  the  midst  of  his  assembled 
friends,  and  of  those  whom  it  was  his  design  to  mislead  and 
deceive.  I  am  not  sure  that  we  shall  not  be  driven  to  this  course 
of  addressing  the  people,  face  to  face,  to  counteract  the  frauds 
and  falsehoods  of  the  swarms  of  agents  which  the  money  of  our 
opponents  sends  forth  as  lying  spirits  throughout  our  State,  and 
I  am  fully  satisfied,  were  our  people  prepared  for  such  a  course, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  871 

that  discussions  by  our  honest  and  capable  men,  face  to  face  with 
these  profligate  emissaries  and  traitors  from  our  ranks,  would  do 
more  than  anything  else  to  rebut  their  falsehoods  arid  restore 
the  public  mind  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

"  Your  suggestion  as  to  some  proposition  to  be  made  to  our 
Legislature,  the  more  effectually  to  punish  frauds,  bribery  and 
perjury  at  the  polls,  is  a  wise  and  proper  one.  The  President 
(Mr.  Van  Buren)  made  the  same  suggestion  to  me  at  our  first 
interview  after  I  reached  here.  I  have  communicated  with  some 
of  our  friends  at  Albany  upon  the  subject,  and  think  the  matter 
will  be  cared  for." 


872  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXXVIII. 

THE  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY  BILL  BECOMES  A  LAW. 

Early  in  the  first  session  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress, 
January  6th,  1840,  Mr.  WEIGHT  again  brought  forward 
the  independent  treasury  measure,  by  reporting  a  bill 
creating  a  treasury  disconnected  with  banks  or  private 
agencies.  The  Senate  had  thrice  passed  this  measure, 
which  had  as  often  met  defeat  in  the  House.  Now  the 
political  character  of  the  House  was  changed  and  favor 
able  to  this  measure  of  the  administration.  The  bill 
again  underwent  a  long  discussion,  in  which  Mr.  WEIGHT 
participated.  It  was  passed  in  the  Senate  on  the  23d  of 
January,  1840,  by  a  vote  of  24  to  18.  It  passed  the 
House  on  the  first  day  of  July  by  a  vote  of  124  to  107. 
The  President  approved  and  signed  it  on  the  fourth. 

The  following  are  the  remarks  of  Mr.  WEIGHT  on  the 
bill  at  this  session  : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  had  no  personal  desire  to  press  the 
action  of  the  Senate  on  this  bill ;  and,  if  at  liberty  to  consult 
his  own  inclinations  in  this  matter,  his  course  would  probably 
be  what  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  had  so  kindly  intimated 
it  ought  to  be.  As  a  member  of  the  committee  which  had 
reported  the  bill,  his  action  on  it  was  already  discharged.  He 
must,  in  candor,  say  to  the  Senator,  he  could  make  no  motion 
to  postpone,  nor  was  he  at  liberty  to  vote  in  favor  of  any  post 
ponement.  It  was  for  the  Senate  to  determine,  in  accordance 
with  what  they  deemed  to  be  their  duty,  on  the  course  to  be 
pursued  in  relation  to  the  suggestion  of  the  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky.  This  is  the  fourth  session  of  the  Senate,  stated  and 
special,  since  this  measure  was  presented  here  ;  and  I  cannot 
forget  that,  though  it  had  twice  passed  this  body,  it  had  failed 
to  receive,  practically,  any  consideration  in  the  other  branch 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  873 

of  the  Legislature.  That  body  at  present,  from  peculiar  circum 
stances,  is  a  full  month  behind  its  usual  advancement  in  legis 
lative  business.  As  to  the  vacancies  in  the  Senate  alluded  to, 
he  had  not  calculated  the  number  of  the  friends  or  opponents 
of  the  measure;  but,  from  the  Senator's  own  enumeration,  he 
thought  there  would  be  little  change  in  their  comparative 
strength,  if  the  vacancies  were  all  filled.  In  three  days,  he  was 
induced  to  believe,  he  would  have  the  consolation  —  and  he 
hoped  he  might  be  permitted  to  say  to  the  Senator  that  it  would 
be  a  consolation  —  of  having  a  colleague  on  this  floor  who 
would,  doubtless,  intend  to  represent  truly  the  views  and  wishes 
of  their  common  constituents  on  this  measure.  The  final  action 
of  the  Senate  on  the  bill  would  not  be  had  until  after  his  arrival. 
Mr.  W.  said  that,  under  instructions  from  the  committee,  when 
the  bill  was  reported,  he  had  given  notice  that  he  would  call  it 
up  yesterday.  Why  it  was  not  then  taken  up  is  well  known  to 
the  Senate.  Whether  they  will  now  call  it  up  rests  with  Senators 
to  determine. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  had  nothing  more  to  say  in  reference  to 
the  time  when  the  bill  is  to  be  brought  under  consideration. 
But  he  would  reply  to  one  remark  of  the  honorable  Senator  in 
reference  to  the  introduction  of  the  bill  into  this  body.  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  I  concur  fully  with  him  in  the  change,  the 
great  change,  which  has  taken  place  in  the  last  ten  years  in  the 
legislation  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress,  and  I  agree  with  him. 
that  this  change  is  to  be  regretted.  But  he  did  not  think  that 
the  Committee  on  Finance  were  responsible  for  the  innovation. 
This  is  not  even  an  appropriation  bill.  There  is  a  small  appro 
priation  for  carrying  it  into  effect,  but  not  touching  in  any  way 
the  raising  of  revenue.  But,  at  the  first  session  I  was  here,  and 
it  was  a -short  session,  two  most  important  bills  were  passed, 
one  for  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  and 
the  other  the  so-called  compromise  bill ;  one  of  them  with  an  appro 
priation  most  important,  and  the  other  came  at  least  very  close 
on  a  bill  to  raise  revenue.  Both  these  bills  were  introduced  here 
by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  and  I  believe  that  was  one  great 
step  to  the  change  of  which  he  complains.  I  do  not  say  this  in 
the  way  of  censure,  but  to  defend  the  committee  from  the  charge 


874  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  originating  the  innovation  alluded  to.  The  circumstances  in 
which  the  other  branch  were  at  present,  and  the  course  which 
had  prevailed  for  some  years  past,  were,  in  his  estimation,  a  suffi 
cient  justification  of  the  committee  for  departing  from  this  rule." 

The  debate  was  renewed  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  Febru 
ary.  The  remarks  of  Mr.  Tallmadge  were  of  such  a 
character  as  to  demand  a  reply  from  Mr.  WEIGHT,  which 
he  thus  made  : 

"  Mr.  WKIGHT  said  he  should  not  have  felt  called  upon  to  par 
ticipate  in  this  debate  at  all,  had  not  the  remarks  of  his  colleague, 
in  relation  to  the  passage  of  the  independent  treasury  bill,  in  this 
body,  been  made  personal  in  their  application  to  himself  ;  but  as 
they  had  been  so  made,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  make  a 
more  minute  statement  of  the  facts,  and  of  his  own  course,  in 
relation  to  the  action  of  the  Senate  upon  that  measure,  than  he 
had  done  upon  a  former  occasion,  when  called  out  from  the  same 
quarter. 

"  Preliminarily,  however,  he  was  bound  to  confess,  though  he 
did  not  pretend  to  be  very  well  schooled  in  questions  of  courtesy, 
it  did  appear  to  his  mind  as  somewhat  singular  that  he  should  be 
arraigned  for  want  of  courtesy  as  a  Senator,  by  one  who  was  not, 
at  the  time  the  transaction  complained  of  occurred,  either  present 
or  a  member  of  the  body.  The  Senate,  as  then  constituted,  was 
the  tribunal  to  which  he  was  properly,  as  he  was  willingly 
responsible  for  the  propriety  or  impropriety  of  his  conduct  upon 
that  and  all  other  occasions,  when  he  acted  here.  Those  who 
were  then  Senators,  and  were  present,  saw  and  heard,  and  could 
judge.  Upon  their  judgments  he  was  willing  to  rest  the  matter. 
To  them,  and  to  them  only,  was  he  amenable  for  his  course ;  and 
he  would  now  tell  his  colleague,  as  he  had  told  him  upon  a  former 
occasion,  that  he  would  not  discuss,  on  this  floor,  with  him  or  any 
other  man,  the  propriety  of  his  acts,  within  these  walls,  touching 
any  matter  transacted  here  when  the  complainant  was  not  a 
member  of  the  Senate.  This,  he  hoped,  would  end  this  matter 
between  him  and  his  colleague  here.  If  the  gentleman  chose  to 
discuss  this,  or  any  other  topic,  touching  his  course  and  conduct 
elsewhere,  he  was  at  liberty  to  do  so.  The  choice  of  the  time, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  875 

place  and  manner  were  open  to  him.  Elsewhere  he  might  have 
rights  in  the  matter,  and  he  presumed  he  would  know  how  to 
exercise  them  wisely,  but  here  he  could  have  none. 

"  As,  however,  his  course  upon  the  occasions  alluded  to  had 
been  characterized  as  '  precipitate  and  wanting  in  courtesy,'  it 
was  due  to  himself,  and  to  those  who  constituted  the  Senate  at 
that  time,  that  he  should  detail  somewhat  minutely  the  facts  in 
relation  to  the  action  of  the  body  upon  the  independent  treasury 
bill,  during  the  present  session,  that  his  constituents  and  the 
country  might  know  with  how  much  propriety  this  charge  had 
been  preferred.  For  this  purpose  he  would  ask  the  indulgence 
of  the  Senate  for  a  few  moments. 

"  The  Senate  met  and  was  organized  on  the  second  day  of 
December  last.  Through  the  kindness  of  the  honorable  Senator 
who  then  occupied  the  President's  chair,  and  the  indulgence  of 
the  Senate,  he  had  been  honored  with  the  same  place  upon  the 
standing  committees  of  the  body  which  he  had  occupied  for 
several  previous  sessions,  bestowed  upon  him,  as  the  then  presiding 
officer  could  testify,  without  solicitation  from  himself.  This 
necessarily  placed  before  the  committee  of  which  he  was  a  member 
the  reference  of  that  part  of  the  annual  message  of  the  President 
which  related  to  the  finances  of  the  country,  and  consequently 
which  related  to  the  independent  treasury  bill.  Thus  situated,  if 
it  had  been  his  object  to  escape  the  influence  of  the  powerful 
talents  of  his  colleague  in  opposition  to  the  measure,  the  charge 
should  have  been  that  he  was  dilatory,  and  not  '  precipitate  ; '  for 
it  was  not  until  the  sixth  day  of  January,  more  than  a  month 
after  the  meeting  of  the  Senate,  that  the  bill  was  reported  from 
the  committee.  On  the  following  day,  the  seventh  of  January 
the  Legislature  of  his  State  was  to  assemble,  and  he  could  not 
fail  to  know  that  among  their  first  acts  would  be  the  election  of 
a  Senator. 

"  By  the  direction  of  the  committee,  it  became  his  duty  to  report 
the  bill ;  and,  by  the  same  direction,  he  gave  notice  that  its  con 
sideration  would  be  moved  on  that  day  week.  The  day  arrived, 
the  thirteenth  of  January,  and  passed,  and  on  the  fourteenth  the 
bill  was  called  up.  Some  discussion  was  had  in  reference  to  a 
postponement  for  two  weeks,  to  give  time  for  absent  Senators  to 


876  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

arrive  and  for  vacancies  to  be  filled,  and  reference  was  made  to 
the  vacancy  existing  from  his  own  State.  He  informed  the  Senate 
that  his  action,  thus  far,  had  been  under  the  order  of  the  com 
mittee  ;  that,  having  discharged'  their  order,  he  now  cheerfully 
submitted  the  whole  matter  to  the  disposition  of  the  Senate  ; 
that  it  would  give  him  pleasure  to  have  a  colleague  here  before 
the  bill  should  be  finally  acted  upon,  and  that  he  should  now  be 
in  the  daily  expectation  of  the  news  of  an  election  and  of  the 
arrival  of  the  person  appointed  to  take  his  seat  in  the  body;  that 
he  did  not  consider  it  proper  for  him  to  urge  any  course  upon 
the  Senate  ;  nor  should  he,  any  farther  than  to  give  his  individual 
vote  upon  the  question  of  postponement.  This  course  on  his 
part  called  forth,  at  the  time,  expressions  of  approbation  from  a 
distinguished  Senator  of  the  opposition  [Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky], 
not  now  in  his  seat.  The  bill  was  under  the  consideration  of 
the  Senate  daily,  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  seventeenth  of  Janu 
ary,  when  the  question  upon  its  engrossment  was  taken.  This 
was  Friday  of  the  week,  and  after  the  question  was  declared, 
he,  in  violation  of  the  wishes  and  feelings  of  a  large  portion  of 
his  friends,  moved  that  when  the  Senate  adjourn,  it  adjourn  to 
meet  on  Monday,  instead  of  Saturday,  thus  deferring  the  ques 
tion  upon  the  final  passage  of  the  bill  to  the  following  week. 
The  motion  prevailed.  He  entertained  not  a  single  doubt  then 
that  he  should  have  a  colleague  present  by  the  Monday  to  which 
the  Senate  stood  adjourned. 

"  The  Monday  came,  but  not  his  colleague.  The  bill  was  again 
taken  up,  and  the  discussion  upon  its  final  passage  was  continued 
from  day  to  day,  until  Thursday,  the  twenty-third  of  January, 
when  the  question  was  taken  and  the  bill  passed.  On  that  day 
an  effort  was  made  to  adjourn  the  Senate,  to  give  further  time 
for  the  Senator  from  Maryland  [Mr.  Merrick]  to  discuss  the  bill; 
and  when  the  question  was  taken  upon  the  motion  to  adjourn,  he 
purposely  left  his  seat,  and  did  not  vote. 

"  Now,  as  to  his  conduct  toward  his  colleague  who  had  chosen 
to  make  himself  the  author  of  these  charges  of  c  precipitancy ' 
and  '  want  of  courtesy.'  On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  the  twenty- 
fifth  of  January,  two  days  after  the  bill  in  question  had  finally 
passed  the  Senate,  the  mail  from  the  north  brought  him  a  letter, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  877 

dated  at  the  Astor  House,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the  twen 
ty-third,  the  day  on  which  the  final  question  upon  the  bill  was 
taken  here,  signed  by  his  colleague,  giving  the  information  that 
he  was  detained  in  New  York  by  ill-health  (that  being  the  first 
information  of  that  character  which  had  reached  Mr.  W.),  and 
requesting  that  the  final  question  upon  this  bill  might  be  post 
poned  to  await  his  arrival,  which  would  be  on  the  Monday  after. 
But  a  few  moments  had  elapsed,  after  the  letter  reached  his 
hands,  when  he  was  informed  that  the  same  train  of  cars  which 
brought  the  letter  brought  also  his  colleague  to  the  city. 

"Upon  this  state  of  facts,  well  known  to  the  Senator  by  a 
former  explanation  here,  he  rises  in  his  place  and  again  makes 
the  charge  of  '  precipitancy  and  want  of  courtesy.'  To  such  a 
charge,  under  such  circumstances,  and  coming  from  such  a  quar 
ter,  he  had  no  reply  to  make. 

"  His  statement  of  facts  had  been  made  to  justify  himself  to 
his  constituents  and  the  country  ;  it  had  been  made  to  those  who 
were  Senators  when  the  transactions  took  place,  and  could  judge 
of  the  accuracy  of  his  account  of  the  matter.  To  his  colleague 
he  owed  neither  explanation  nor  reply  to  this  repetition  of  such 
a  charge. 

"  It  would  be  seen  that  some  time  had  been  allowed,  after  the 
meeting  of  the  New  York  Legislature,  and  before  the  final  action 
of  the  Senate  upon  the  bill  in  question,  for  the  filling  of  that 
vacancy,  and  the  arrival  of  the  elected  Senator  to  take  his  place 
in  the  body. 

"  He  would  leave  to  his  colleague  the  duty  of  informing  the 
Senate  and  the  country  at  what  time  his  election  had  taken 
place;  at  what  time  the  notice  of  the  fact  had  reached  him;  what 
time  was  occupied  by  him  in  traveling  from  the  place  of  his 
residence  to  the  city  of  New  York  ;  what  number  of  days  ill- 
health  had  confined  him  there,  and  all  the  other  facts  which 
would  account  to  their  common  constituents  for  his  late  arrival  to 
take  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  He  had  not  taken  the  pains  to  make 
inquiries  into  these  facts,  nor  were  they  such  as  it  became  him  to 
enlighten  the  Senate  about.  He  did  not  doubt  the  ability  of  his 
colleague  to  give  the  information  which  seemed  to  be  called  for 
before  he  should  become  an  accuser  of  others;  but  it  was  at  his 


878  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

option  to  give  the  information  or  to  withhold  it.  To  him,  Mr. 
W.,  neither  course  had  any  importance,  nor  had  he  any  desire 
upon  the  subject.  The  facts  were  within  the  reach  of  those  to 
whom  they  owed  a  common  responsibility,  and  they  would 
make  up  no  judgment  upon  either  side  without  giving  them 
their  true  weight  and  consideration. 

"  He  had  no  disposition  to  follow  his  colleague  into  the  discus 
sion  of  the  independent  treasury  bill  upon  this  occasion.  The 
subject  was  not  new  to  either,  and  the  views  of  both  were  fully 
known  to  their  common  constituents.  He  has  further  thought 
it  proper  to  discuss  again  most  of  the  subjects  upon  which  we 
have  differed  since  we  became  members  together  of  this  body. 
He,  Mr.  W.,  would  not  follow  him  in  this  review.  He  had  been 
and  continued  to  be  content  with  their  first  discussions,  and 
would  rest  himself  upon  them. 

"His  colleague  had  said,  with  some  apparent  feeling  and 
triumph,  that  he,  Mr.  W.,  had  upon  those  occasions  proposed 
to  refer  their  differences  to  their  constituents,  and  not  make 
them  the  subjects  of  debate  and  irritation  here.  He  had  done 
so,  and  he  certainly  had  not  regretted  the  reference.  It  was  one 
which  his  duty  not  less  than  his  feelings  prompted  him  to  make, 
and  it  was  made  to  those  who  would  take  cognizance  of  them 
without  their  consent. 

"  The  Senator  said  their  constituents  had  decided,  thrice  deci 
ded.  Be  it  so.  He  had  not  questioned  the  assertion  nor  was  he 
to  do  so  upon  this  occasion.  He  had  not  claimed  to  stand  with 
the  majority  in  his  State,  nor  had  he  manifested  any  disposition 
nor  did  he  entertain  any  wish  to  dispute  the  standing  of  his  col 
league  in  that  particular.  He  felt  no  ambition  to  change  places 
or  positions.  He  said  now,  as  he  had  said  before,  leave  our  pub 
lic  acts  to  the  determination  of  those  common  constituents  and 
not  undertake  to  settle  them  here. 

"His  colleague  seemed  to  manifest  peculiar  anxiety  to  learn 
whether  he  would  obey  instructions  from  the  Legislature  of  the 
State;  a  doctrine,  he  said,  which  originated  in  the  school  to 
which  he,  Mr.  W.,  belonged.  He  was  free  to  avow  the  doc 
trine  of  instructions  as  belonging  to  his  school,  but  the  present 
remarks  of  his  colleague  were  the  first  intimation  he  had  received 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  879 

that  he  too  did  not  belong  to  that  same  school,  upon  this  point 
at  least.  He  was  sorry  to  be  compelled  to  infer  that  here  again 
a  difference  was  to  grow  up  between  them,  as  it  seemed  to 
threaten  an  entire  separation  in  principle  as  well  as  practice. 

"  He  was  aware  that  this  answer  had  not  exactly  reached  the 
object  of  his  colleague,  and  that  he  desired  him  to  speak  particu 
larly  of  the  resolutions  of  their  Legislature  now  before  the  Senate. 
This  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  do  at  present,  and  the  only  relief 
he  could  give  him  now  was  to  inform  him  that  when  legislative 
instructions  should  call  for  it  he  should  be  ready  to  act  promptly 
and  decisively." 


880  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXXIX. 

ASSUMING  THE  DEBTS  OF  THE   SEVERAL  STATES  BY   THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  object  with,  a  class  of  politicians 
to  induce  the  federal  government  to  assume  the  debts  of 
the  respective  States,  or  provide  the  means  of  their  liqui 
dation.  State  debts  contracted  during  the  Revolutionary 
war  were  assumed,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Hamilton,  by 
Congress,  iipon  which  Mr.  Jefferson  made  severe  stric 
tures.  Those  contracted  in  defense  of  the  country  have 
been  uniformly  paid,  though  with  more  or  less  delay. 
But  ordinary  debts  of  the  States,  contracted  exclusively 
for  State  purposes,  have  never  been  paid  by  the  general 
government.  The  money  distributed — under  the  false 
pretense  of  making  the  States  federal  agents,  under  the 
name  of  "depositories"  —to  the  several  States  was  used 
by  them  as  their  own.  Some  of  this  may  have  been  used 
by  some  States  to  pay  their  debts.  Propositions  to 
assume  State  debts  were  often  made,  but  mainly  by 
individuals  seeking  personal  advancement.  All  such 
efforts,  whether  in  the  shape  of  direct  assumption,  or 
in  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands,  or  the  distribution  of  money  from  the  trea 
sury,  rest  upon  the  same  basis,  the  belittling  of  the  State 
governments  and  making  the  general  government  the  tax 
collector  for  them,  thereby  causing  them  to  be  dependent 
upon  an  all-powerful,  and  to  them  an  irresponsible, 
authority.  The  assumption  of  State  debts  had  ardent 
friends  in  Congress,  some  of  whom  had  their  fears  excited 
that  New  York  was  pretending  that  her  debts  were 
larger  than  they  really  were,  to  secure  an  undue  share  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SJDAS  WRIGHT.  881 

what  might  be  distributed.  Mr.  Flagg,  then  Comptrol 
ler  of  New  York,  had  ascertained  that  the  aggregate  of 
State  debts  was  near  $200,000,000.  Foreign  creditors  of 
these  States,  and  especially  in  England,  had  intermed 
dled  in  the  matter  and  sent  out  a  bankers'  circular  on 
the  subject,  in  which  attention  was  specially  called  to 
several  States,  and  among  them  Mississippi  and  Arkan 
sas,  which  had  suspended  payment,  leaving  the  interest 
on  their  debts  unprovided  for. 

When  these  subjects  were  before  the  Senate  for  discus 
sion,  in  January,  1840,  Mr.  WEIGHT  presented  his  views 
upon  them  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  found  himself  compelled,  from  the  course 
of  remark  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  South 
ard],  to  make  an  explanation  of  an  explanation.  That  Senator 
was  proceeding  to  blame  the  committee,  and  charge  them  with 
error  in  their  statement  of  the  amount  of  the  debt  of  the  State 
of  New  York.  Feeling  that,  if  error  or  blame  were  chargeable 
anywhere  for  that  statement,  the  charge  should  be  against  him 
and  not  the  committee,  he  asked  leave  of  the  Senator  to  explain, 
which  was  courteously  granted.  He  had  intended  in  that  expla 
nation  to  state  the  truth.  He  had  said  that  he  was  called  on  by 
the  honorable  chairman  of  the  committee,  before  the  report  was 
first  made,  to  examine  it  upon  this  point;  that  he  had  told  the 
chairman  he  thought  their  statement  of  $18,000,000  as  the 
amount  of  the  debt  of  New  York  excessive,  but  that  he  believed 
he  had  the  means  of  accurate  ascertainment;  that  he  referred  to 
the  annual  report  of  the  Comptroller,  the  fiscal  officer  of  the 
State,  made  to  the  Legislature  during  its  present  session,  took 
the  amount  of  the  debt  as  he  understood  it  to  be  from  that  docu 
ment,  and,  according  to  his  recollection,  himself  erased  the  sum 
stated  in  the  report  of  $18,000,000,  and  interlined  in  his  own 
handwriting  the  words  *  about  fifteen  and  a  half  millions;'  and 
that  this  was  done  before  the  report  was  first  made  to  the  Senate. 

"  This  explanation  he  had  made  to  exempt  the  committee  from 
the  charge  of  having  stated  that  debt  at  $18,000,000,  when  their 
report  was  read  in  the  Senate,  and  of  having  altered  the  sum 
56 


882  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

after  the  recommitment  on  yesterday,  as  well  as  to  exempt  them 
from  the  charge  of  error  at  all,  in  the  statement  as  it  now 
appeared.  In  the  alteration  of  the  sum  stated  in  the  report,  as 
well  as  in  his  explanation  of  it,  he  had  intended  to  give  the  truth; 
and  yet  the  subsequent  remarks  of  the  Senator  had  been  made  to 
show  that  he  was  in  error.  [Here  Mr.  Southard  rose  and  inquired 
if  Mr.  WRIGHT  supposed  he  intended  to  charge  him  with  inten 
tional  error.]  Mr.  "W.  said,  certainly  not;  certainly  not.  He 
begged  the  Senator  to  be  assured  that  he  had  made,  and  intended 
to  make,  no  ill-natured  remarks.  His  object  was  what  he  had 
declared  it  to  be,  in  reference  to  his  alteration  of  the  report  and 
his  former  explanation  of  that  act,  to  arrive  at  the  truth,  and  to 
give  that  to  the  Senate  and  the  country  upon  this  point  at  least. 

"  Could  he  have  obtained  the  floor  when  he  first  made  the 
attempt,  and  so  as  immediately  to  have  succeeded  the  honorable 
Senator,  he  should  have  confined  himself  to  a  more  full  explana 
tion  in  relation  to  what  he  supposed  to  be  the  true  amount  of  the 
debt  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  authority  upon  which  he 
had  assumed  it  to  be  what  he  had  stated.  He  might  now  extend 
his  remarks  to  a  few  other  topics,  but  a  severe  cold  made  it  labori 
ous  for  him  to  speak,  and,  as  well  as  the  late  hour  of  the  day, 
would  prevent  him  from  being  very  tedious.  And  he  would  first 
complete  his  explanation  in  relation  to  the  debt  of  the  State  he 
had  the  honor  in  part  to  represent  here- 

"  The  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Southard]  had  produced  and  read 
from  a  document  emanating  from  the  State,  to  show  that  the 
amount  of  the  debt  was  much  less  than  the  sum  stated  in  the 
report  of  the  committee,  and,  by  necessary  consequence,  that  he, 
Mr.  W.,  had  misled  the  committee  upon  that  point.  He  did  not 
complain  that  the  gentleman  had  produced  the  document  or  of 
the  use  he  had  made  of  it.  It  was  a  document  proper  to  refer 
to  for  the  purpose  for  which  the  Senator  had  made  the  reference. 
It  was  the  message  of  the  Governor  of  his  State,  a  document 
which  ought  to  carry  authority  with  it,  and  especially  to  his  hon 
orable  colleague  and  himself.  It  was  the  document  to  which  he 
first  referred,  after  the  inquiry  in  reference  to  the  amount  of  their 
State  debt  was  made  of  him  by  the  honorable  chairman  of  the 
committee.  He  remembered  that  their  Governor  had  given  a 


LIFE  AND  TIME 8  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  883 

statement  of  the  debt  in  his  message,  and  there  he  first  sought 
for  the  true  amount.  An  examination  of  the  document,  however, 
was  unsatisfactory  to  him.  It  spoke  of  certain  deductions,  with 
out  giving  the  amount  of  the  items,  and  some  of  them  were 
clearly  parts  of  the  existing  debt  of  the  State.  An  acquaint 
ance,  somewhat  extensive,  with  these  matters,  in  years  past,  satis 
fied  him  that  the  true  amount  of  the  State  debt  was  not  to  be 
learned  from  the  message  of  the  Governor,  and,  having  recently 
received  copies  of  the  annual  report  of  the  Comptroller  of  the 
State,  the  officer  who  keeps  the  books  and  accounts  of  the  State, 
and  whose  duty  it  is,  in  this  report,  to  show  its  true  fiscal  condi 
tion,  he  had  recourse  to  that  document  for  the  information  sought 
by  the  committee  from  him. 

"  The  report  was  made  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  on  the 
thirteenth  day  of  the  present  month,  and  appended  to  it,  as 
exhibits  connected  with  the  fiscal  condition  of  the  State,  he  found 
two  tables,  marked  H  and  I.  The  tables  he  now  held  in  his  hand, 
and  the  entire  document  from  which  they  had  been  taken  was 
laying  upon  the  desk  before  him.  The  first  mentioned  table,  H, 
had  this  caption : 

4 ' '  Statement  showing  the  amount  of  Canal  and  General  Fund  stocks  out 
standing  on  the  1st  January,  1840,  the  rate  of  interest,  and  when  redeemable.' 

"  Then  followed  the  various  amounts  of  stock,  arranged  under 
various  heads  of  expenditure,  and  there  was  carried  out  in  the 
last  column  a  general  aggregate,  the  footing  of  which  was 
$13,697,931.03.  The  table  I,  printed  upon  the  same  sheet,  had 
the  following  caption: 

"  '  Statement  of  stocks  issued  to  incorporated  companies  on  the  faith  of 
the  State,  and  the  amount  authorized  to  be  issued.' 

"  The  table  contains  the  names  of  the  companies  which  have 
received  portions  of  these  stocks,  a  reference  to  the  acts  of  the 
Legislature  authorizing  the  emission,  the  amount  of  stock  already 
issued  to  each  company,  and  the  further  amount  authorized,  but 
not  issued,  with  the  aggregate  of  both.  .The  table  is,  therefore, 
clear  and  intelligible,  not  confounding  stock  authorized  to  be 
issued  with  that  actually  issued,  and  constituting  an  existing 
debt,  and  from  it  the  amount  actually  issued  is  shown  to  be 


884  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

$1,847,700,  while  that  authorized  and  not  yet  issued  is  $2,762,300 

more. 

"To  answer  the  committee,  then,  Mr.  W.  said  he  took  the  first 
two  sums  above  named,  as  the  existing  debt  of  the  State,  and, 
adding  them  together,  he  found  their  amount  to  be  $15,545,631.03, 
and,  from  data  of  that  authority,  he  had  inserted  in  the  report 
of  the  committee  the  words  '  about  fifteen  and  a  half  millions' 
as  the  amount  of  the  actual  and  existing  debt  of  his  State,  instead 
of  the  eighteen  millions  previously  written  by  the  committee. 
Had  he  given  the  committee  the  true  sum  ?  Or  had  he  led  them 
into  error  ?  Had  he  done  injustice  to  the  State  he  ought  truly 
to  represent,  and  brought  merited  censure  upon  a  committee  of 
this  body,  by  the  same  act,  or  had  he  told  the  truth  without 
regard  to  consequences  ? 

"  These  were  the  inquiries  which  suggested  themselves  to  his 
mind,  and  the  inquiries  he  wished,  so  far  as  it  was  in  his  power, 
to  enable  the  Senate  to  answer.  The  honorable  Senator  had 
shown  to  us  the  message  of  the  Governor  of  the  State,  giving 
the  amount  of  its  debt,  as  stated  by  the  Senator,  at  a  sum  not  far 
different  from  $9,000,000.  He,  Mr.  W.,  had  given  the  amount 
of  that  debt  to  the  committee,  and  now  gave  it  to  the  Senate,  at 
$15,500,000,  or  about  that  sum,  and  had  rested  himself  upon  the 
official  report  of  the  fiscal  officer  of  the  State,  and  the  political, 
and,  he  supposed,  personal  friend  of  the  Governor.  The  differ 
ence  of  amount  was  most  material,  considering  the  sums  given 
by  either  party.  A  mistake  or  error  of  $6,000,000  in  $15,000,000, 
is  no  inconsiderable  variance  from  the  truth,  whoever  may  have 
made  it. 

"  Of  the  authority  which  ought  to  be  ascribed  to  the  respective 
documents  which  had  been  adduced,  it  did  not  become  him  to 
speak  further  than  he  had  done.  For  their  accuracy  he  certainly 
could  not  indorse,  further  than  to  give  the  official  responsibility 
of  the  authors.  Still  he  would  venture  to  believe  that  no  one, 
here  or  elsewhere,  would  be  found  attempting  to  impeach  the 
accuracy  of  the  tables  appended  to  the  report  of  the  Comptroller, 
to  which  he  had  referred.  Did  their  statements  and  results 
necessarily  conflict  with  and  contradict  the  statement  of  the 
Governor,  as  to  the  amount  of  the  State  debt  ?  To  the  casual 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  885 

reader  the  difference  was,  unquestionably,  wide  and  important. 
Here  he  thought  that  might  not  be  found  to  be  true;  and  indeed 
he  was  not  prepared  to  say  that,  here,  the  errors  and  discrepan 
cies  might  not  be  charged  to  him,  instead  of  the  author  of  either 
document. 

"  Had  he  not  listened  to  the  debates  in  this  body,  on  yesterday 
and  this  day,  he  could  not  have  believed  that,  with  all  the  facts 
before  us,  we  could  have  differed  about  the  amount  of  the  debt 
of  a  given  State.  Yet  those  debates  had  shown  him  that  this 
difference  of  opinion  did  exist  among  the  members  of  the  Senate, 
and  that  the  point  in  controversy  had  a  direct  bearing  upon  the 
question,  what  was,  in  fact  and  in  truth,  the  debt  of  his  own 
State  ? 

"  He  referred  to  the  position  taken  yesterday  by  several  Sena 
tors,  that  the  stocks  or  other  liabilities  of  the  several  States  — 
call  them  by  what  name  you  please  —  incurred  for  the  benefit 
of  incorporated  companies  and  associations  or  individuals,  are 
not,  properly  speaking,  debts  of  the  States;  and  that  in  speaking 
of  the  indebtedness  of  the  several  States  these  liabilities  should 
not  be  considered.  He  would  not  now  consider  this  doctrine  any 
further  than  it  had  particular  application  to  the  debt  of  his  own 
State;  though  he  hoped,  before  this  debate  should  close,  to  have 
an  opportunity  to  give  his  views  upon  it  at  length,  and  to  expose 
what  seemed  to  him  to  be  its  dangerous  character  and  tendency, 
as  it  respects  the  credit  of  the  States,  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the 
States  and  the  people  of  the  States. 

"  What,  then,  was  its  application  to  the  point  in  dispute,  the 
amount  of  the  debt  of  the  State  of  IsTew  York  ?  He  had  given 
to  the  committee  the  sum  of  $15,500,000  as  about  the  amount  of 
the  true  debt  of  his  State,  and  he  had  now  shown  that  the  fiscal 
officer  of  the  State  had  given  it  on  the  first  day  of  the  present 
month  at  $15,545,631.03.  In  this  amount,  however,  was  included 
$1,847,700  of  debt  incurred  for  canal,  navigation  and  railroad 
companies;  and  should  this  sum  have  been  so  included?  Was 
it  in  truth  a  part  of  the  State  debt  ?  The  Governor  of  the  State 
had  not  so  considered  it  and  had  excluded  it  from  his  statement, 
which  accounted  for  so  much  of  the  difference  between  himself 
and  his  Comptroller.  He,  Mr.  W.,  considered  it  a  part  of  the 


886  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

debt  of  the  State,  and  therefore  included  it  in  the  sum  given  to 
the  committee  as  the  aggregate  of  that  debt.  Who  was  in  error? 
What  are  the  facts?  The  public  stocks  of  the  State  have  been 
issued  for  these  amounts  in  the  same  manner  as  for  any  other 
debts  of  the  State;  these  stocks  have  been  sold  in  the  market  as 
the  stocks  of  the  State,  not  as  the  stocks  of  the  companies  or 
associations  to  which  they  were  issued;  they  are  at  this  moment 
in  the  markets  of  the  world  as  the  stocks  of  the  State,  without 
reference  at  all  to  the  companies  or  associations;  they  bear  the 
same  price  in  those  markets  as  any  other  stocks  of  the  State 
having  the  same  time  to  run  and  drawing  the  same  interest;  and 
the  holders  and  purchasers  rely  as  confidently  and  as  exclusively 
upon  the  State  for  the  payment  of  both  interest  and  principal 
upon  them  as  do  the  holders  and  purchasers  of  any  other  of  the 
stocks  of  the  same  State.  Indeed,  Mr.  W.  said,  he  could  not  say 
whether  there  was  anything  in  the  form  or  upon  the  face  of  these 
certificates  of  stock  which  would  distinguish  them  to  a  stranger 
from  the  certificates  of  stock  issued  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of 
the  State  itself. 

"It  was  true  that  the  companies  and  associations  had  made 
certain  pledges  to. the  State  for  the  payment  of  the  interest  upon 
these  stocks  and  the  final  redemption  of  the  principal;  and  the 
theory  of  the  transactions  unquestionably  was  that  these  pledges 
were  sufficient  to  indemnify  the  State  against  its  liability.  It 
was  true,  too,  he  believed,  with  a  single  exception,  and  that  tri 
fling  in  amount,  that  the  companies  and  associations  had  as  yet 
met  the  payments  of  interest.  There  was  one  case,  however, 
where  the  payments,  even  of  interest,  had  ceased  almost  with 
the  issuing  of  the  stock,  and  the  State  had  been  compelled  to 
make  those  payments  since  without  any  other  hope  than  to  be 
forced  to  redeem  the  principle  without  any  indemnity.  He 
hoped  this  was  not  a  sample  case  for  these  liabilities,  but  a  soli 
tary  exception.  Yet  was  he,  was  the  honorable  committee 
whose  report  was  under  discussion,  at  liberty  to  disregard  these 
stocks  when  giving  to  the  Union  and  the  world  the  amount  of  the 
debt  of  the  State  of  New  York  ?  Were  they  permitted  to  pro 
claim  to  the  holders  of  these  stocks,  and  to  future  purchasers,  that 
the  State  does  not  owe  them, —  that  they  constitute  no  part  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  887 

its  debt  ?  And  were  they  to  do  this  to  sustain  the  credit  of  the 
State  in  the  markets  of  the  world  ?  He  could  not  draw  such 
conclusions  from  such  premises. 

"There  were  other  grounds  upon  which  the  Governor  and 
Comptroller  of  his  State  differed,  in  their  respective  statements 
of  the  amount  of  its  public  debt.  The  Comptroller  has  given 
the  exact  amount  of  the  solemn  obligations  of  the  State  out 
standing  and  unpaid.  The  Governor  has  given  the  amount 
which  the  State  would  owe  in  case  all  these  pledges  of  the  canal, 
navigation  and  railroad  companies  were  actually  redeemed,  and 
certain  money  of  the  State  said  to  be  on  hand  were  actually 
applied  to  the  payment  of  its  debts. 

"  The  state  of  facts  in  relation  to  one  portion  of  the  money 
spoken  of  in  the  message  of  the  Governor  is  this  :  The  Erie  and 
Champlain  Canal  Fund,  protected  and  pledged  in  the  Constitution 
of  the  State  for  the  payment  of  the  debt  contracted  for  the  con 
struction  of  those  canals,  has  afforded  revenue  more  than  sufficient 
to  meet  the  respective  portions  of  the  debts  as  they  become  pay 
able.  The  inconvenience  and  risk  of  accumulations  of  money, 
constitutionally  pledged  to  a  particular  application,  have  induced 
the  State  officers  having  charge  of  this  money,  for  several  years 
past,  to  offer  strong  pecuniary  inducement  to  the  holders  of  these 
stocks  to  bring  them  in  for  payment  before  their  maturity.  These 
efforts  for  the  final  extinguishment  of  that  debt  have  failed,  as  to 
a  large  amount  of  the  stocks,  they  being  principally  five  and  six 
per  cent  stocks  held  in  Europe,  and  not  redeemable  until  the  year 
1845.  The  amount  thus  outstanding  is  given,  in  the  report  of  the 
Comptroller  referred  to,  at  $2,167,558.94.  For  the  payment  of 
this  portion  of  its  debt,  the  State  had  done  what  he  hoped  it 
would  always  be  able  and  disposed  to  do  —  had  accumulated  and 
was  keeping  the  money  to  meet  the  debt  when  it  should  become 
due,  or  when  it  should  be  presented  for  payment.  Yet,  were 
these  stocks  in  the  hands  of  bona  fide  holders  less  a  debt  of  the 
State,  because  the  money  to  pay  them  was  provided  ?  And  could 
the  debt  of  the  State  be  truly  given  by  this  committee  of  the 
Senate,  without  including  this  portion  of  it?  If  the  federal 
government  were,  upon  this  day,  to  assume  the  debts  of  the 
various  States  of  this  Union,  should  we  be  at  liberty  to  say  to 


888  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  State  of  New  York,  we  will  not  pay  this  part  of  your  debt, 
because  you  had  money  enough  in  your  treasury  to  pay  it  when 
we  agreed  to  pay  your  debts  ?  These  stocks  are  in  the  markets 
of  the  world,  and  can  the  State,  in  justice  to  itself,  to  its  credit, 
or  to  the  holders  of  this  portion  of  its  responsible  paper,  say  it  is 
no  longer  our  debt,  because  we  have  once  prepared  the  money  to 
meet  it  before  it  was  legally  payable  and  before  you  could 
legally  demand  it  ?  He  had  not  been  able  to  satisfy  himself  of 
the  truth  of  any  of  these  positions,  and  therefore  he  had  included 
this  amount  as  part  of  the  debt  of  the  State  in  the  sum  furnished 
by  him  to  the  committee. 

"A  single  other  ground  of  difference  between  the  amount  of 
the  State  debt  as  given  by  the  Governor  and  the  Comptroller 
would  be  noticed,  though  he  did  not  hold  himself  particularly 
responsible  to  reconcile  their  statements.  His  excellency  states 
that  nearly  $1,000,000  of  the  money  borrowed  to  be  expended 
upon  two  of  the  works  named  has  not  been  expended,  but  is  yet 
on  hand,  and  this  money  he  deducts  from  the  debt  of  the  State. 
The  stocks  by  which  this  money  has  been  obtained  have  been 
issued,  and  are  now  in  the  hands  of  bona  fide  purchasers,  or  are 
offered  in  the  public  markets  as  safe  transferable  securities  for 
money.  And  are  they  no  part  of  the  debt  of  the  State  ?  Could 
the  amount  of  that  debt  be  truly  given,  excluding  these  stocks  ? 
To  him  it  seemed  not,  and  therefore  this  amount  also  was  included 
in  the  sum  given  to  the  committee  as  the  true  amount  of  the  State 
debt.  Would  the  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Southard]  differ  from 
him  in  his  conclusions  upon  these  points  ?  He  would  give  him  a 
familiar  case  to  illustrate  his  views.  Had  he  borrowed,  or  should 
he  borrow,  of  the  gentleman  $100,  and  execute  to  him  his  prom 
issory  note  for  the  amount,  payable  at  a  future  day,  with  interest, 
would  that  note  cease  to  be  a  debt  in  favor  of  the  Senator,  and 
against  himself,  because  he  should  keep  the  same  or  some  other 
$100  of  money  in  his  pocket  ?  He  was  very  well  aware  that  the 
$100  in  hand,  if  he  chose  to  apply  it,  would  prove  his  ability  to 
pay  the  debt,  but  it  would  be  none  the  less  a  debt  against  him, 
until  the  application  was  made,  payment  perfected  and  the  evi 
dence  of  indebtedness  destroyed  or  canceled.  He  was  as  well 
aware  that  it  had  been  ingeniously  attempted  upon  the  other 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT.  889 

side  to  show  that  the  mention  of  these  State  debts  by  the  com 
mittee,  and  by  the  friends  of  the  report  in  argument,  was  an 
insinuation  of  the  inability  or  want  of  intention  on  the  part 
of  the  States  to  pay,  and  in  that  way  to  introduce  the  doctrine 
for  which  they  seemed  to  contend,  that  the  disposition  to  pay  the 
debts,  and  the  ability  to  pay  them,  was  equivalent  to  actual  pay 
ment,  and  should  abrogate  the  debts  themselves  in  the  statements 
of  the  report.  Who  had  attempted  to  impugn  the  faith  or  ques 
tion  the  means  of  any  one  of  the  States  to  meet  the  debts  it  had 
contracted  ?  No  such  idea  or  suggestion  had  met  his  ear  as  he 
listened  to  the  reading  of  the  report,  and  he  challenged  gentle 
men  to  point  out  any  such  sentiment  upon  its  face.  Who  had 
pretended  to  question,  here,  the  willingness  or  ability  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  pay  its  debt,  whether  it  should  be  called 
$9,000,000  or  $15,000,000?  Certainly  no  one  had,  unless  that 
inference  was  to  be  drawn  from  the  attempt  to  show  that  the 
State  does  not  in  fact  acknowledge  as  a  debt  those  transferable 
stocks  which  have  been  issued  in  pursuance  of  its  laws,  and  sold 
in  the  market  upon  the  strength  of  its  faith  and  credit.  [Mr. 
Clay,  of  Alabama,  here  inquired  if  Mr.  WEIGHT  would  not  give 
way  to  a  motion  that  the  Senate  proceed  to  the  consideration  of 
executive  business.]  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  spending  more  time  in 
this  explanation  than  he  had  intended,  and  he  would  leave  it. 
He  desired,  however,  to  make  a  very  few  remarks  further  this 
evening;  was  sorry  to  find  he  was  exhausting  the  patience  of 
the  Senate,  and  he  would  hasten  to  a  conclusion. 

"  What  was  the  subject  presented  to  the  Senate  for  its  action 
by  the  report  of  the  committee  under  consideration  ?  Was  it 
the  amount  of  the  State  debts,  or  their  security  in  the  hands 
of  the  holders  of  the  stocks  and  bonds?  Was  it  the  sound 
ness  of  the  positions  or  the  clearness  and  correctness  of  the 
reasoning  of  the  report  itself?  It  was  none  of  these  things. 
The  resolutions  presented  by  the  committee  were  the  only  sub 
jects  upon  which  the  Senate  was  requested  to  act,  or  could  act. 
The  report  was  nothing  more  than  the  argument  of  the  commit 
tee  to  sustain  their  conclusions,  which  were  given  in  the  resolu 
tions.  What  were  they  ?  Simple,  concise  and  intelligible  decla 
rations  that  it  would  be  unjust,  inexpedient  and  unconstitutional 


890  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

for  Congress  to  pass  a  law  assuming  the  debts  of  the  States,  and 
charging  their  payment  upon  this  government.  The  amount 
and  the  existence  of  the  debts  of  the  States  are  mentioned  in  the 
report  for  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  argument  and  illustra 
tion  to  establish  the  conclusions  to  which  the  committee  have 
come.  Still,  the  report  and  not  the  resolutions  had  been  made 
the  subject  of  the  debate  for  two  days.  References  to  it  as  the 
argument  of  the  committee  to  support  their  conclusions  were 
manifestly  proper,  and  refutations  of  their  positions  and  reason 
ing  was  a  fair  mode  of  combating  the  conclusions  based  upon  it. 
Had  the  debate  hitherto  seemed  to  have  had  that  object  ?  Did 
there  appear  to  be  any  difference  of  opinion  among  the  members 
of  the  Senate  in  relation  to  an  assumption  by  this  government  of 
the  debts  of  the  States  ? 

"The  committee,  it  was  true,  had  been  called  upon  to  say  by 
what  authority  they  acted  at  all  in  this  matter  ?  How  it  was 
that  they  had  assumed  to  present  to  the  Senate  a  long  argumen 
tative  report  and  various  resolutions,  against  a  proposition  which 
no  man  had  made  or  contemplated  ?  They  had  answered  that 
they  acted  by  special  order  of  the  Senate;  that  they  were  consti 
tuted  a  select  committee  of  the  body  solely  to  consider  and  report 
upon  this  subject  ;  that  it  had  been  referred  to  them  in  the  form 
of  resolutions  submitted  by  a  Senator  not  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee;  that  they  were  in  no  way  responsible  for  bringing  the 
matter  before  the  Senate,  and  had  acted  upon  it  under  the  express 
order  of  the  Senate,  according  to  their  best  judgments,  and  in 
the  conscientious  discharge  of  what  they  believed  to  be  their 
public  duty.  These  answers  of  the  committee  had  not  appeared 
to  be  satisfactory,  and  the  complaints  against  them  for  having 
acted  at  all  upon  the  subject  were  continued,  while  all  seemed  to 
express  astonishment  at  the  very  idea  of  an  assumption  of  the 
State  debts  by  this  government.  This  he  understood  to  be  the 
spirit  and  tendency  of  the  remarks  of  the  honorable  Senators 
from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Crittenden]  and  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Web 
ster],  yesterday,  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
[Mr.  Preston],  on  both  days,  and  of  the  honorable  Senator  from 
New  Jersey  [Mr.  Southard]  to-day.  [Mr.  Webster  here  rose  to 
explain.  He  said  he  did  not  express  astonishment  at  the  idea 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  RTLAS  WRIGHT.  891 

of  the  assumption,  but  at  the  manner  in  which  the  subject  had 
been  brought  before  the  Senate,  without  the  application  of  a 
single  State  in  the  Union,  or  even  of  any  individual  citizen.] 
Mr.  W.  said  he  asked  the  pardon  of  the  Senator.  He  certainly 
did  not  intend  to  misrepresent  him.  He  had  listened  attentively 
to  his  remarks  addressed  to  the  Senate  on  yesterday,  and  had 
inferred  from  them  that  he  was  distinctly  opposed  to  the  assump 
tion,  and  astonished  that  the  matter  should  be  treated  as  one  in 
the  serious  contemplation  of  anybody.  If  he  and  his  friends 
were  in  favor  of  the  assumption,  he  had  wholly  misapprehended 
them,  and  was  glad  to  be  corrected,  as  he  would  not  designedly 
misrepresent  their  opinions  upon  this  or  any  subject.  [Mr.  Web 
ster  rose  again  in  explanation.  He  said  he  had  not  declared  him 
self  in  favor  of  the  assumption;  and  he  called  upon  the  Senator  to 
refer  to  anything  he  had  said  which  constituted  such  a  declara 
tion.]  Mr.  W.  said  he  was  again  at  fault,  but  certainly  uninten 
tionally.  He  had  quoted  the  honorable  gentleman  as  against  the 
assumption,  and  was  corrected.  He  had  now  spoken  of  him  as 
for  it,  and  was  again  corrected.  It  was  evident,  therefore,  that 
he  did  not  understand  his  position,  and  he  would  leave  its  expla 
nation  to  himself.  He  had  been  felicitating  himself  that  there 
was  no  division  of  sentiment  in  the  body  in  relation  to  the  reso 
lutions  tendered  by  the  committee,  but  in  that,  too,  he  was  pro 
bably  mistaken. 

"He  was  very  properly  reminded,  by  a  Senator  near  him,  that 
the  question  now  depending  was  simply  upon  printing  the  report 
and  resolutions.  Upon  that  question  he  had  not  one  word  to  say. 
He  had  followed  the  course  of  the  debate  hitherto,  and  if  he  had 
wrandered  from  the  proper  point  for  remark,  that  had  led  him 
away. 

"  He  must  follow  it  one  step  further,  which  should  close  what 
he  had  to  say  at  present.  This  report  had  met  a  resistance,  upon 
its  very  entrance  into  this  chamber,  which  had  been  offered  to 
very  few  papers  of  any  character  since  he  had  had  the  honor  of 
a  seat  here.  The  principal  matter  of  the  charge,  too,  had  sur 
prised  him  quite  as  much  as  the  time  and  manner  of  it.  What 
was  the  great  and  grave  objection  which  had  been  rolled  with  so 
much  force  and  energy  from  this  to  the  other  side  of  the  hall  ? 


892  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

It  was  that  the  report  was  an  attack  upon  the  sovereign  States 
of  this  Union;  a  violent  infringement  of  State  rights;  a  servile 
war  upon  them.  A  proper  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  States, 
as  members  of  the  confederacy,  was  said  to  be  one  of  the  pro 
fessed  doctrines  of  the  party  to  which  he  belonged,  and  yet  a 
flagrant  violation  of  every  principle  of  it  was  supposed  to  be 
proclaimed  in  this  report.  For  himself,  he  could  say,  as  did  the 
honorable  Senator  who  sits  before  him  [Mr.  Crittenden],  he  had 
never  made  much  pretension  upon  this  point,  but  he  believed  he 
regarded  the  principle  and  the  duty  of  preserving  the  State 
sovereignties  in  our  system  as  deeply  as  most  public  men.  Yet 
he  was  bound  to  say  the  danger  to  them  from  the  paper  presented 
by  this  committee,  and  now  upon  the  table  of  the  Secretary,  was 
not  so  perceptible  to  him  as  it  seemed  to  be  to  those  who  had 
not  even  professed  to  belong  to  the  State-rights  school. 

"  What  was  the  violation  of  right  complained  of,  and  whence 
the  danger  apprehended  ?  Giving  the  amount  of  the  debt  of  a 
State  was  the  violation  of  its  sovereign  right,  and  talking  about 
that  debt  was  to  be  the  destruction  of  its  public  credit  ?  Talking 
about  it  how?  Suggesting  the  inability  of  the  State  to  pay? 
No;  for  no  such  suggestion  is  contained  in  the  report,  or  has 
been  made  in  debate.  Impeaching  its  faith  and  intention  to  pay  ? 
No;  for  no  such  impeachment  is  put  forth,  or  even  insinuated,  in 
or  out  of  the  report.  Talking,  then,  of  the  debts  as  existing,  of 
their  amounts,  of  the  revenue  arising  to  the  States  from  the 
objects  of  expenditure  for  which  the  debts  have  been  contracted, 
and  of  the  impolicy  of  separating  the  one  from  the  other,  and  of 
leaving  the  revenues  to  the  States,  while  the  debts,  interest  and 
principal  are  thrown  upon  this  government  for  payment?  This 
is  the  manner  in  which  the  report  speaks  of  the  State  debts,  and 
here,  if  anywhere,  must  be  found  the  support  for  the  grave 
charges  which  are  made  against  it. 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  would  take  his  own  State  for  an  example.  The 
report  assumed  to  state  the  amount  of  its  debt.  It  was  appre 
hended  that  the  statement  was  excessive,  and  yet  the  report 
declares  that  the  revenues  annually  accruing  from  the  objects  of 
expenditure  are  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  the  interest  upon 
the  amount  of  debt  given.  Is  the  statement  of  these  facts,  in  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  893 

report  to  the  Senate  by  one  of  its  committees,  an  infringement  of 
the  sovereign  rights-of  that  State  ?  Are  the  facts  stated  calcu 
lated  to  destroy  its  credit  at  home  and  abroad,  and  thus  to  bring 
unmerited  injury  upon  it  ?  In  short,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W., 
is  the  credit  of  any  one  of  the  free  and  proud  States  of  this  Union 
so  frail  and  feeble,  and  sustained  upon  so  unreal  a  basis,  that  the 
simple  truth,  told  in  relation  to  its  pecuniary  liabilies,  will  destroy 
it  ?  Will  any  man  in  these  seats  claim  the  fact  to  be  so  as  to  the 
State  he  represents  here  ?  Will  any  one  assert  or  believe  it  as  to 
the  State  from  which  I  come,  and  of  the  financial  affairs  of  which 
I  suppose  I  am  permitted,  at  all  times,  here  and  elsewhere,  respect 
fully  and  truly  to  speak  ?  Sir,  she  has  hitherto  paid  her  debt 
faster  than  it  has  fallen  due,  and  so  long  as  wisdom  shall  guide 
her  counsels  she  will  continue  to  do  so.  She  has  the  means  to 
preserve  her  faith  and  her  credit,  without  depending  upon  the 
ignorance  of  the  world  as  to  her  liabilities  ;  and  if  the  time  shall 
come  when  she  shall  be  willing  to  pledge  the  former,  or  to  send 
forth  the  latter  for  a  market,  relying  upon  such  a  dependence, 
that  will  be  the  time  when  the  truth  should  be  known,  regardless 
of  the  consequences  to  her. 

"Take  her  debt,  sir,  and  who  believes  it  unjust  to  her  to  urge 
the  inexpediency  of  separating  it  from  her  rich  revenues,  and 
throwing  it  upon  this  government  for  payment  ?  To  her  it  is 
light,  because,  in  the  course  of  its  contraction,  she  has  laid  the 
foundation  for  permanent  revenues  more  than  sufficient  to  meet 
the  accruing  interest.  Transfer  it  here,  without  those  revenues, 
and  it  becomes  a  dead-weight.  So  with  the  debts  of  all  the  other 
States.  They,  too,  must  be  separated  from  the  revenues,  which 
have  been  made  consequent  upon  them,  if  they  are  assumed  by 
this  government ;  and  in  such  a  general  arrangement,  the  exist 
ing  burdens  of  New  York  could  not  be  lessened,  while  they 
might  be  fearfully  increased.  Her  proportion  of  any  debt  of  this 
government  would  rest  as  directly  and  as  heavily  upon  her  people 
as  an  equal  amount  of  her  own  debt,  while  the  interest  would  be 
met,  and  the  principal  redeemed,  not  by  her  revenues,  set  apart 
for  the  purpose,  but  by  the  heavy  operation  of  the  taxing  power 
here. 

"  Think  you,  sir,  she  will  call  upon  you,  under  such   circum- 


894  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

stances,  and  with  such  prospects,  to  assume  her  debt  ?  I  confi 
dently  hope  and  believe  not.  She  has  been  to  you  once.  I  believe 
she  was  the  first  to  ask  your  aid  for  objects  of  internal  expendi 
ture.  You  refused  her  rightly  then,  and  I  pray  she  may  be  the 
last  to  invite  another  refusal. 

"  Let  the  States  manage  their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way,  in 
reference  to  their  local  expenditures  and  the  debts  to  be  con 
tracted  for  them.  They  will  have  the  revenues  to  be  derived,  and 
let  them  meet  the  payments  to  be  made;  not  separate  the  one 
from  the  other,  and  tie  the  debts,  with  the  weight  of  a  millstone, 
about  the  neck  of  this  government." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  895 


CHAPTER   LXXX. 

REPEAL  OF  THE  SALT  DUTIES. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  1839,  Col.  Benton  introduced 
a  bill  to  repeal  the  act  < '  laying  a  duty  on  imported  salt, 
granting  a  bounty  on  pickled  fish  exported,  and  allow 
ances  to  certain  vessels  employed  in  the  fisheries," 
approved  July  29,  1813,  and  all  acts  amending  the  same. 
The  act  sought  to  be  repealed  was  passed,  and  had  been 
continued,  under  the  assumption  that  the  fisheries  were 
the  nurseries  to  furnish  sailors,  and  that  the  supply 
could  not  be  kept  up  without  this  legislative  favoritism. 
The  law  was  distasteful  to  southern  and  western  people. 
The  subject  was  thoroughly  discussed  and  with  some 
evidences  of  warm  feeling.  The  effect  of  past  legislation 
upon  the  interest  of  the  owners  of  salt  springs  was  con 
sidered  and  discussed.  New  York  being  the  owner  of 
valuable  salt  springs  at  Salina,  which  yielded  her  a 
respectable  revenue,  it  was  natural  that  her  representa 
tives  in  Congress  should  feel  a  deep  interest  and  partici 
pate  in  the  debate.  Salt  being  an  article  of  universal 
use,  the  people  at  large  were  interested  in  securing  it  at 
the  lowest  possible  price.  This  made  the  measure  pro 
posed  by  Col.  Benton  very  acceptable  to  the  people. 
Mr.  WEIGHT'S  views  on  the  question  were  those  of  a 
statesman,  as  the  subjoined  remarks  will  show : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  rose  to  ask  what  was  the  question  before 
the  Senate  ?  The  debate  had  taken  so  wide  a  range  that  the  real 
question  was  likely  to  be  lost  sight  of.  What  was  it  ?  Simply 
to  print  the  papers  referred  to  in  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from 
Missouri.  Those  papers  had  been  presented  by  that  honorable 
Senator  to  the  Senate ;  had  been,  on  his  motion,  referred  to  the 


896  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

Committee  on  Finance,  and  were  now  reported  back  by  that 
member  of  the  committee  with  instructions  to  ask  for  their  print 
ing.  The  motion  to  print  was  now  before  the  body  and  was  the 
only  question  presented  for  its  action.  Would  any  one  who  had 
listened  to  this  debate,  without  a  knowledge  of  these  facts,  have 
supposed  this  to  be  the  question  under  discussion  ?  Would  they 
not  rather  have  supposed  that  the  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  duty 
on  salt,  or  some  measure  having  for  its  object  the  punishment  of 
monopolies  and  frauds  in  the  dealers  in  salt,  was  now  before  the 
Senate  and  about  to  receive  its  action  ?  It  seemed  to  him  that 
no  other  conclusion  could  have  been  formed  by  the  impartial  lis 
tener  to  the  discussion.  Yet  no  such  proposition  as  either  of 
these  had  been  presented  by  the  Committee  on  Finance. 

"It  was  true  a  bill  had  been  introduced  by  the  honorable  Sena 
tor  from  Missouri,  proposing  to  repeal  the  duty  on  salt,  and  that 
bill  had  been  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Finance;  but  it  was 
also  true  that  the  committee  had  not  yet  even  taken  up  that  mea 
sure  for  consideration,  much  less  made  any  report  upon  it.  It 
remained  in  the  hands  and  possession  of  the  committee,  wholly 
unacted  upon,  and  was  not  in  the  possession  or  within  the  reach 
of  the  Senate  for  its  action.  Still,  the  debate  would  have  com 
pelled  a  hearer  to  suppose  that  the  committee  had  reported  back 
that  bill,  had  recommended  its  passage  and  were  now  urging  the 
Senate  to  final  action  upon  it.  Not  only  so,  but  the  further 
impression  would  be  produced  that  the  Committee  on  Finance 
of  the  Senate  had  originated  and  presented  to  the  Senate  penal 
enactments  against  those  who  had  attempted  to  govern  the  price 
of  salt  in  various  parts  of  the  country  by  associated  monopolies. 

"  It  was  his  duty,  standing  as  he  did  in  relation  to  that  com 
mittee,  to  correct  impressions  so  erroneous  and  so  certain  to  fol 
low  wherever  a  report  of  this  debate  should  go.  The  committee, 
as  he  had  already  said,  had  not  even  considered  the  bill  to  repeal 
the  duty  upon  salt.  They  had  not,  so  far  as  he  knew,  formed 
any  opinion  in  regard  to  that  measure.  Certainly  they  had  not, 
as  a  committee,  expressed  any  opinion  upon  it;  much  less  had 
they  attempted  to  assert  the  right  in  Congress  to  punish  monopo 
lies  and  mischievous  associations  in  the  States  of  the  Union,  of 
any  character.  They  had  simply  recommended  the  printing  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  897 

certain  papers  referred  to  them  by  an  express  order  of  the 
Senate,  touching  the  subject  of  the  salt  bill  and  the  fishing 
bounties,  though  he  did  not  himself  consider  a  portion  of  the 
papers  as  relating  very  directly  to  any  of  the  provisions  of  the 
bill  before  the  committee.  Yet  that  portion  of  the  papers  was, 
as  he  thought  and  as  the  committee  thought,  well  worthy  of 
publication.  They  disclosed  facts  deeply  interesting  to  every 
inhabitant  of  the  whole  country,  to  every  interest  connected  with 
the  essential  article  of  salt. 

"He  was  not  very  familiar  with  the  contents  of  the  papers. 
They  were  voluminous,  and  the  committee  had  not  thought  it 
necessary  to  detain  them  for  minute  examination  in  their  manu 
script  form,  after  they  had  seen  enough  of  their  contents  to  ren 
der  the  printing,  in  their  judgments,  proper.  He  could  not, 
therefore,  speak  particularly  of  the  information  proposed  to  be 
furnished  to  the  Senate  and  the  country  by  the  printing.  He 
would  make  one  or  two  general  references  to  parts  of  it,  and  to 
those  parts  less  relating  to  the  salt  bill;  and  he  would  make  the 
practices  at  the  Kanawha  salt  works  the  basis  of  his  statements, 
because  he  thought  he  recollected  more  particularly  the  history 
given  in  the  papers  of  the  fraudulent  and  mischievous  practices 
there.  He  would  be  corrected  by  the  honorable  Senator  from 
Missouri,  who  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  whole  testimony, 
if  he  should  err  in  his  facts. 

"  One  of  the  practices  to  which  he  alluded  was  that  of  form 
ing  an  association  to  monopolize  the  whole  of  those  extensive 
works  in  the  hands,  and  under  the  control,  of  a  single  com 
pany;  then  to  limit  the  supply  of  salt  for  the  country  depending 
upon  those  manufactories  for  the  article,  and  thus  to  raise  the 
price  most  exorbitantly  to  the  consumers.  The  process  was  to 
possess  themselves  of  a  small  number  of  the  manufactories  for 
actual  use,  and  to  pay  a  stipulated  annual  rent  to  all  the  others 
to  remain  idle  and  make  no  salt ;  then  to  district  the  country  to 
be  supplied  with  salt;  to  appoint  a  selling  agent  for  each  district; 
to  send  all  the  salt  for  each  district  to  that  agent,  and  to  him 
only ;  and  to  give  him,  from  time  to  time,  a  limit  or  minimum  of 
price,  below  which  no  salt  should  be  sold  in  his  district.  To 
such  an  extent  had  this  system  been  carried,  that  of  some  160 
57 


S'.IS  LlVK    AMI*    TlUKS   W  fl//,.I 

manufactories  at  Kanawha,  but  forty  had  been  worked  for  the 
your  the  remaining  120  being  hired  to  remain  closed;  while  salt  to 
the  consumers,  dependent  upon  I  hem'  works  for  a  supply,  hud  been 
raised  to  the  enormous  price  of  three  dollars,  and  he  believed  some 
times  oxen  much  lusher,  for  the  bushel  of  iil'ly  pounds  weight. 

"Another  practice  was  also  dlioloiftd,  not  loss  reprehensible, 
and  perhaps  intinitely  more  injurious  to  the  publie.  This  WHS 
the  practice  of  adulterating,  by  system  and  design,  the  small 
qiiiiutity  of  salt  made,  and  thus  sparingly  dealt  out  to  the  coin 
munity  under  the  arrangements  for  extortion  before  described, 
The  adulteration  was  effected  by  using  chemical  agents  to  retain 
in  the  salt  impurities  held  in  solution  in  the  water,  and  which, 
without.  being  thus  retained,  would  be  principally,  if  not  entirely, 
separated  ami  excluded  by  the  simple  process  of  boiling.  Tallow 
was  said  to  be  the  principal  agent  thus  employed,  and  such  was 
the  effect  described  to  be,  that,  while  the  salt  made  would  have 
u  more  rich  and  white  and  beautiful  appearance  to  the  unin- 
structed  eye,  100  pounds  of  tallow  was  considered  equivalent  to 
the  ordinary  rent  of  a  manufactory  for  a  season,  or  about  5,000 
bushels  of  salt. 

"  Mr.  NY.  said  he  would  go  into  no  further  del  nil  as  to  the  con 
tents  of  these  papers,  nor  would  he  stop  to  consider  the  pertinency 
of  the  facts  he  had  stated  to  the  salt  bill  in  the  hands  of  the 
committee.  It  was  enough  for  his  purpose  that  the  statements 
were  made,  that  they  were  laid  before  the  Senate  and  t  he  com 
mittee  as  facts,  that  they  rested  upon  responsible  authority,  and 
that  they  were  deeply  interesting  to  the  whole  country.  These 
considerations  were  sufficient  to  induce  him,  as  a  member  of  the 
committee,  to  recommend  the  printing,  and  would  induce  him, 
as  a  member  of  the  Senate,  to  vote  for  it. 

"The  charges  against  the  manufacturers  of  and  dealers  in  salt 
are  grave  and  particular.  Are  they  founded  in  truth  ?  If  so, 
the  public  ought  to  have  full  possession  of  them.  Are  they  false  ? 
They  ought  to  be  made  known  that  they  may  be  met  and  refuted. 
"NY by,  then,  should  we  refuse  to  print  the  papers?  Upon  what 
grounds  was  the  motion  opposed?  Strange  as  it  might  seem, 
principally  upon  the  ground  that  the  printing  would  be  an 
infringement  of  the  rights  of  the  States  ! 


/// fK  AN  ft    TlM  KM   Of  Hi  I,  AH   WtlKlHT.  890 

"An  infringement  of  the  great  State-right*  principle,  in  OVf 
ayat^rn,  for  the  Senate  to  order  the  printing  of  theae  paper*— 
payer*,  it  true,  developing  the  rno*t  wick*-!  -••/^•m  of  frauda  and 
imp  ;n  reference  to  one  of  the  nee*  ,  I 

,1  .ir.',.:.  life,  rbi  h  hi  i  ft  •<•  B  d  .-.:.•  :  o  m  in?'  ...;'  ..' 
p«-op!e ''  And  how  i*  thia  objection  to  th<-  print  ii,  • '1  '.' 

By  a  reference  to  hia  own  State !  fie  i*  told  here  that  abe  ia  the 
rfifnttfytil'izer  of  n&lt  in  thin  f/nion,  and  that  the  printing 
of  thcae  papera  will  damnify  her  important  intereata  in  the  arti 
cle,  fa  thia  ao?  No,  air;  no.  Her  intereata  in  h«r  exUnntre  sad 
salt  worka  are  not  to  >^:  injured  oy  developing  the  fraodf 
itnpftmiifmn  practical  elaewhere.  On  the  contrary,  h^jr  dire<,'t 
intereat  ia  to  have  theae  papera  printed,  and  the  tmth  known  ill 
reference  to  the  whole  matter,  and  eapecially  that  *h«  may  tho* 
ahow  the  anperiority  of  her  ayatem  of  police  np^/n  thin  fdbjtet, 
She  haa  not  ffntmitted  the  rnannfa/^nre  of  aalt,  at  her  worka,  t/; 
. ..:* •-••••.  :  I  -  f-^i  //  r--,  sio  far  aa  the  pnrity  of  the  article 
ia  concerned.  That  power  ahe  haa  retained  in  her  own  han4a, 
Kvery  drop  of  water  boiled,  or  eraporated,  ia  anpplied  by  State 
agents  and  nnder  the  aaperviaion  of  State  offi^^ra,  and  every 
Vufthel  of  aalt  rna/le  ia  carefully  inapecte/1  by  a  competent 
State  officer,  and  ita  purity  thoroughly  teated,  before  it  w  per- 
mitted  to  aeek  a  market  among  the  conaumera.  Without  fraud 
and  p^irjnry  in  theae  officer*,  or  nmttggling  on  the  part  of  the 
manafa/turera,  no  imp^/aition  can  be  practiced  rjp^m  the  public  in 
the  quality  of  the  New  York  aalt.  The  aame  police  i*  a  perfeet 
fjefen-'  '•-;•;.  '.  tne  rrior.opoij"-.  '.o.';»p.^ined  of  in  tbeae  papera, 
Tliey  con  Id  not  exiat  without  the  knowMge  of  the  ofB/^ra 
referral  to,  arid  they  would  be  faithlea*  to  their  duty  to  *nff«-.r 
them  to  exiat  for  a  day  withotit  being  made  known  to  the  whole 
State  and  to  the  whole  country,  Thia  obligation  would  arine 
from  their  moral  dntien  aa  public  aervanta;  but  there  ia  another 
obligation  upon  them  more  direct  and  immediate,  The  State 

;    .  .        ; .        :        •  •  •       •     -      -  .-; 

protect  and  footer  that  revenue  i#  the  e*pe/nal  doty  of  theae 
officer*.  Any  aaaociation,  therefore,  to  diminiah  the  quantity  of 
aalf,  made,  would  be,  to  the  aame  extent,  a  eonapiracy  to  diminiah 
the  State  revenue,  and  would,  in  that  way,  come  wrtbia  tfc* 


900  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

especial  jurisdiction  of  those  officers,  and  call  upon  them  for 
prompt  exposition. 

"  It  is  not  new  to  the  experience  of  that  State  that  great  frauds 
may  be  practiced  in  the  adulteration  of  the  salt  made,  nor  is  it 
that  extortion  in  the  price  of  the  salt  may  be  attempted  by  the 
manufacturers.  Hence  the  retention  by  the  State  of  its  minute 
control  over  the  whole  matter,  and  its  constant  and  continued 
efforts  to  furnish  a  pure  and  wholesome  quality  of  salt.  It  is 
not  enough,  upon  this  point,  that  frauds  and  intended  adultera 
tions  are  guarded  against.  Expense  must  be  incurred,  the  nicest 
processes  of  manufacture  must  be  adopted,  and  the  extremest 
vigilance  used  to  expel  from  the  water  its  impurities  and  make 
it  yield  a  pure  salt.  To  these  points  the  constant  attention  of  the 
State  inspectors  has  been  directed,  and  the  results,  within  the 
last  twenty  years,  have  been  triumphant. 

"  Is  that  State,  then,  to  be  told  that  her  interests  depend  upon 
secrecy  in  these  matters  —  that  her  revenue  is  to  be  destroyed  by 
the  publication  of  these  papers,  and  the  exposition  of  abuses,  such 
as  he  had  pointed  out,  existing  elsewhere  ?  Are  her  dignity  and 
sovereignty  to  be  infringed  by  such  a  publication,  a  proclamation 
of  frauds  connected  with  other  salt  works  in  the  country,  similar 
to  those  which  her  experience  has  taught  her  would  exist  at  her 
own  but  for  the  vigilant  supervision  which  she  has  been  wise 
enough  to  retain  over  them  ? 

"  No,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  New  York  has  no  such  fears 
to  entertain  from  this  harmless  motion.  She  has,  however,  a 
direct  interest  in  the  publication  of  these  papers.  Her  salt  is  a 
pure  article.  It  goes  into  the  market  without  combinations  to 
raise  the  price.  Her  works  can  supply  any  quantity  for  which  a 
fair  market  can  be  found,  and  her  revenue  is  graduated  by  the 
quantity  manufactured  and  sold.  If,  then,  it  be  shown  that,  in 
consequence  of  frauds  at  other  salines,  she  can  furnish  a  better 
and  cheaper  article  to  their  customers,  her  interests  are  promoted 
by  the  development.  What  is  the  fact  now  stated  by  the  hon 
orable  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay]  ?  That  he  has,  for  the 
last  year  or  two,  obtained  his  supply  of  salt  from  the  New  York 
works,  and  that  he  has  received  a  pure  article  at  a  fair  price. 
Where  are  the  Kanawha  works,  compared  with  those  of  New 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  9Q1 

York,  iii  reference  to  him?  And,  if  the  New  York  salt  can 
descend  the  Ohio  to  the  point  required  to  supply  the  honorable 
Senator,  what  portion  of  the  country  is  there,  accustomed  to 
depend  upon  the  Kanawha  works  for  a  supply  of  salt,  which  can 
not  be  supplied  from  Onondaga  ?  Let  the  facts  be  known,  then. 
Let  it  be  understood  that  a  wide  and  open  market  exists  for  pure 
salt  within  the  reach  of  the  New  York  works,  and  he  would  be 
responsible  for  the  injury  to  her  interests,  her  feelings  or  her 
sovereignty,  from  the  publication  of  the  fact. 

"  Suppose,  sir,  that  the  charges  contained  in  these  papers  were 
directed  against  the  New  York  salt  manufactories,  would  it  be 
my  duty  to  rise  in  my  place  here  and  resist  their  publication  ? 
No,  sir.  Whether  true  or  false,  that  State  would  exact  no  such 
duty  from  her  representatives  here.  It  has  never  been  her  prac 
tice  to  conceal  any  attempts  at  fraud  connected  with  her  exten 
sive  and  rich  salines.  On  the  contrary,  she  has  always  sought  to 
give  to  every  imposition  upon  the  public  the  most  extensive  pub 
lication,  and  she  will  not  require  of  those  who  represent  her  here 
to  attempt  to  make  secrets  of  that  information  in  relation  to 
others,  which  she  invariably  makes  public  in  relation  to  herself. 

"Another  objection  to  the  printing  of  these  papers  is  urged, 
not  less  singular  than  that  which  has  just  been  considered.  It  is 
said  that  the  motion  savors  of  agrarianism;  that  the  attempt  to 
expose  these  monopolies  and  frauds  here  by  a  publication  of  the 
proof  of  their  existence  and  extent  is  acting  upon  a  principle  which, 
carried  out  in  practice,  would  lead  to  the  distribution  of  property 
and  the  other  leveling  doctrines  of  the  agrarians.  Mr.  W.  said 
it  would  be  difficult  to  make  any  distribution  of  property  by 
which  he  should  not  be  benefited  in  a  pecuniary  sense,  but  it  was 
nevertheless  a  doctrine  which  he  repudiated,  and  he  should  be 
compelled  to  vote  against  the  motion  if  he  could  see  that  princi 
ple  in  the  order  to  print.  He  could  not,  however;  and  he  was 
surprised  to  hear  the  opinion  advanced.  No  legislation  is  pro 
posed,  and  all  that  is  asked  is  the  simple  publication  of  most 
important  information  upon  a  subject  of  universal  interest.  If 
the  statements  contained  in  the  papers  be  true,  he  was  sure  no 
one  would  attempt  to  justify  the  practices  complained  of.  Should 
they  not,  then,  be  made  known  ? 


902  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Suppose  it  were  charged  here,  with  the  authenticity  of  this 
testimony,  that  a  number  of  farmers  in  western  New  York  had 
combined  to  raise  and  control  the  price  of  provisions,  and  that 
to  accomplish  their  object  they  had  hired  three-fourths  of  the 
farmers  of  that  fertile  wheat-growing  region  not  to  cultivate 
their  farms  for  a  given  season ;  would  it  be  his  duty,  as  a  repre 
sentative  of  the  State  here,  to  resist  the  publication  of  the  fact  ? 
No.  It  would  be  his  duty,  as  well  to  his  State  and  the  people  he 
represented  as  to  himself,  to  give  it  publication,  to  proclaim  it  to 
the  world,  and  thus  do  all  that  it  is  in  our  power  to  do  to  arrest 
the  intended  evil. 

"The  honorable  Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Preston] 
bad  said  that  we  do  not  represent  the  people  here ;  that  we  are 
the  representatives  of  the  sovereign  States,  not  of  the  people  of 
the  States ;  that  one  Senator  may  represent  a  million  of  popula 
tion  and  another  one  hundred  thousand,  and  yet  we  are  all  equal 
here.  This  is  true ;  and  yet,  where  rests  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States  but  in  the  people  ?  Who  are  the  sovereigns  of  the  States 
but  the  people  ?  And  would  he  have  those  of  us  who  represent 
populous  States  forget  our  increased  obligations,  growing  out  of 
the  increased  interests  committed  to  our  charge  ?  Would  he 
make  us  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  we  represent  millions  instead 
of  thousands,  and  of  the  interests,  the  wishes  and  the  safety  of 
those  millions  ?  [Here  several  Senators,  among  whom  the  voices 
of  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Clay  were  heard,  said  <  Yes,  that  is  the 
rule;  we  ought  to  represent  the  people  of  our  respective  States.'] 
Mr.  W.  said  he  thanked  the  gentlemen  for  reminding  him  of  the 
tendency  of  his  remark.  It  would  save  him  a  future  explanation. 
He  had  said  upon  that  point  precisely  what  he  intended.  He 
held  it  to  be  his  duty  truly  to  represent  the  wishes  and  interests 
of  the  people  of  the  State  which  had  honored  him  with  a  seat 
here,  and  he  should  continue  to  govern  his  acts  and  votes  by 
what  he  believed  to  be  those  interests  and  wishes,  unless  arrested 
in  his  course  by  the  command  of  another  and  a  controlling  voice. 
He  hoped  this  explanation  would  satisfy  the  gentlemen  upon  the 
other  side  of  the  House,  who  had  manifested  so  kind  an  interest 
in  his  faithfulness  to  his  constituents." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  903 


CHAPTER   LXXXI. 

THE  CUMBERLAND  ROAD  BILL. 

In  1806  Congress  made  an  appropriation  to  construct 
a  road  from  Cumberland,  in  Maryland,  to  the  Ohio  river, 
payable  out  of  a  two  per  cent  fund  derived  from  the  sales 
of  public  lands  within  the  limits  of  certain  States,  usually 
granted  to  States  on  their  admission.  By  different  enact 
ments  this  road,  by  1831,  was  authorized  to  be  extended 
through  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  to  the  Mississippi 
river.  Some  appropriations  were  made  direct  from  the 
treasury.  It  was  claimed  that  this  road  added  to  the 
value  of  the  public  lands  and  promoted  their  settle 
ment  and  sales.  After  a  time  Congress  authorized  the 
erection  of  toll-gates  on  it  by  the  States  through  which 
it  passed,  and  in  the  end  the  road  was  abandoned  by  the 
government,  and  by  act  of  Congress  was  transferred  to 
the  States  through  which  it  passed.  It  was  a  great  work 
in  its  day,  but  is  now  hardly  known  by  its  former  name, 
or  in  anywise  much  distinguished  from  other  roads  in 
the  western  States. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  1840,  when  the  bill  for  the  con 
tinuation  of  this  road  was  before  the  Senate,  Mr.  Clay,  of 
Alabama,  moved  to  strike  out  the  two  per  cent  clause. 
Mr.  WEIGHT  addressed  the  Senate,  and  fully  explained 
his  position  and  the  reasons  for  his  former  votes  and  the 
one  which  he  now  intended  to  give. 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  did  not  rise  to  debate  the  merits  of  the 
Cumberland  road  bill.  That  duty  he  left  to  those  who,  from  local 
position  and  more  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  utility  of  the 
work,  could  better  discharge  it.  Still,  he  had  for  some  years  now 
last  past  given  his  vote  for  these  appropriations,  and  he  desired 


904  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WHIG  JIT. 

to  do  so  now.  He  was  anxious  that  the  bill  should  retain  its 
usual  form  —  the  characteristics  which  had  distinguished  appro 
priations  for  this  road  from  those  for  internal  improvements 
generally.  This  work  was  thus  distinguished  from  the  peculiar 
circumstances  which  had  led  Congress  to  undertake  it,  and  appro 
priations  to  continue  it  could  have  his  support  only  upon  the  con 
dition  that  those  distinctions  were  carefully  and  fully  preserved. 

"  From  these  remarks  it  would  be  seen  that  his  object  was  to 
discuss,  not  the  general  merits  of  the  bill,  but  the  particular 
motion  of  the  Senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Clay].  If  that  motion 
prevailed  the  bill  would  be  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  his  vote, 
and,  as  he  had  learned,  of  the  votes  of  several  other  Senators. 
He  hoped  the  motion  would  not  prevail,  and  he  must  ask  a 
small  portion  of  the  time  of  the  body  for  an  attempt  to  show  to 
the  friends  of  the  measure  that  it  should  not  prevail. 

"  What  was  the  motion  ?  It  was  to  strike  out  from  the  bill 
the  following  words: 

"'Which  said  appropriations  are  made  upon  the  same  terms,  and  shall 
be  subject  to  all  the  provisions,  conditions,  restrictions  and  limitations 
touching  appropriations  for  the  Cumberland  road  contained  in  the  act  enti 
tled  "An  act  to  provide  for  continuing  the  construction  and  for  the  repair 
of  the  Cumberland  road,"  approved  the  third  day  of  March,  eighteen  hun 
dred  and  thirty-seven.' 

"A  reference  to  the  act  of  1837  would  show  the  effect  of  this 
proposed  amendment,  by  showing  the  'provisions,  conditions, 
restrictions  and  limitations'  contained  in  that  act,  subject  to 
which  the  bill,  in  its  present  shape,  proposes  to  make  these 
appropriations,  but  from  which  the  amendment,  if  adopted,  will 
free  them,  and  leave  the  appropriations  open,  general  and  uncon 
ditional.  He  was  satisfied,  too,  that  this  examination  would 
prove  that  the  proposition  to  amend  was  even  broader  than  the 
honorable  mover  intended  or  desired ;  that  there  were  '  conditions 
and  limitations'  in  that  act  which  even  he  did  not  desire  to 
remove ;  from  which  he  would  not  wish  to  relieve  these  appro 
priations,  in  case  they  were  to  be  made. 

"What,  then,  were  the  'conditions,  restrictions  and  limita 
tions,'  in  the  act  of  1837,  referred  to? 

"The  first  was  found  in  the  first  section  of  the  act,  in  the  fol 
lowing  words  : 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  905 

"  'That  the  said  road  within  the  State  of  Illinois  shall  not  be  stoned  or 
graveled,  unless  it  can  be  done  at  a  cost  not  greater  than  the  average  cost 
of  stoning  or  graveling  said  road  within  the  States  of  Ohio  and  Indiana.' 

u  This,  he  presumed,  was  a  l  limitation '  which  the  honorable 
mover  of  the  amendment,  and  those  who  would  vote  with  him, 
did  not  desire  to  repeal. 

"The  second  was  in  the  same  same  section,  and  in  the  follow 
ing  words: 

"  *  That,  in  all  cases  where  it  can  be  done,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  super 
intending  officers  to  cause  the  work  on  said  road  to  be  laid  off  in  sections, 
and  let  out  to  the  lowest  substantial  bidders,  after  due  notice.' 

"  Here,  again,  was  a  '  restriction '  which  he  did  not  suppose  the 
opponents  of  the  bill  would  be  anxious  to  remove. 

"  The  third  '  condition '  was  found  in  the  second  section  of  this 
act  of  1837,  in  the  following  words  : 

"  '  That  the  second  section  of  an  act  tor  the  continuation  of  the  Cumber 
land  road  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  approved  the  2d  day 
of  July,  1836,  shall  not  be  applicable  to  expenditures  hereafter  to  be  made 
on  said  road.' 

"The  section  of  the  act  of  1836,  here  referred  to,  requires  that 
the  moneys  appropriated  shall  be  so  expended  as  to  complete  the 
greatest  possible  continuous  portions  of  the  road,  *  so  that  such 
finished  parts  thereof  may  be  surrendered  to  the  said  States 
respectively.'  Should  the  amendment  prevail,  this  section  of  the 
act  of  1836  would  be  again  restored  and  made  one  of  the  'limita 
tions  '  upon  these  appropriations,  from  which  the  second  section 
of  the  act  of  1837  had  relieved  them.  This  would  be  in  no  way 
objectionable  to  him,  though  he  supposed  it  would  be  to  the 
more  immediate  friends  of  the  work,  inasmuch  as  the  limitation, 
having  been  imposed  in  1836,  had  been  removed  in  1837,  at  their 
instance. 

"  These  were  the  '  conditions,  restrictions  and  limitations ' 
which  he  supposed  the  honorable  mover  of  the  amendment  had 
not  considered,  and  some  of  which,  at  least,  he  presumed  he  would 
not  desire  to  remove.  He  felt  sure  that  some  other  Senators 
would  be  unwilling  to  part  with  the  first  two,  as  he  well  recol 
lected  they  had  been  inserted  in  the  act  of  1837,  after  a  severe 
struggle,  and  were  then  relied  upon,  by  the  honorable  Senator 


906  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

who  moved  them  [Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky],  and  those  who  acted 
with  him,  as  highly  essential. 

"  Yet  it  was  not  his  object  to  discuss  these  points.  He  had 
simply  referred  to  them,  that  Senators  might  not,  unwittingly, 
adopt  an  amendment  which  should  relieve  these  appropriations 
from  conditions  and  limitations  to  which  they  had,  upon  former 
occasions,  been  strongly  attached. 

"  He  was  aware  that  the  honorable  mover  of  the  amendment 
had  another  object,  viz. :  to  get  rid  of  the  fourth  section  of  the 
act  of  1837,  which  was  in  the  following  words: 

"  '  That  the  several  sums  hereby  appropriated  for  the  construction  of  the 
Cumberland  road,  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  shall  be  replaced 
by  said  States  respectively  out  of  the  fund  reserved  to  each  for  laying  out 
and  making  roads  under  the  direction  of  Congress,  by  the  several  acts  passed 
for  the  admission  of  said  States  into  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States.' 

"  This  is  the  real  point  of  controversy  involved  in  the  amend 
ment  ;  this  the  '  condition '  which  it  is  the  object  of  the  honorable 
mover  to  test  by  a  vote  ;  and  this  is  the  distinctive  feature  of 
these  appropriations  which  he,  Mr.  W.,  wished  to  retain.  To 
this  point,  therefore,  this  two  per  cent  fund,  and  the  propriety 
of  continuing  to  pledge  these  appropriations  upon  it,  he  should 
direct  his  remarks.  He  would  be  as  brief  as  possible  ;  but  an 
examination  of  the  origin  of  that  fund,  of  the  appropriations  for 
the  Cumberland  road,  and  the  present  state  of  facts  as  to  both, 
would  be  necessary  to  make  his  argument  clear  and  intelligible. 

"  The  cession  by  the  State  of  Virginia  to  the  United  States  of 
the  territory  north-west  of  the  River  Ohio  contained,  among 
others,  the  condition,  that  of  that  territory  there  should  be 
formed  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  five  free  republican 
States,  which,  under  certain  limitations  prescribed,  should  be 
admitted  into  the  Union  upon  an  equal  footing  in  all  respects 
with  the  original  States. 

"  The  State  of  Ohio  first  made  application  for  this  admission, 
and,  on  the  30th  day  of  April,  1802,  Congress  passed  an  act  enti 
tled  'An  act  to  enable  the  people  of  the  eastern  division  of  the 
territory  north-west  of  the  River  Ohio  to  form  a  Constitution  and 
State  government,  and  for  the  admission  of  such  State  into  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  907 

Union  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  and  for  other 
purposes.'  Among  other  provisions  in  this  act,  Congress,  by  the 
seventh  section  thereof,  offered  to  the  convention  of  the  people  of 
Ohio, '  for  their  free  acceptance  or  rejection,'  three  several  proposi 
tions,  intended  for  the  mutual  benefit  of  the  State  and  the  United 
States,  and  declared  that,  if  accepted  by  the  convention,  they 
*  shall  be  obligatory  upon  the  United  States.'  The  third  of  these 
propositions  is  the  one  material  to  this  discussion,  and  is  in  the 
following  words  : 

"  '  Third.  The  one-twentieth  part  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  lands  lying 
within  the  said  State,  sold  by  Congress,  from  and  after  the  thirtieth  day  of 
June  next  (1802),  after  deducting  all  expenses  incident  to  the  same,  shall  be 
applied  to  the  laying  out  and  making  public  roads,  leading  from  ihe  navi 
gable  waters  emptying  into  the  Atlantic,  to  tlie  Ohio,  to  the  said  State,  and  through 
the  same  ;  such  roads  to  be  laid  out  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  with  the 
consent  of  the  several  States  through  which  the  said  road  shall  pass.  Provided, 
always,  that  the  three  foregoing  propositions  herein  offered  are  on  the  con 
ditions  that  the  convention  of  the  said  State  shall  provide  by  an  ordinance, 
irrevocable  without  the  consent  of  ilie  United  States,  that  every  and  each  tract 
of  land  sold  by  Congress,  from  and  after  the  thirtieth  day  of  June  next, 
shall  be  and  remain  exempt  from  any  tax  laid  by  order  or  under  the  authority 
of  the  State,  whether  for  State,  county,  township,  or  any  other  purpose 
whatever,  for  the  term  of  five  years  from  and  after  the  day  of  sale.' 

"  Here  was  a  compact  between  this  new  State  and  this  govern 
ment,  for  the  convention  of  Ohio  did  freely  accept  the  proposi 
tions  and  conform  to  their  terms  and  requirements;  and  here  was 
the  compact  which  gave  existence  to  the  Cumberland  road,  and 
threw  it  upon  the  hands  of  the  United  States. 

"A  single  step  further  will  show  the  origin  of  the  two  per  cent 
fund,  as  contradistinguished  from  that  five  per  cent  fund,  or  '  one- 
twentieth  part  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  lands,'  constituted  by 
the  compact  last  referred  to,  and  devoted  to  the  construction  of 
roads  from  the  Atlantic  waters  '  to  the  Ohio,  to  the  said  State, 
and  through  the  same.' 

"On  the  3d  day  of  March,  1803,  about  eleven  months  after  the 
passage  of  the  act  containing  the  propositions  tendered  to  the 
convention  of  the  people  of  Ohio,  and  which  propositions  that 
convention  accepted  and  complied  with,  Congress  passed  an  act 
entitled  'An  act  in  addition  to  and  in  modification  of  the  propo- 


908  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

sitions  contained  in  the  act  entitled,'  etc.,  being  the  act  of  the 
30th  of  April,  1802,  before  referred  to.  This  act  conferred  upon 
the  new  State  many  other  and  further  advantages  beyond  those 
covered  by  the  three  propositions  tendered  to  the  convention  in 
the  former  act  ;  but  the  only  one  of  its  provisions  affecting  this 
discussion  is  that  found  in  its  second  section.  It  was  unnecessary 
to  read  the  section,  which  was  long.  The  substance  of  it  was,  that 
three  per  cent,  of  the  five  per  cent  reserved  in  the  ordinance 
which  has  been  read,  was  directed  to  be  paid  over  to  the  State, 
to  be  applied  '  to  the  laying  out,  opening  and  making  roads  within 
the  said  State,  and  to  no  other  purpose  whatever,'  thus  leaving 
but  two  per  cent  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  lands  to  be  expended 
*  under  the  authority  of  Congress,'  in  '  laying  out  and  making- 
public  roads  leading  from  the  navigable  waters  emptying  into  the 
Atlantic,  to  the  Ohio,  to  the  said  State,  and  through  the  same.' 
This  act  constituted  the  two  per  cent  fund,  by  taking  from  the 
hands  of  Congress  and  giving  to  the  State  for  expenditure  three 
per  cent  of  the  five  reserved  to  Congress  by  the  original  ordi 
nance. 

"  Still,  the  obligation  upon  Congress  remained  of  expending  the 
two  per  cent  in  the  l  laying  out  and  making  public  roads,  leading 
from  the  navigable  waters  emptying  into  the  Atlantic,  to  the 
Ohio,  to  the  said  State,  and  through  the  same;'  and  to  discharge 
that  obligation,  this  great  and  troublesome  and  expensive  work, 
the  Cumberland  road)  was  commenced. 

"  The  chronological  order  of  events  would  here  call  upon  him 
to  examine  the  first  appropriations  for  the  road;  but  he  thought 
he  should  be  able  to  accomplish  the  task  he  had  undertaken  with 
greater  brevity,  and  make  himself  more  perfectly  understood,  by 
following  first  the  admission  of  the  States,  as  far  as  that  should 
be  necessary  for  the  question  presented. 

"  The  next  free  republican  State  admitted  into  the  Union  from 
the  territory  north-west  of  the  Ohio  was  Indiana,  and  the  act  of 
Congress  for  her  admission  was  approved  on  the  19th  day  of 
April,  1816.  The  course  pursued  by  Congress  was  very  similar 
to  that  finally  adopted  with  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  it  will  not, 
therefore,  be  necessary  to  detain  the  Senate  .by  the  reading  of 
either  of  the  propositions  submitted  to  the  convention  of  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  909 

people  of  this  State.  It  will  suffice  to  say  that,  upon  this  point, 
they  varied  from  the  original  propositions  submitted  to  the  con 
vention  of  Ohio  in  three  particulars,  viz. : 

"  1.  Two  per  cent  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  lands  only  are 
reserved  to  be  expended  under  the  authority  of  Congress,  and 
that  fund  is  to  be  expended  in  laying  out  and  making  roads  to 
and  not  through  the  State. 

"  2.  Three  per  cent  is  reserved  in  the  ordinance  for  and  to  be 
paid  to  the  State. 

"  3.  The  three  per  cent  is  to  be  expended  by  the  State  in 
making  roads,  or  canals,  within  it. 

"In  all  other  substantial  particulars  the  compact  with  Indiana 
was  similar  to  that  with  Ohio. 

"The  State  of  Illinois  came  next  in  the  order  of  admission, 
the  act  of  Congress  for  the  purpose  having  been  approved  on  the 
18th  of  April,  1818.  The  compacts  with  this  State  differed,  in 
some  respects,  from  both  the  former,  but  a  short  statement  should 
relieve  the  Senate  from  reading  the  propositions,  which  were 
long. 

"  1.  The  two  per  cent  fund  is  reserved,  as  in  the  case  of  Indiana, 
to  make  roads  to,  not  through,  the  State ;  but,  as  in  the  other 
two  cases,  is  to  be  expended  for  that  purpose,  {  under  the  direc 
tion  of  Congress.' 

"  2.  The  three  per  cent  is  reserved  for,  and  to  be  paid  to,  the 
State,  but  is  to  be  '  appropriated,  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 
for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  of  which  one-sixth  part  shall 
be  exclusively  bestowed  on  a  college  or  university.' 

"3.  The  equivalents  are  an  exemption  of  military  bounty 
lands  from  taxation  for  three  years  after  patents  issue,  if  they 
continue  to  be  the  property  of  the  patentee  or  his  heirs,  and  a 
stipulation  that  lands  belonging  to  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
not  residing  in  the  State,  shall  never  be  taxed  higher  than  the 
lands  of  resident  citizens,  in  addition  to  the  exemption  from 
taxes  of  all  government  lands  for  five  years  after  a  sale. 

"  Two  remarks  seemed  to  be  called  for  from  the  compacts  with 
the  two  last  named  States.  The  first  was  that  the  two  per  cent 
fund,  to  be  expended  '  by  the  authority  of  Congress,'  or  '  under 
the  direction  of  Congress,'  was  reserved  in  both.  The  second 


910  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

was,  that  the  three  per  cent  reserved  for,  and  to  be  paid  to,  the 
State,  was  not  reserved,  in  the  last  two  cases,  with  any  reference 
to  the  continuation  of  any  road  'leading  from  the  navigable 
waters  emptying  into  the  Atlantic,'  to  either  of  the  said  States, 
and  consequently  not  to  the  Cumberland  road,  because,  as  to 
Indiana,  the  fund  might  be  applied  to  the  making  of  roads, 
or  canals,  within  the  State,  at  its  option;  and  as  to  Illinois,  the 
Legislature  was  compelled,  by  the  very  terms  of  the  ordinance, 
to  apply  it  '  for  the  encouragement  of  learning.'  The  two  per 
cent  fund,  therefore,  was  relied  upon  for  the  roads  mentioned  in 
the  various  ordinances,  to  be  made  under  the  direction  of  Con 
gress,  whether  they  were  to  be  continued  to  or  through  the  States 
which  were  parties,  and  not  the  three  per  cent,  which  was 
reserved  for  the  States,  was  to  be  expended  by  them,  at  their 
pleasure,  or  for  works  or  objects  of  a  character  different  from 
these  roads. 

"  He  was  now  prepared  to  go  back,  in  point  of  time,  and  exam 
ine  the  appropriations  for  the  Cumberland  road  to  see  how  far 
the  action  of  Congress  hitherto  had  conformed  to  the  basis  of 
these  appropriations  laid  in  the  ordinances  which  admitted  the 
three  States  into  the  Union. 

"  On  the  29th  of  March,  1806,  the  President  of  the  United  States 
[Mr.  Jefferson]  approved  an  act  of  Congress  entitled  cAn  act 
to  regulate  the  laying  out  and  making  a  road  from  Cumberland, 
in  the  State  of  Maryland,  to  the  State  of  Ohio.'  This  act  gave 
existence  to  the  Cumberland  road,  and  an  examination  of  its  pro 
visions  will  show,  what  its  title  so  well  imports,  that  it  was  an 
earnest  beginning  of  the  fulfillment  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  of  that  compact  with  the  new  State  of  Ohio  which  has 
been  before  recited;  that  it  was  the  commencement  of  a  road 
'leading  from  the  navigable  waters  emptying  into  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Ohio,  to  the  said  State.'  It  was  not  material  for  his  pur 
pose  to  review  the  provisions  of  the  act,  any  further  than  to 
examine  the  appropriating  section  and  see  whether  it  kept  to  the 
terms  of  the  ordinances  and  to  the  fund  thereby  reserved  for  the 
object.  The  sixth  section  of  the  act  was  this  one,  and  was  in  the 
following  words: 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  dol- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W BIGHT.  911 

lars  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  appropriated  to  defray  the  expense  of  laying 
out  and  making  said  road.  And  the  President  is  hereby  authorized  to  draw, 
from  time  to  time,  on  the  treasury  for  such  parts,  or  at  any  one  time  for  the 
whole  of  said  sum,  as  he  shall  judge  the  service  requires.  Which  sum  of 
thirty  thousand  dollars  shall  be  paid,  first,  out  of  the  fund  of  two  per  cent  reserved 
for  laying  out  and  making  roads  to  the  State  of  Ohio,  by  virtue  of  the  seventh 
section  of  an  act  passed  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  April,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  two,  entitled  "  An  act  to  enable  the  people  of  the  eastern  divi 
sion  of  the  territory  north-west  of  the  River  Ohio  to  form  a  Constitution  and 
State  government,  and  for  the  admission  of  such  State  into  the  Union  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,  and  for  other  purposes;"  three 
per  cent  of  the  appropriation  contained  in  the  said  seventh  section  being 
directed  by  a  subsequent  law  to  the  laying  out,  opening  and  making  roads 
within  the  said  State  of  Ohio ;  and  secondly,  out  of  any  money  in  the  trea 
sury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  chargeable  upon  and  reimbursable  at  the 
treasury,  by  said  fund  of  two  per  cent  as  the  same  shall  accrue.' 

"  Here  we  are  shown  fully  the  origin  of  this  work  called  the 
Cumberland  road,  the  basis  upon  which  its  adoption  by  Con 
gress  rested,  and  the  fund  from  which  the  expenditures  were  to 
be  defrayed.  In  every  respect  the  work  was  peculiar,  as  a  work 
of  internal  improvement  prosecuted  by  the  authority  and  under 
the  direction  of  Congress. 

"  This  very  first  act,  too,  as  its  terms  fully  show,  adopted  the 
principle  of  anticipating  the  avails  of  this  two  per  cent  fund  by  a 
general  appropriation  from  the  treasury,  charged  upon  the  fund 
and  to  be  reimbursable  out  of  it.  It  was  not  necessary  for  him 
to  defend  the  wisdom  of  this  policy  at  that  early  day.  It  was 
sufficient  that  it  was  then  adopted  and  was  one  of  the  exposi 
tions  by  the  then  fathers  of  the  powers  and  duties  of  Congress 
growing  out  of  these  new  and  peculiar  compacts  with  the  new 
States.  It  was  too  late  for  him  now  to  question  the  soundness 
of  the  principles  upon  which  they  acted  or  the  wisdom  of  the 
policy  which  guided  their  course.  Nearly  every  Congress,  from 
1806  to  the  present  time,  had  followed  in  their  footsteps,  and 
every  President  of  the  United  States,  from  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the 
present  incumbent,  had  approved  bills  appropriating  money  for 
this  road. 

"  Had  these  bills  followed  the  form  of  appropriation  found  in 
the  law  of  1806  above  quoted?  He  had  taken  great  pains  to 
answer  this  inquiry  correctly  and  truly,  and,  with  two  single 


912  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

exceptions,  upon  which  he  would  particularly  remark,  he  believed 
that  every  appropriation  for  the  survey  and  construction  of  the 
road  had  been  expressly,  in  the  law  making  it,  charged  upon  the 
two  per  cent  fund  and  made  reimbursable  out  of  it.  He  had 
found  some  bills  appropriating  money  for  the  repairs  of  those 
portions  of  the  road  which  had  been  once  called  completed 
which  did  not  contain  this  pledge,  as  he  thought  they  should 
not.  These  were  mere  appropriations  for  the  preservation  and 
security  of  the  property  of  the  United  States,  as  this  road,  when 
finished,  clearly  was,  until  transferred  to  the  States  or  otherwise 
disposed  of.  It  was  barely  possible  that  there  might  be  some 
further  exception  of  appropriations  for  survey  and  construction, 
but  he  could  not  think  there  were,  as  he  had  intended  to  make 
his  examination  full  and  accurate. 

"  How,  then,  did  the  two  exceptions  stand  ?  The  first  is  an  act 
of  Congress,  approved  on  the  15th  of  May,  1820,  when  Mr.  Mon 
roe  was  President.  It  is  peculiar  in  itself,  and  perhaps  ought  not 
to  be  considered  an  exception  to  the  rule  under  discussion.  Its 
title  is,  'An  act  to  authorize  the  appointment  of  commissioners  to 
lay  out  the  road  therein  mentioned.'  This  will  show  that  the 
whole  object  of  the  act  was  a  survey.  The  act  has  a  preamble, 
which  is  in  these  words:  'Whereas,  by  the  continuation  of  the 
Cumberland  road  from  Wheeling,  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  through 
the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  the  lands  of  the  United 
States  may  become  more  valuable; '  thus  placing  the  legislation 
upon  a  ground  separate  from  and  independent  of  the  compacts 
with  the  States  and  the  fund  therein  provided.  The  act  then 
goes  on  to  provide  for  the  survey  of  a  road  from  Wheeling  to 
some  point  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi  river,  between 
St.  Louis  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  river,  and  appropriates 
$10,000  generally,  to  be  paid  out  of  any  unappropriated  money 
in  the  treasury,  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  survey.  The  second 
section  of  this  act  contains  this  emphatic  proviso : 

' '  Provided  always,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted  and  declared,  That  nothing  in 
;his  act  contained,  or  that  shall  be  clone  in  pursuance  thereof,  shall  be  deemed 
or  construed  to  imply  any  obligation  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  to 
make,  or  to  defray  the  expense  of  making,  the  road  hereby  authorized  to 
be  laid  out,  or  of  any  part  thereof.' 


AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  913 

"  Such  was  the  first  exception  he  had  been  able  to  discover, 
and  he  remarked  again,  that  it  was  very  doubtful  how  far  it 
could  fairly  be  considered  an  exception,  within  the  proper  limits 
of  the  discussion.  The  act  was  certainly  sui  generis,  as  a  piece 
of  legislation  relating  to  the  Cumberland  road;  but  such  as  it 
was,  he  had  felt  bound  to  present  it  as  an  exception  to  the  rule 
for  which  he  was  contending. 

"The  second  and  only  other  exception  which  his  research 
had  enabled  him  to  discover  was  a  bill  approved  on  the  2d  of 
March,  1833,  at  the  close  of  Gen.  Jackson's  first  term.  This 
was  a  plain  case  of  departure  from  the  rule  of  charging  these 
appropriations  upon  the  two  per  cent  fund,  as  the  appropriations 
made  in  this  law  for  continuing  the  construction  of  the  road  in 
the  three  States,  separate  from  the  appropriations  for  repairs, 
were  direct  in  manner  and  heavy  in  amount.  He  was  happy, 
however,  to  be  able  to  destroy  the  force  of  this  exception  as  a 
precedent,  upon  the  authority  of  the  then  President  himself.  He 
spoke  from  personal  information  from  that  distinguished  indi 
vidual  when  he  said  that  his  approbation  of  that  bill  was  an 
oversight,  suffered  in  the  hurry  of  business,  at  the  close  of  a 
short  session  of  Congress,  when  all  who  have  been  here  know 
that  a  great  majority  of  the  bills  of  the  session  go  to  the  Presi 
dent  during  the  last  evening.  All  who  were  here  at  the  session 
of  1832-33  will  remember  that  it  was  one  of  the  most  exciting 
periods  of  our  history,  and  that  an  unusual  number  of  bills,  of 
the  deepest  interest,  finally  passed  the  two  Houses,  and  reached 
the  President  within  the  last  few  hours  of  the  session,  which 
closed  with  Saturday,  the  second  of  March. 

"An  examination  of  this  bill  will  present  a  further  and  strong 
apology  for  the  oversight  of  the  President.  Instead  of  being 
the  usual  and  ordinary  appropriation  bill  for  the  Cumberland 
road,  it  is  an  appropriation  bill  of  an  anomalous  character,  coup 
ling  harbors,  rivers,  roads  and  a  variety  of  other  subjects  in  the 
same  bill.  Its  title  is  a  very  imperfect  index  of  its  contents,  and 
yet  it  is  evidently  made  up  of  the  substance  of  the  titles  of  three 
or  four  originally  independent  bills.  It  is  'An  act  making  appro 
priations  for  carrying  on  certain  works  heretofore  commenced, 
for  the  improvement  of  harbors  and  rivers;  and  also  for  continu- 
58 


914  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ing  and  repairing  the  Cumberland  road,  and  certain  territorial 
roads.'  It  embraces  more  than  thirty  separate  and  independent 
appropriations,  which  take  from  the  treasury  more  than  one  mil 
lion  of  dollars.  In  such  a  bill,  and  reaching  the  President  at 
such  a  period,  it  was  not  in  the  least  surprising  to  him  that  the 
absence  of  this  qualification  to  the  Cumberland  road  appropria 
tions  was  not  noticed. 

"  Still,  whether  the  apology  should  be  deemed  sufficient  or  not, 
he  was  able  to  state  the  fact  that  this  omission  was  not  noticed, 
and  that  the  bill  would  not  have  received  the  approbation  of  the 
then  President,  however  important  these  and  the  other  appro 
priations  it  contained,  if  the  omission  had  been  observed  ;  so 
important  did  he  consider  the  retention  of  the  two  per  cent 
clause,  as  it  is  called,  as  a  principle  upon  which  the  appropria 
tions  for  this  road  rest,  and  a  marked  characteristic  to  distinguish 
them  from  open  and  unrestricted  appropriations  for  internal 
improvements. 

"  He  was  aware  it  had  been  said,  and  would  again  be  said,  that 
the  expenditures  already  made  upon  the  road  had  more  than 
consumed  the  two  per  cent  fund  reserved  and  applicable  to  its 
construction,  and  therefore  that  the  clause  in  the  present  bills 
was  wholly  useless.  He  wished  to  meet  this  objection  to  the 
clause,  as  he  did  all  other  points  of  this  argument,  fairly.  He 
was,  therefore,  willing  to  admit  that  he  did  not  expect  the  two 
per  cent  fund  of  the  three  States  would  be  sufficient  to  reimburse 
the  treasury  for  all  past  expenses  upon  this  work ;  but  that  did 
not,  to  him,  constitute  a  good  reason  for  separating  this  essential 
feature  from  the  bill,  and  passing  it  without  it.  The  practice 
commenced  with  the  commencement  of  the  work,  to  anticipate 
the  moneys  which  this  fund  was  to  yield,  and  if  those  anticipa 
tions  had  been  pushed  too  far,  it  was  no  reason,  to  his  mind,  why 
we  should  abandon  our  hold  upon  that  portion  of  the  fund  which 
remains. 

"  All  the  three  States  yet  embrace  within  their  limits  unsold 
lands,  and  consequently  portions  of  this  fund  are  yet  to  be  col 
lected  from  all.  The  amount,  too,  is  considerable.  He  had  been 
favored  with  an  official  statement  from  the  General  Land  Office, 
brought  down  to  the  close  of  the  third  quarter  of  the  last  year, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  915 

which  showed  that  the  unsold  lands  in  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana 
and  Illinois,  at  that  time,  amounted  to  26,835,234  acres.  Even 
at  the  present  minimum  price  of  the  public  lands,  the  two  per 
cent  from  this  quantity  would,  if  he  had  made  no  error  in  the 
calculation,  yield  to  this  fund  more  than  $670,000.  If,  as  some 
suppose,  the  State  of  Missouri  should  be  embraced  in  the  estimate 
of  future  revenue  to  the  fund,  it  would  be  more  than  doubled. 
There  are  32,154,897  acres  of  unsold  land  in  that  State,  and,  at 
the  minimum  price,  that  quantity  will  pay  more  than  $800,000  to 
this  fund.  But  when  it  is  considered  that  the  unsold  land  in  all 
these  States  must  become  more  valuable  as  settlements  increase, 
and  improvements  in  its  vicinity  are  extended,  who  shall  say 
what  limit  shall  be  fixed  to  this  contingent  fund  ?  In  any  event 
it  seemed  to  him  a  plain  dictate  of  duty  to  secure  whatever  it  is 
to  yield  to  reimburse  the  treasury  for  this  expensive  work. 

"  Shall  we  do  this,  if  we  pass  the  amendment  now  proposed, 
and  thus,  by  our  own  act,  release  the  pledge  for  the  future? 
What  is  our  daily  experience  now  as  to  the  other  States  ?  But 
a  few  days  since  the  Senate  passed  a  bill  to  pay  this  fund  to  the 
State  of  Mississippi.  Another  bill  is  now  upon  its  passage,  or 
has  already  gone  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  make  the 
same  payment  to  the  State  of  Alabama.  These  States  have  come 
here  with  demands  for  the  money,  which  we  have  not  found  our 
selves  able  to  resist.  To  Michigan  and  Arkansas  the  whole  five 
per  cent  was  yielded  as  one  of  the  terms  of  their  admission  into 
the  Union.  Other  new  States  will  come,  after  these  examples, 
and  who  can  make  himself  believe  that,  if  we  strike  out  this 
clause,  and  thus  release  our  hold  upon  the  future  accruing  reve 
nue  to  the  fund  from  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
Missouri,  those  States  will  not  come,  when  their  road  shall  have 
been  completed,  and  tell  us,  up  to  1840  you  held  and  expended 
this  portion  of  our  two  per  cent  fund,  but  in  that  year  you,  by 
your  own  express  act,  refused  longer  to  pledge  it  for  the  Cum 
berland  road,  and  the  money  which  has  come  into  your  treasury 
since  that  period  is  ours,  upon  the  principles  which  have  governed 
your  conduct  toward  the  other  new  States?  Who  can  convince 
himself  that  our  successors  will  be  able  to  resist  such  an  applica 
tion  from  these  States  ?  . 


916  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"To  the  unconditional  opponents  of  this  bill  he  was  aware 
that  this  reasoning  would  be  unavailing;  nay,  that  his  very  dec 
laration  of  the  importance  of  the  provision  to  him  would  add 
to  their  anxiety  to  press  the  motion,  that  they  might  force  him 
arid  others  who  held  similar  opinions  to  vote  against  the  whole 
measure.  Such  he  knew  to  be  the  condition  of  the  honorable 
mover  of  the  amendment.  He  was  conscientiously  opposed  to 
the  bill  in  any  shape,  and  its  defeat  is  the  object  of  his  motion. 
This  was  fair  and  gave  no  ground  of  complaint.  Any  fair  and 
open  and  manly  opposition  he  had  a  right  to  practice  —  indeed, 
with  his  opinions,  it  was  his  duty  to  practice  —  and  such  was  his 
present  proposition  for  amendment. 

"To  those,  however,  who  were  the  friends  of  this  road,  who 
desired  appropriations  for  it,  he  felt  that  he  had  a  right  to 
appeal  with  success  upon  this  question.  To  them  the  pledge 
of  this  fund  could  not  be  objectionable,  even  if  they  did  not 
consider  it  any  longer  useful.  It  could  do  no  harm,  even  if  it 
was  of  no  substantial  service  to  the  treasury,  and  they  certainly 
would  indulge  those  who  consider  it  essential,  so  long  as  they 
ask  nothing  more  than  what  is  looked  upon  as  a  nugatory  provi 
sion.  They  will  not  bring  the  fate  of  the  bill  into  jeopardy 
rather  than  riot  discharge  it  from  what  they  consider,  at  the 
worst,  but  harmless  surplusage;  and  that,  too,  after  they  know 
that  others  equally  friendly  consider  the  provision  proposed  to 
be  stricken  out  one  of  essential, —  of  vital  importance. 

"He  must  be  permitted  to  believe,  therefore,  that  however  far 
he  may  have  fallen  short  of  producing  conviction  upon  the  minds 
of  either  the  foes  or  the  friends  of  the  measure,  as  to  the  impor 
tance  of  retaining  the  pledge  of  this  two  per  cent  fund,  the  sim 
ple  information  that  he  and  others  so  held  it  would  induce  every 
friend  to  the  Cumberland  road  to  vote  against  the  proposed 
amendment." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  917 


CHAPTER  LXXXIL 

ABOLITION  PETITIONS. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  twenty-sixth  Congress  peti 
tions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  were  often  presented  to 
both  Houses.  On  the  13th  of  February,  1840,  Mr.  Clay, 
of  Kentucky,  presented  one  from  Michael  H.  Barton, 
praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  This  produced  a 
stormy  debate,  in  which  Mr.  WRIGHT  took  part,  more  on 
account  of  what  was  then  said  than  because  he  partici 
pated  in  the  feelings  which  the  petition  occasioned.  He 
thus  addressed  the  Square  : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  had  never  before,  he  believed,  attempted 
to  address  the  Senate  when  an  abolition  petition  was  under  con 
sideration.  If  lie  justly  appreciated  his  duty,  it  was  quite  likely 
he  should  remain  silent  now,  though  he  had  not  risen  to  discuss 
abolitionism  or  to  protract  this  very  desultory  debate.  Still, 
some  remarks  had  fallen  from  his  colleague,  and  from  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay],  which  his  duty  to  absent  friends 
seemed  to  him  to  require  him  to  notice. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay]  has  taken  the  liberty  to 
refer  to  a  vote  lately  given  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress  in 
reference  to  the  disposition  of  these  petitions;  to  allude  to 
the  fact  that  some  of  the  members  of  the  New  York  delega 
tion,  the  political  friends  of  Mr.  W.,  had  voted  for  the  rule 
adopted  in  the  House,  and  then  had  stated  that  all  parties  in  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  were  now  expressing  their  decided  repre 
hension  of  that  vote.  He  should  not  feel  at  liberty  to  make 
the  action  of  either  of  these  legislative  bodies  the  subject  of 
remark  upon  this  occasion,  had  he  not  been  forced  to  do  so  by 
the  course  pursued  by  the  honorable  Senator;  and  he  wished  it  to 
be  distinctly  understood  that,  in  making  the  short  reply  he 
intended,  he  was  not  acting  as  the  authorized  apologist  or  defender 


918  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

of  the  friends  who  had  given  the  vote  complained  of.  If  the 
vote  required  apology,  they  would  be  found  ready  to  make  it  for 
themselves.  If  it  required  defense,  they  were  much  better  able, 
from  character  and  talent  and  influence,  to  defend  themselves 
than  he  was  to  defend  them.  They  were  responsible  for  their 
acts  to  the  constituents  who  had  sent  them  here,  not  to  himself 
or  to  this  body. 

"Still,  as  the  honorable  Senator  had  referred  to  the  vote  and 
to  the  action  of  the  State  Legislature,  not  this  year  simply,  but 
the  last  also,  it  was  proper  in  itself,  and  due  to  those  who  were 
censured,  that  he  should  state  the  facts  as  he  understood  them  to 
exist.  The  Senator  had  spoken  of  the  expression  of  the  Legis 
lature  of  New  York  last  year,  upon  this  subject  of  the  disposition 
of  abolition  petitions  in  Congress,  as  having  followed  a  political 
revolution  in  the  State,  and  of  the  form  of  that  expression.  He 
must  remind  the  gentleman  that  the  expression  to  which  he 
alluded  as  having  been  made  last  year,  was  made  in  but  one 
branch  of  the  New  York  Legislature.  The  political  revolution 
of  which  he  spoke  had  not  then  reached  the  State  Senate,  and 
that  body  did  not  unite  in  the  expression  in  favor  of  these  peti 
tioners.  The  House  of  Assembly,  the  popular  branch  of  the 
Legislature,  was  then  in  the  hands  of  the  political  friends  of  the 
Senator,  and  it  did  make  a  strong  expression,  supposed  to  favor 
the  abolitionists.  It  did  declare  the  Atherton  resolution,  so 
called,  a  denial  of  the  right  of  petition.  He  did  not  now  recol 
lect  the  exact  form  of  the  resolutions  or  the  substance  of  the 
expression  beyond  this  point,  but  as  to  this  he  was  sure  he  could 
not  be  mistaken.  The  Atherton  resolutions  were  denounced, 
because  it  was  said  they  were  a  denial  of  the  right  of  petition. 
What  disposition  did  the  Atherton  resolutions  make  of  abo 
lition  petitions  ?  They  were  to  be  received  and  immediately  laid 
upon  the  table,  without  reading  or  printing,  and  without  debate. 
This  was  the  denial  of  the  right  of  petition  last  year,  according 
to  the  expressed  sense  of  the  whig  branch  of  the  New  York 
Legislature. 

"  Now,  certain  of  the  democratic  members  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  from  that  State  had  voted  to  establish  a  rule  of 
that  House,  pressed  upon  them  upon  the  motions  of  prominent 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  919 

whigs,  by  which  these  petitions  were  not  to  be  received.  In 
other  words,  they  had  voted  for  a  rule  which  was,  in  fact  and  in 
terms,  just  what  their  opponents  in  the  Legislature  of  their  State, 
one  year  ago,  declared  to  be  the  true  and  practical  effect  of  the 
Atherton  resolutions.  This  was  what  these  members  had  done, 
and  his  object  was  accomplished  in  giving  the  facts.  He  knew 
not  what  either  party  in  the  Legislature  of  the  present  year  were 
doing  upon  this  subject,  except  that  he  had  noticed  in  the  public 
papers  that  some  resolutions  had  been  introduced  into  the  popular 
branch  of  that  Legislature,  by  a  prominent  federal  member,  cen 
suring  those  who  had  voted  for  the  rule  lately  adopted  in  the 
House  of  Representatives.  If  there  had  been  action  upon  them, 
the  account  of  it  had  not  met  his  notice. 

"  His  honorable  colleague  had  discussed  at  some  length  the 
politics  of  their  State,  and  of  the  various  parties  in  it;  the  ques 
tions,  which  were  democratic  and  which  federal;  which  were  and 
which  were  not  abolition,  and  the  like,  and  had  pronounced  his 
conclusions  with  some  positiveness.  In  doing  this,  he  had,  as 
Mr.  W.  thought,  done  injustice  to  a  political  friend  of  his,  or  he 
would  not  have  entered  into  the  discussion.  He  understood  his 
honorable  colleague  to  say  that  the  member  of  the  popular  branch 
of  the  present  Legislature  of  their  State  who  was,  at  its  organ 
ization,  the  candidate  for  Speaker  of  the  administration  party  in 
the  House,  had,  upon  the  late  election  of  a  United  States  Senator, 
and  when  his  colleague  was  elected,  voted  for  a  prominent  abo 
litionist,  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Gerrit  Smith.  If  he  cor 
rectly  understood  the  remarks  of  his  colleague,  this  vote  was 
said  to  have  been  given  by  the  gentleman  alluded  to  upon  the 
open  viva  voce  vote  for  Senator  in  the  House  of  which  the  gentle 
man  was  a  member.  Did  his  colleague  so  state  ?  [Mr.  Tall- 
madge  replied,  yes,  that  was  the  way  I  understood  it.]  Mr. 
W.  said  he  had  not  made  this  inquiry  thus  minutely  for 
the  purpose  of  contradicting  it  upon  his  own  responsibility,  as 
he  had  no  personal  knowledge  how  the  fact  was;  but  he  had  done 
so  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  his  belief  that  the  statement 
was  erroneous,  and  giving  the  grounds  of  that  belief. 

"  He  well  remembered  that,  pending  the.  proceedings  in  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  touching  the  election  of  a  Senator,  a 


920  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

report  sprang  up  in  this  city,  and  in  one  wing  of  this  capitol, 
that  all  the  friends  of  the  administration  in  the  popular  branch 
of  that  Legislature  had  voted  for  this  ardent  abolitionist,  this 
Gerrit  Smith,  as  their  candidate  for  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  The  rumor  produced  deep  feeling  here.  He  was  called 
upon  by  a  great  number  of  members  of  Congress,  from  all  quar 
ters  of  the  Union,  for  information  as  to  the  fact.  He  had  none 
to  communicate.  He  had  received  no  intimation  of  any  such 
action  on  the  part  of  his  political  friends;  but  the  mails  from  the 
north  were  deranged  by  the  stormy  and  severe  weather  of  the 
period,  and  he  was  unable  to  say  what  action  had  been  had,  or 
what  information  others  might  have  received.  He  entertained 
the  most  confident  belief  that  the  report  was  false,  and  so  stated 
to  his  friends,  but  he  could  not  give  it  authorized  contradiction. 
This  report,  however,  necessarily  led  him  to  examine  that  vote 
with  deep  interest  and  great  care,  when  it  did  reach  him.  The 
Albany  Argus,  a  public  journal  to  which  bis  colleague  had  alluded 
as  a  leading  federal  paper,  was  his  authority,  and  was  it  federal, 
democratic,  or  democratic  republican,  which  last  his  colleague 
seemed  to  suppose  the  real  name  of  his  party,  it  was  authority 
upon  which  he  relied  with  a  quiet  confidence.  The  vote  given, 
upon  the  election  of  a  Senator,  in  both  branches  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  he  found  in  the  columns  of  that  paper  in  detail;  the  name 
of  every  member  voting,  and  the  name  of  the  candidate  voted 
for  by  each  being  distinctly  stated.  He  examined  the  account 
with  care,  and  could  not  say  he  felt  much  surprise  when  he  per 
ceived  that  not  one  single  individual  of  any  party  had  given  his 
vote  for  the  supposed  formidable  abolition  candidate,  Gerrit 
Smith. 

"  He  could  not,  however,  in  justice  to  his  own  feelings,  leave 
this  matter  here,  and  permit  the  inference  that  the  mistake  of  his 
colleague  was  wholly  without  foundation.  He  would,  therefore, 
relate  what  he  had  understood  had  taken  place  at  some  stage  of 
the  proceedings  preliminary  to  the  election  of  a  Senator.  He 
supposed  the  account  had  appeared  in  the  public  papers,  but  he 
had  not  seen  it  there,  and  related  it  from  mere  report.  It  was 
this:  a  law  or  resolution  was  before  the  Legislature,  designed  to 
prescribe  the  time  and  manner  of  electing  a  Senator.  To  mem- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  921 

hers  of  the  minority  of  the  House,  other  candidates,  taken  from 
the  ranks  of  their  political  opponents,  were  more  acceptable 
than  his  colleague.  Some  of  these  members  proposed  to  make 
the  election  directly  by  inserting  the  name  of  the  Senator  in  the 
bill  or  resolution,  and  thus  declaring  the  election  instead  of  pre 
scribing  the  time  and  manner  for  future  action.  Pursuing  this 
feeling,  the  names  of  a  variety  of  candidates  were  proposed,  and 
among  them  Gei%rit  Smith, —  his  abolitionism  out  of  the  question, 
a  most  bitter  opponent  of  this  administration.  That  name  might 
have  come  from  the  gentleman  alluded  to  by  his  colleague,  but  it 
was  under  such  circumstances  and  for  such  objects,  as  he  verily 
believed;  if  it  came  from  him  at  all,  which  fact  he  could  not 
assert.  It  was  a  choice  among  his  enemies,  not  his  voluntary 
preference  as  a  politician  or  a  citizen,  as  his  viva  voce  vote  upon 
the  election  should  have  been.  This  explanation  of  the  error  of 
his  colleague  he  had  given,  as  he  had  before  stated,  rather  from 
rumor  than  from  any  referable  authority;  but  he  did  not  doubt 
it  was  the  real  explanation  and  the  only  one  of  which  his  state 
ment  was  susceptible. 

"  He  was  now  brought  to  the  apparent  object  of  the  remarks 
of  his  colleague,  and  that  was  the  point  of  most  materiality  and 
most  delicacy,  the  interests  of  others  having  been  disposed  of. 
Why  was  the  statement  of  his  colleague  made,  but  to  show  that 
his  friends  and  the  friends  of  the  administration  in  the  north  are 
the  abolitionists  there  ?  He  could  see  no  other  object,  and  other 
portions  of  the  remarks  of  his  colleague  seemed  to  him  to  have  a 
similar  object  and  tendency. 

"  In  reference  to  all  such  remarks,  calculated  to  produce  per 
sonal  irritation,  lie  would  take  this  occasion  to  say  to  his  col 
league  that  it  was  now  something  more  than  six  years  since  they 
had  taken  their  seats  together  in  this  body;  that  their  public 
acts  had  been  known  to  the  Senate,  if  not  to  their  constituents 
and  the  country;  that  it  was  therefore  folly  for  them  to  discuss 
the  question  here,  which  was  a  democrat,  which  was  a  federalist 
or  which  was  a  democratic  republican  in  politics.  Their  acts, 
not  their  words,  must  determine  that  point;  and  the  Senate  itself 
would  judge,  independently  of  their  impressions,  what  the  pro 
per  classification  of  each  Was*  So  also  with  the  question  of  abo- 


922  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

litionism.  His  action  upon  that  disturbing  subject  was  known  to 
this  body  and  the  country.  If  it  made  him  an  abolitionist,  it 
was  in  vain  for  him  to  reason  against  the  conclusion.  If  it  did 
not,  any  remonstrances  and  declarations  from  him  against  the 
charge,  come  from  what  quarter  it  might,  was  unnecessary  here. 
So  with  the  President  of  the  United  States.  His  declarations 
and  acts  and  votes  as  to  these  petitions  and  this  whole  subject 
were  perfectly  known  to  every  individual  they  addressed;  and 
was  it  necessary  for  him,  as  the  avowed  personal  and  political 
friend  of  that  officer — as  he  had  been  since  he  had  had  the 
honor  of  a  seat  here  and  still  continued  to  be  —  was  it  necessary 
for  him  to  defend  the  President  against  the  charge  of  aboli 
tionism  ?  Not  here  !  not  here  ! 

"Why,  then,  Mr.  W.  asked,  were  these  points  debated  here 
upon  such  an  occasion,  and  these  charges  directly  made,  or  impli- 
edly  made,  by  his  colleague  ?  During  the  whole  of  their  public 
service  together  hitherto,  however  wide  might  have  been  their 
political  differences  of  opinion,  it  gave  him  sincere  pleasure  to 
state  that  there  had  not  been  one  particle  of  personal  unkind- 
ness  between  his  colleague  and  himself.  This  condition  of  their 
personal  relations  he  earnestly  hoped  mignt  continue ;  and  to 
that  end  he  would  now,  as  he  had  upon  all  former  occasions,  care 
fully  abstain  from  all  remarks  calculated  to  excite  unkind  feeling. 
He  hoped  his  colleague  would  imitate  him  in  this,  and  relieve 
them  from  the  necessity  of  disturbing  the  Senate  by  their  per 
sonal  or  local  differences.  They  had  both  had  experience  enough 
in  the  body  to  know  that  all  such  collisions  were  unpleasant  to 
the  members  of  the  Senate.  Should  they,  then,  thus  afflict  them? 
For  himself,  nothing  but  a  sense  of  self-respect  could  induce  him 
to  do  it.  When  they  came  there  together  they  were  political 
friends.  Those  members  from  other  States  whom  he  had  found 
there  as  political  friends,  and  who  yet  remained  there,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  were  yet  personal  and  political  friends.  Those 
whom  he  had  found  as  political  opponents,  with  exceptions 
still  less  numerous,  were  at  this  moment  his  respected  opponents 
in  the  body.  Still,  he  had  experienced  personal  kindness  from 
all,  as  he  knew  his  colleague  had  also;  and  should  they  now 
strive  to  make  all  unhappy  by  their  personal  or  local  collisions  ? 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  923 

He  would  not  lead  in  such  a  course,  and,  if  compelled  to  follow, 
it  would  be  with  reluctance  and  regret. 

"  He  had  never  charged  federalism  upon  his  colleague,  nor  had 
he  charged  abolitionism  upon  his  party,  notwithstanding  their 
course  in  the  last  Legislature.  He  was  not  in  the  habit  of  char 
acterizing  men  or  parties  by  names,  as  epithets.  He  chose  to 
state  facts  and  let  conclusions  follow.  His  colleague  had  referred, 
with  some  triumph,  to  a  political  revolution  in  the  State.  As  a 
fact,  he  could  state  that  that  revolution  brought  into  office  and 
place  a  Lieutenant-Governor  who  was  an  abolitionist,  as  far  as 
his  responses  to  the  abolition  committee  could  make  him  one. 
Yet,  he  was  not  disposed,  even  upon  that  fact,  to  pronounce  the 
whole  party  abolitionists,  nor  would  he  do  so.  He  preferred  to 
let  acts  and  principles  and  associations  determine  these  points, 
as  he  did,  who  were  democrats  and  who  were  federalists.  The 
truth  and  the  facts  were  his  material  reliance  for  himself  and  his 
friends.  [Mr.  Tallmadge  said  he  would  take  the  explanation  of 
his  colleague,  as  he  thought  the  variation  was  of  no  material 
importance.  He  coincided  in  the  sentiment  that  this  was  not  the 
proper  place  for  political  explanations  between  himself  and  col 
league.  His  colleague,  some  years  since,  in  his  usual  complacent 
way,  told  him  that,  as  to  their  political  differences,  their  common 
constituents  would  settle  that  question.  They  have  settled  it, 
and  settled  it  three  times  over.  They  have  pronounced  their 
opinion  of  this  destructive  administration,  and  of  the  sub-treasury 
bill,  which,  in  his  haste  to  get  it  through  this  body,  the  patriotic 
zeal  of  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  had  impelled 
him  to  override  the  common  courtesies  of  legislation.  The  per 
sonal  relations  of  himself  and  his  colleague  had  always  been  of  a 
friendly  nature,  and  on  his  part  they  should  continue  so;  but  he 
was  not  to  be  read  lectures  to  by  his  colleague,  and  it  was  not 
necessary  to  remind  him  of  their  personal  relations.]  Mr.  WEIGHT 
said  he  was  aware  of  his  trespass  upon  the  feelings  of  the  Senate 
in  again  throwing  himself  before  it.  He  rose  to  reply  to  a  single 
remark  of  his  colleague,  and  but  one;  and  he  did  that  because  he 
was  convinced,  without  an  explanation,  that  remark  would  be 
misunderstood  and  misconstrued  to  the  prejudice  as  well  of  his 
colleague  as  himself. 


924  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  The  remark  to  which  he  alluded  was,  that  he  had  been  want 
ing  in  courtesy  in  his  action  in  relation  to  the  independent  trea 
sury  bill.  If  his  colleague  referred  to  courtesy  to  the  Senate,  as 
toward  those  who  were  members  of  the  body  when  that  bill  was 
acted  upon,  he  had  to  say  to  him  that  those  were  points  he  could 
not  discuss  with  him;  that  the  Senate,  as  it  was  at  the  time,  and 
those  who  were  Senators  at  the  time,  were  his  judges  as  to  the 
propriety  or  impropriety  of  his  course  upon  the  passage  of  the 
bill  in  question.  If  any  of  those  gentlemen,  who  were  his  coactors 
and  his  witnesses,  had  charges  to  make  against  him  for  the  man 
ner  in  which  his  duties  were  discharged  in  relation  to  that  measure, 
it  would  be  his  duty,  as  it  would  be  his  pleasure,  to  listen  to  them, 
and  to  admit  their  justice  or  show  their  injustice,  as  the  facts 
might  warrant;  but  by  others  he  could  not  be  called  to  account 
for  his  courtesy,  or  want  of  it,  to  them. 

"  If  his  colleague  intended  to  charge  want  of  courtesy  toward 
himself,  as  he,  Mr.  W.,  was  informed  that  charge  had  been  made 
by  friends  of  his  colleague  at  the  seat  of  government  of  their 
State,  it  was  proper  that  the  Senate,  and  their  common  constiu- 
ents,  thould  understand  upon  what  foundation  such  a  charge 
must  rest,  and  upon  what  facts  it  must  be  sustained,  if  sustained 
at  all.  To  make  that  explanation  was  his  present  object. 

uThe  bill  in  question  finally  passed  the  Senate  on  Thursday  of 
the  week,  he  believed  the  twenty-third  day  of  January  last.  The 
order  for  engrossment  was  made  on  the  Friday  previous.  By  the 
mail  which  arrived  from  the  north  on  the  evening  of  Saturday, 
the  twenty-fifth  of  January,  he  received  from  his  colleague  a 
letter  dated  at  the  Astor  House,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the 
twenty-third  day  of  the  month,  the  very  day  on  which  the  bill 
finally  passed  the  Senate.  This  letter  gave  him  the  first  informa 
tion  of  the  ill-health  of  his  colleague,  and  of  his  having  been 
detained  by  sickness  when  on  his  way  to  take  his  seat  here.  The 
letter  contained  a  request  from  his  colleague  to  himself  to  have 
the  final  question  upon  this  bill  postponed,  until  he  could  be  in 
his  place.  In  a  few  moments  after  the  letter  reached  his  hands, 
he  learned  that  the  same  conveyance  which  brought  the  letter  to 
him  brought  also  his  colleague  to  the  city. 

"  These  are  the  facts.     He  had  spoken  of  dates  from  memory, 


A  //vs  AM)  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  925 


but  belived  he  w&»  not  mistaken.  And  under  this  state  of 
facts  he  was  well  informed  that  a  friend  of  his  colleague  had 
reported  at  Albany  that  this  request  had  been  made  from  his 
colleague  to  him,  and  that  he  had  refused  the  delay  asked  for. 
He  would  not  suspect  his  colleague  of  having  been  instrumental 
in  giving  existence  or  circulation  to  the  falsehood,  but,  without 
this  explanation,  those  who  had  heard  the  statement  and  should 
see  the  remark  of  his  colleague  to  which  he  was  now  replying, 
would  be  likely  to  connect  the  present  charge  of  want  of  courtesy 
with  this  story  of  the  letter,  and  to  all  such  his  silence  under  the 
charge  would  be  considered  as  an  admission  of  its  truth  and  of 
its  applicability  to  the  report  referred  to.  To  prevent  that  con 
sequence  to  his  colleague  or  himself,  was  his  present  object,  and 
having  accomplished  that,  he  had  nothing  more  to  say." 


926  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT, 


CHAPTER  LXXXIII. 

THE  NEW  YORK  INDIAN  TREATY. 

The  New  York  Indians  adhered  to  the  Crown  during 
the  Revolutionary  War.  In  1784  and  1789,  all,  except 
the  Mohawks,  treated  with  our  government,  ceding  to  it 
all  their  lands  west  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  having 
confirmed  to  them  all  lying  east  of  the  specified  line. 
The  Mohawks,  with  Brandt,  whose  sister  had  been  the 
wife  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  retired  and  settled  at  the 
west  end  of  Lake  Ontario,  in  Canada.  Massachusetts 
originally  claimed  all  the  lands  west  of  that  State  to  the 
Pacific  under  her  charter.  New  York  claimed  all  within 
her  present  boundaries  and  to  the  far  west,  and  volunta 
rily  ceded  to  the  old  confederacy  whatever  belonged  to 
her  west  of  its  limits.  Both  conceded  that  the  Indians 
had  possessory  rights.  It  was  finally  agreed  between 
these  States  that  New  York  should  have  the  political  or 
government  jurisdiction,  and  Massachusetts  the  right  of 
soil  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  with  the  exclusive 
right  to  acquire  the  Indian  title.  The  United  States 
claimed  the  right  of  prohibiting  sales  by  the  Indians 
without  their  consent,  and  that  all  purchases  should  be 
by  a  regular  treaty  made  by  their  lawful  representatives 
and  consented  to  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  ;  all 
of  which  were  assented  to  by  both  States.  This  pre-emp 
tive  right  Massachusetts  conveyed  to  Robert  Morris, 
reserving  to  herself  the  right  to  be  represented  when  the 
Indian  title  should  be  acquired.  Morris  conveyed  his 
rights  to  individuals  called  the  "  Ogden  Land  Company." 
The  Indians  had  conveyed  all  their  rights  to  the  pre- 
emptors  except  four  reservations — the  Tonawanda,  Buf- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  927 

falo  Creek,  Cattaraugus  and  Allegany —  and  these  they 
sought  to  acquire. 

In  the  fall  of  1837,  unsolicited,  President  Van  Buren 
requested  the  author  to  act  as  commissioner  in  negotia 
tions  for  the  sale  of  these  reservations,  and  he  attended 
and  subsequently  formed  a  treaty  with  the  Indians.  Gen. 
Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn  represented  Massachusetts  during  a 
portion  of  the  negotiation,  and  J.  Trowbridge,  of  Buffalo, 
during  the  residue,  ceding  these  reservations,  and  which 
had  been  amended  and  the  amendments  duly  assented  to. 
This  treaty  was  under  consideration,  in  executive  session, 
on  the  25th  of  March,  1840,  when  Mr.  WEIGHT  addressed 
the  following  remarks  to  the  Senate,  which  he  carefully 
wrote  out  with  his  own  hand  for  publication  in  the  Con 
gressional  Globe : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  must  precede  the  direct  discussion  ol 
the  treaty  by  a  few  preliminary  remarks,  calculated  to  show  the 
grounds  upon  which  he  acted,  and  the  considerations  which  had 
governed  him,  in  the  examination  of  the  complicated  case  pre 
sented  in  the  book  of  printed  documents  which  had  been  laid 
before  the  Senate. 

"  And  his  first  remark  of  this  character  was,  that,  if  he  knew 
himself,  his  principal  motive,  in  urging  the  final  consummation 
of  this  treaty  upon  the  Senate,  was  his  deep  conviction  of  the 
benefits,  present  arid  future,  which  would  be  conferred  upon  the 
sinking  bands  of  Indians,  who  were  parties  to  it  from  its  final 
confirmation.  He  was  well  aware  that,  in  making  this  declara 
tion,  he  was  subjecting  himself  to  double  suspicion.  These 
Indians  were  within  his  own  State,  and  it  would  be  assumed  that 
the  whites  were  anxious  for  their  final  removal  out  of  their  way. 
Not  so,  in  fact,  to  an  extent  which  would  warrant  a  removal  in 
any  degree  unjust.  The  bands  had  become  too  small,  too  much 
worn  away  by  that  contact  with  the  whites  which  is  destruction 
to  the  Indian,  to  leave  any  fear,  from  their  remaining,  upon  the 
minds  of  their  white  neighbors.  The  territory  they  retain,  too, 
had  become  too  small  to  excite  an  extensive  cupidity  for  its  pos 
session,  or  any  strong  hope  of  profit  from  its  purchase  by  the  white 


928  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

man.  Then  the  treaty  contained  no  provision  for  the  forcible 
removal  of  any  of  these  Indians,  and  therefore  considerations  of 
this  character  could  have  but  a  qualified  influence  in  the 
matter. 

"The  real  truth  was,  and  he  owed  it  to  his  constituents  to 
state  it,  that  a  just  and  rational  sympathy  for  this  perishing  rem 
nant  of  a  once  mighty  savage  confederacy  prevailed  much  more 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  treaty  than  any  motives  of  individual  or 
associated  interest.  True  it  was  that  all  the  bands  were  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense  population,  and  that  one  portion  of  one  of  them 
was  upon  the  border  of  a  large  and  growing  city,  imbibing  its 
vices  with  the  readiness  with  which  the  dry  earth  absorbs  the 
rain  which  falls  upon  it;  and  yet  all  that  dense  population,  even 
that  incommoded  city,  would  be  the  last  to  urge  a  removal  of 
these  Indians  against  their  interests,  and  the  first  to  censure  him 
if  he  should  urge  the  proclamation  of  a  treaty,  for  that  purpose, 
which  was  not  palpably  beneficial  to  the  suffering  red  men. 

"  He  was  liable  to  suspicion,  too,  as  favoring  the  interests  of 
the  company  who  held  the  pre-emptive  right  to  the  lands  of  the 
Seneca  band  of  these  Indians,  when  they  shall  surrender  the  pos 
session.  He  believed  the  members  of  this  company  were  mostly, 
and  perhaps  entirely,  residents  of  his  State  ;  and  hence  it  might 
be  believed  that  his  action  was  influenced  by  their  persuasion,  or 
influence,  or  interest.  It  would  become  his  duty,  in  the  course 
of  the  discussion,  to  speak  more  particularly  of  this  company  and 
of  their  rights;  but  it  was  enough  now  to  say,  that  but  one  single 
member  of  it,  to  his  knowledge,  had  ever  mentioned  the  subject 
of  this  treaty  to  him ;  that  this  was  a  call  within  the  last  two  or 
three  d[iys,  and  since  his  opinions  had  been  formed,  his  course 
marked  out,  and  his  preparations  made  for  this  discussion ;  that 
the  individual  was  Thomas  L.  Ogden,  Esq.,  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  a  gentleman  of  the  legal  profession,  of  advanced  age  and 
great  eminence,  and  whose  call  was  made  upon  him  as  a  known 
friend  of  the  treaty,  and  not  to  persuade  him  to  become  so. 

"  If,  then,  he  should  hereafter  be  able  to  show  that  the  treaty 
was  beneficial  to  the  Indians,  he  hoped  he  should  be  credited  in 
the  declaration  that  his  anxiety  for  its  final  confirmation  was 
predicated  upon  their  interests,  rather  than  upon  the  interested 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  929 

wishes  of  his  constituents,  or  the  selfish  desires  of  the  pre-emption 
company. 

"  His  next  preliminary  remark  was,  that,  in  discussing  the 
merits  of  this  treaty,  he  should  pass  entirely  over  that  mass  of 
evidence  which  had  been  collected  against  it  by  those  mistaken 
philanthropists — mistaken  in  his  judgment  —  who  opposed  its 
confirmation  upon  the  ground  that  they  were,  at  some  future 
day,  to  civilize  these  Indians  in  their  present  locations.  To  the 
purity  of  the  motives  of  these  enthusiasts  he  yielded  the  fullest 
belief;  but  in  the  reality  of  their  hopes  he  had  long  since  lost  all 
confidence.  The  idea  of  civilizing  the  Indians  of  our  continent 
had  once  been  a  rich  source  of  hope  to  him ;  but  practical  obser 
vation  and  experience  had  compelled  him  to  abandon  the  delu 
sion.  Many  worthy  and  good  men  yet  retained  their  confidence 
in  the  practicability  of  the  undertaking ;  but  he  could  only  say 
to  them  that,  when  he  should  see  the  deer  of  the  forest  the 
domestic  animal  of  the  farm,  and  the  partridge  of  the  woods  the 
familiar  fowl  of  the  barn-yard,  then,  and  not  till  then,  should  he 
again  hope  for  the  practical  civilization  of  the  Indian. 

"  A  further  remark  was,  that  he  should  enter  upon  the  discus 
sion  with  a  full  and  perfect  understanding,  assented  to  upon  all 
sides  of  the  Senate,  that  the  character  and  standing  and  credit  of 
the  commissioner  who  negotiated  the  treaty  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  remained  unimpeached  and  unimpeachable,  and 
that  his  statements  of  fact  were  to  be  implicitly  relied  upon  in 
all  matters  touching  the  execution  of  the  treaty  by  the  Indians. 
[To  this  position  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  committee  and 
all  the  dissenting  members  assented.]  Another  rule  for  the  dis 
cussion  on  his  part  would  be,  that  the  commissioner  on  the  part 
of  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  was  pres 
ent  at  all  the  transactions,  the  validity  of  which  are  now  in 
dispute,  and  is  a  respectable,  credible  and  disinterested  witness 
to  every  fact  to  which  he  gives  testimony. 

uWith  these  preliminary  remarks,  he  would  proceed  to  the 
discussion  of  the  treaty  and  the  facts  upon  which  it  rested. 

"  A  question  had  been  raised  as  to  the  right  of  the  N  ew  York 
Indians  to  their  'Green  Bay  lands,'  so  called;  but  inasmuch  as 
the  history  of  that  matter  had  been  fully  gone  into  by  the  honor- 
59 


930  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

able  chairman  of  the  committee  [Mr.  Sevier],  and  by  his  honor 
able  friend  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Lumpkin],  he  would  not  consume 
time  with  it  here.  The  treaty  between  the  United  States  and 
the  Menomonee  tribe  of  Indians,  of  the  8th  of  February,  1831, 
by  which  the  latter  ceded  to  the  United  States,  for  the  benefit  of, 
and  'as  a  home  to,  the  several  tribes  of  New  York  Indians,' 
500,000  acres  of  land  in  the  now  Wisconsin  territory,  and  the 
former  paid  in  money  for  that  cession  the  sum  of  $20,000,  was 
sufficient  for  his  purpose.  It  established  the  right  of  the  New 
York  Indians  to  that  land,  independently  of  any  action  of  their 
own;  though  certain  of  the  bands  —  the  Senecas  not  included  — 
had  long  previously  purchased  of  the  Menomonees,  for  the  bene 
fit  of  the  Six  Nations,  a  much  larger  tract  of  country,  and  had 
paid  some  $12,000  in  cash  as  purchase-money  therefor.  Yet  dis 
putes  arose  between  them  and  the  Menomonees  as  to  the  author 
ity  of  the  persons  with  whom  they  contracted  either  to  sell  the 
lands  or  to  receive  the  pay  therefor;  and,  the  proceeding  having 
taken  place  in  pursuance  of  a  consent  previously  obtained  from 
the  President  of  the  United  States  [Mr.  Monroe]  by  the  New 
York  Indians,  the  treaty  of  1831  was  negotiated  by  the  United 
States  as  a  compromise  between  the  Six  Nations  of  New  York 
and  the  Menomonee  tribe.  Hence  the  estate  of  the  New  York 
Indians  in  their  Green  Bay  lands. 

"He  was  aware  that  the  original  cession  from  the  Menomonees 
required  that  the  New  York  Indians  should  remove  to  the  lands, 
and  reside  thereon  as  their  home,  within  three  years  from  the 
date  of  the  treaty;  but  the  cession  to  the  United  States  was 
positive  and  perfect;  the  condition  of  forfeiture  a  forfeiture  to 
the  United  States  and  not  to  the  Menomonees;  and  hence  the 
whole  title  was  in  the  United  States  and  the  New  York  Indians. 
This  being  the  fact,  the  United  States  had,  since  the  treaty  of 
cession  from  the  Menomonees  and  before  the  expiration  of  the 
three  years,  entered  into  a  further  treaty  with  the  New  York 
Indians,  by  which  they  were  released  from  the  condition  of 
removal  to  the  lands  within  three  years,  and  the  time  of  their 
removal  was  to  be  fixed  by  the  President.  That  time  has  never 
been  fixed,  and  therefore  their  right  remains  precisely  what  it 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  931 

was  after  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  1831  with  the  Meno- 
monees. 

"  It  is  now  said  that  this  right  depends  upon  the  mere  indul 
gence  of  the  President,  and  that  the  known  determination  of 
these  Indians  not  to  remove  to  Green  Bay  places  it  in  his  power 
to  terminate  the  right  at  pleasure,  by  fixing  a  day  for  their 
removal  to  these  lands.  The  soundness  of  this  position,  in 
technical  law,  is  freely  admitted;  and  does  anybody  fear  a  sacri 
fice  of  the  interests  of  the  New  York  Indians  from  the  admis 
sion  ?  Had  such  been  the  policy  of  this  government  as  to  Indian 
claims  and  Indian  title?  If  physical  power  and  technical  law 
were  the  rules  by  which  these  people  were  to  be  dealt  with,  they 
had  no  rights.  We  had  never  recognized  in  them  any  other 
estate  in  lands  than  that  of  simple  occupancy,  a  mere  possessory 
title;  and  if  we  were  to  canvass  that  right  by  the  rules  of  the 
courts,  the  Indian  might  as  well  abandon  his  claim.  His  occu 
pancy  would  be  too  limited,  or  too  questionable,  to  give  him  a 
resting  place,  and  might  would  make  right  on  the  side  of  the 
whites  when  such  rules  came  to  govern  the  questions.  Such, 
however,  was  not,  and  was  not  to  be,  our  Indian  policy;  and  no 
technical  action  of  the  President  was  to  forfeit  the  right  of  the 
Indians  to  their  Green  Bay  lands.  The  treaty,  therefore,  upon 
this  point,  required  no  more  support  than  was  given  to  it  by  for 
mer  compacts  of  the  same  character. 

"  What,  then,  was  this  treaty,  in  its  essential  provisions,  so  far 
as  the  rights  of  the  United  States  and  of  these  Indians  were  con 
cerned  ?  The  entire  instrument  was  too  long  to  trouble  the  Sen 
ate  with,  while  a  very  short  statement  would  give  the  points  upon 
which  the  discussion  must  rest. 

"Article  1  cedes  to  the  United  States  the  lands  of  the  New 
York  Indians,  at  Green  Bay,  not  otherwise  disposed  of,  computed 
at  435,000  acres. 

"Article  2  secures  to  these  Indians  a  country  in  the  Indian 
territory,  west  of  the  Mississippi,  equal  to  320  acres  of  land  for 
each  soul,  the  whole  computed  at  1,824,000  acres. 

"Article  15  stipulates  to  pay  to  the  Indians,  from  the  treasury 
of  the  United  States,  $400,000,  '  to  aid  them  in  removing  to  their 
new  homes  and  supporting  themselves  the  first  year  after  their 


932  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS 

removal ;  to  encourage  and  assist  them  in  education,  and  being 
taught  to  cultivate  their  lands ;  in  erecting  mills  and  other  neces 
sary  houses;  in  purchasing  domestic  animals  and  farming  utensils, 
and  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  mechanic  arts.' 

"  These  were  the  principal  provisions  of  the  treaty,  in  a  pro 
perty  sense,  as  affecting  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  government 
or  the  Indians.  Some  other  articles  there  were  stipulating  for 
the  payment  of  small  sums  to  some  of  the  smaller  bands,  but  the 
amount  in  no  single  case  exceeds  $5,000,  and  the  aggregate 
amount  is  but  about  $20,000. 

"As  connected  with  this  branch  of  the  subject,  however,  are 
two  separate  treaties:  the  one  between  the  Seneca  band  of  Indi 
ans,  the  pre-emption  company  and  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
and  the  other  between  the  Tuscarora  band  and  the  same  parties. 
The  first  conveys  to  the  pre-emption  company  all  the  remaining 
lands  of  the  Senecas  within  the  State  of  New  York,  consisting  of 
four  reservations,  as  follows: 

Acres. 

"  The  Buffalo  Creek  reservation,  containing 49,920 

"  The  Cattaraugus  reservation 21,680 

"  The  Allegany  reservation 30,469 

"  The  Tonawanda  reservation 12,800 


"In  all 114,869 


"As  the  consideration  money  for  the  purchase,  the  pre-emption 
company  stipulate  to  pay  to  the  Seneca  Indians  the  sum  of 
$202,000  in  money;  and  the  tenth  article  of  the  treaty  with  the 
United  States,  now  under  consideration,  stipulates  that  the 
United  States  will  receive,  hold  and  invest  for  these  Indians 
$100,000  of  this  money,  and  will  pay  them  the  annual  interest 
thereon  forever;  and  that  the  improvements  upon  the  reserva 
tions,  being  the  property  of  individual  Indians,  shall  be  appraised, 
and  the  $102,000  be  paid  to  the  owners  thereof  in  just  proportions. 

"  The  treaty  with  the  Tuscarora  band  cedes  to  the  pre-emption 
company  their  small  reservation  of  1,920  acres,  called  '  the  Tusca 
rora  reservation,'  or  '  Seneca  grant,'  for  which  the  pre-emption 
company  stipulate  to  pay  the  sum  of  $9,600  in  money. 

"  The  title  of  the  respective  bands  to  the  lands  last  mentioned 
was  the  ordinary  Indian  title  of  possession  and  occupancy,  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  933 

company,  as  will  hereafter  appear,  having  long  since  purchased 
the  pre-emption  right  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

"  By  the  fourteenth  article  of  the  treaty  with  the  United  States, 
the  Tuscarora  band  cede  to  the  United  States  5,000  acres  of  land 
which  they  own  in  fee,  situate  in  Niagara  county,  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  to  be  held  for  them  in  trust,  and  to  be  sold  at  the 
value  as  appraised  and  the  money  to  be  paid  to  them,  so  far  as 
the  value  of  the  improvements  are  concerned,  and  invested  for 
their  benefit,  and  the  annual  interest  thereon  paid  to  them  for 
ever,  so  far  as  the  value  of  the  soil,  separate  from  the  improve 
ments,  shall  be  realized;  the  expenses  of  survey,  appraisement 
and  sale  being  first  deducted. 

"  This  was  a  concise  view  of  the  pecuniary  stipulations  of  the 
three  treaties,  and  upon  them  the  discussion  had  hitherto  rested, 
and  must  rest,  as  he  had  heard  of  no  complaints  from  any  quarter 
as  to  the  other  stipulations  with  any  portion  of  these  Indians. 

"  It  would  now  be  proper  to  examine  the  condition  of  the  ques 
tion  before  the  Senate,  in  order  that  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
case  presented  may  be  had.  What,  then,  is  the  real  question 
before  the  body,  and  how  has  it  come  here  ? 

"  We  find  the  first  printed  paper,  in  the  large  file  upon  our 
tables,  to  be  a  message  from  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
transmitting  this  treaty  to  the  Senate,  with  the  volume  of  papers 
which  accompany  it,  and  expressing  his  clear  convictions  upon 
the  following  points: 

"  1.  That  the  removal  of  the  Indians  is  essential  to  their  pros 
perity  and  welfare,  and  even  to  their  preservation  as  a  people. 

"  2.  That  the  true  interests  of  the  sections  of  country  where 
they  are  require  that  they  should  be  removed. 

"3.  That  the  terms  of  the  treaty  are  liberal  toward  the 
Indians  in  every  respect. 

"  Yet  it  is  not  proclaimed  by  the  President,  but  returned  to 
the  Senate  for  a  further  expression  on  its  part.  And  what 
expression  is  sought?  Whether,  in  its  judgment,  this  liberal 
treaty  has  been  assented  to  by  the  Indians,  in  conformity  with 
the  rule  established  by  the  Senate  for  giving  that  assent.  This 
is  the  single  point  presented,  and  upon  which  an  expression  of 
the  Senate  is  desired. 


934  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  How  have  doubts  arisen  upon  this  point  ?  Certainly  from 
the  peculiar  action  of  the  Senate  upon  the  treaty  at  some  former 
stage  of  that  action,  or  from  the  peculiarity  of  the  assent  which 
the  Indians  have  in  fact  given,  or  from  both.  An  examination 
of  the  history  of  the  treaty  will  show  where  rest  the  difficulties. 

"  The  original  treaty,  which  forms  the  basis  of  this  discussion, 
was  concluded  between  the  New  York  Indians  and  the  United 
States  on  the  15th  day  of  January,  1838.  About  the  due  execu 
tion  of  that  treaty  by  the  Indians  there  has  not  been,  and  is  not, 
any  question.  It  was  presented  to  all  the  bands,  convened  in  a 
common  council,  and  was  assented  to  by  all,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  Senate. 

"  That  treaty,  thus  made  on  the  part  of  these  bands,  was  sub 
sequently,  and  during  the  annual  session  of  the  Senate  of  1837-38, 
transmitted  to  this  body  for  its  ratification  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  in  the  usual  form  of  transacting  such  business. 
It  was  referred  to  the  proper  committee  of  the  Senate  for  exami 
nation  and  advisement.  The  committee  found  many  of  its  pro 
visions  objectionable  to  them,  from  being  too  vague,  and  present 
ing  too  uncertain  a  responsibility  on  the  part  of  this  government. 
The  removal  of  the  Indians,  their  subsistence  for  one  year,  the 
erection  of  mills,  school-houses,  blacksmith  shops,  churches,  and 
many  other  expenditures,  were  stipulated,  without  any  amount 
stated  as  the  maximum  of  expenditure  to  which  the  treasury  of 
the  United  States  might  be  subjected.  The  committee,  as  he 
understood  at  the  time,  and  now  believes,  referred  these  matters 
of  ordinary  expenditure  to  the  head  of  the  Indian  Bureau,  for  an 
estimate  of  the  amount  of  money  required  to  meet  them,  and 
framed  their  fifteenth  article  of  the  amended  treaty  upon  the  esti 
mate  returned  from  that  officer;  thus  giving,  for  the  objects 
enumerated  in  that  article,  the  full  amount  of  that  estimate,  but 
limiting  the  amount  which  could  be  called  for  to  the  $400,000 
therein  stipulated  to  be  paid,  that  being  the  amount  estimated. 

"  There  were  other  articles  in  the  original  treaty,  stipulating 
for  the  payment  of  gratuities  to  individual  Indians  by  name, 
providing  funds  for  a  university,  and  the  like,  which  the  com 
mittee  wholly  rejected,  without  proposing  any  equivalent. 

"  Thus  an  amended  treaty  was  formed  by  the  Committee  on 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  935 

Indian  Affairs  of  the  Senate,  and  reported  to  the  body  for  its 
acceptance,  which  met  with  its  unanimous  concurrence.  It  was 
ratified  on  the  llth  of  June,  1838,  and  returned  to  the  Indians 
for  their  assent,  with  a  special  resolution,  which  has  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  present  controversy. 

"It  was  proper  here  to  remark  that  the  resolutions  of  the 
Senate  of  the  llth  of  June,  1838,  were  a  complete  ratification  of 
the  amended  treaty  on  its  part;  that  the  instrument,  in  all  its 
parts,  was  thus  made  perfect,  so  far  as  the  constitutional  action 
of  this  body,  in  the  formation  of  a  treaty,  was  concerned,  and 
that  the  only  thing  which  remained  to  be  done  was  the  giving 
of  the  requisite  assent,  by  the  several  bands  of  Indians,  accord 
ing  to  the  resolutions  for  that  purpose  which  the  Senate  adopted. 
That  resolution  was  made  part  of  the  proceedings  of  ratification 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  was,  upon  its  face,  to  be  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present,  and  was,  therefore,  if 
met  by  the  Indians  with  the  assent  required,  the  final  close  of 
our  action  on  the  subject  of  the  treaty  in  our  executive  character. 
The  resolution  was  in  the  following  words : 

"  '  Provided  always,  and  be  it  further  resolved  (two-thirds  of  the  Senate  present 
concurring),  That  the  treaty  shall  have  no  force  or  effect  whatever,  as  it 
relates  to  any  of  said  tribes,  nations  or  bands  of  New  York  Indians,  nor 
shall  it  be  understood  that  the  Senate  have  assented  to  any  of  the  contracts 
connected  with  it,  until  the  same,  with  the  amendments  herein  proposed,  is 
submitted,  and  fully  and  fairly  explained,  by  a  commissioner  of  the  United 
States,  to  each  of  said  tribes  or  bands,  separately  assembled  in  council,  and 
they  have  given  their  free  and  voluntary  assent  thereto ;  and  if  one  or  more 
of  said  tribes  or  bands,  when  consulted  as  aforesaid,  shall  freely  assent  to 
said  treaty  as  amended,  and  to  their  contract  connected  therewith,  it  shall 
be  binding  and  obligatory  upon  those  so  assenting,  although  other  or  others 
of  said  bands  or  tribes  may  not  give  their  assent,  and  thereby  cease  to  be 
parties  thereto.  Provided,  further,  That  if  any  portion  or  part  of  said  Indians 
do  not  emigrate,  the  President  shall  retain  a  proper  proportion  of  said  sum 
of  $400,000,  and  shall  also  deduct,  from  the  quantity  of  land  allowed  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  such  number  of  acres  as  will  leave  to  each  emigrant  320 
acres  only.' 

"  With  its  full  ratification  and  this  conditional  resolution,  the 
Senate  returned  the  treaty  to  the  President  as  amended,  for  him, 
as  the  executive  of  the  nation,  to  carry  its  orders  into  effect,  but 


936  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

most  clearly  without  anything  further  on  its  part  to  be  done  to 
make  the  whole  a  valid  and  operative  treaty. 

"  The  President,  during  the  vacation  of  Congress,  caused  the 
treaty,  as  amended  by  the  Senate,  to  be  again  submitted  to  the 
Indians  for  their  assents,  according  to  the  resolution  of  the  Senate 
above  given. 

"On  the  21st  of  January,  1839,  the  President,  by  a  message, 
returned  the  amended  treaty  to  the  Senate.  For  what?  For 
ratification  again  by  this  body  ?  No ;  but  for  this  body  to  say 
whether  the  assents  given  by  the  various  bands  of  Indians  was  in 
conformity  with  our  resolution  of  the  llth  of  June,  1838,  and 
was  sufficient  to  authorize  him  to  proclaim  the  treaty.  As  to  all 
the  bands,  except  the  Senecas,  the  President  expresses  the  opinion, 
in  his  then  message,  that  the  assents  had  been  '  entirely  satisfac 
tory.'  As  to  the  assent  of  the  Senecas  he  seems  not  to  have  been 
satisfied,  and  for  that  reason  to  have  returned  the  treaty  and 
papers  to  the  Senate. 

"The  whole  matter  was  then  again  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Indian  Affairs  of  this  body,  and  underwent  before  them  a 
laborious  investigation,  including  the  examination  of  numerous 
witnesses.  The  result  was  an  inability,  on  the  part  of  the  com 
mittee,  then  consisting  of  four  members,  to  come  to  any  conclu 
sion,  or  to  recommend  any  specific  course  of  action  to  the  Senate. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  the  subject  first  came  up  for  the 
consideration  and  action  of  the  body  on  Saturday,  the  2d  day 
of  March,  1839,  at  that  time  universally  supposed  to  be  the  last 
legislative  day  of  the  session.  It  was  immediately  apparent,  as 
all  who  were  then  here  will  recollect,  that  no  decisive  action 
could  take  place,  without  protracted  debate,  as  the  documents 
were  voluminous,  the  statements  complicated  and  contradictory, 
and  the  opinions  of  Senators,  as  well  as  of  the  different  members 
of  the  committee,  strongly  conflicting. 

"  The  public  appropriation  bills,  also,  with  a  large  share  of  the 
other  legislation  of  the  session,  remained  in  an  unfinished  state, 
and  it  was  impossible  for  the  Senate  to  devote  its  time  to  a  sub 
ject  of  this  character  at  that  period  of  a  short  session. 

"  To  pass  the  subject  over,  therefore,  and  not  permit  the  treaty 
and  the  whole  negotiation  to  drop,  for  want  of  consideration  and 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  937 

action,  the  Senate  passed  its  resolution  of  the  2d  of  March,  1839. 
That  resolution  was  offered  by  his  honorable  colleague,  a  friend 
to  the  treaty,  and  after  a  very  little  conversation  and  some  slight 
verbal  modifications,  suggested  by  others  and  promptly  accepted 
by  the  mover,  was  adopted,  as  his  present  impression  was,  by 
two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present.  It  was  in  the  following 
words : 

"  '  Resolved,  That  whenever  the  President  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
satisfied  that  the  assent  of  the  Seneca  tribe  of  Indians  has  been  given  to  the 
amended  treaty  of  June  llth,  1838,  with  the  New  York  Indians,  according 
to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  llth 
of  June,  1838,  the  Senate  recommend  that  the  President  make  proclamation 
of  said  treaty,  and  carry  the  same  into  effect.' 

"With  this  resolution  the  treaty  was  remanded  to  the  Presi 
dent  for  the  further  action  of  the  executive  department.  Inas 
much  as  the  President  had  returned  the  amended  treaty  to  the 
Senate  for  an  expression  of  its  opinion  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  the 
assent  of  the  Seneca  band,  and  as  the  resolution  above  given  did 
not  express  an  affirmative  opinion  upon  that  point,  that  officer 
very  naturally  supposed  that  further  efforts  on  his  part  to  obtain 
the  assent  of  this  band  were  contemplated.  During  the  vacation 
of  1839,  therefore,  he  sent  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  person,  to 
hold  a  council  with  this  band,  and  again  lay  the  amended  treaty 
before  their  chiefs  in  council,  for  their  more  formal  assents. 

"  The  council  was  held  on  the  13th  and  14th  days  of  August, 
1839,  and  'talks'  were  interchanged  between  the  Secretary,  the 
agent  of  the  New  York  Indians,  and  the  chiefs  and  principal  men, 
not  of  the  Seneca  band  merely,  but  of  several  of  the  other  bands. 
These  'talks,'  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  were  principally  strong 
recriminations  between  the  friends  and  the  opponents  of  the 
treaty,  and  resulted  in  nothing  decisive,  either  in  favor  of  or 
against  the  measure,  as  applicable  to  the  Seneca  band,  or  to  any 
other  portion  of  the  New  York  Indians.  A  full  report  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  council  is  found  with  the  printed  documents 
before  the  Senate  ;  and  is  all  the  evidence  of  any  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  executive  to  obtain  the  farther  assent  of  any  portion 
of  the  Indians  to  the  treaty,  after  the  passage  of  the  resolution 
of  the  Senate  of  the  2d  March,  1839. 


938  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  Under  this  state  of  facts,  the  amended  treaty,  with  a  mass 
of  documents  in  favor  of  and  against  it,  was  returned  to  the 
Senate  by  the  President,  during  our  present  session,  accompanied 
by  his  message  of  the  fifteenth  of  January,  before  referred  to. 

"  All  the  papers  have  been  again  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Indian  Affairs  of  this  body,  and,  after  full  consideration,  the 
committee  unanimously  report  that  the  state  of  facts  has  not 
been  changed,  so  far  as  the  action  of  the  Senate  is  concerned, 
since  the  treaty  was  last  submitted  to  us  ;  that  the  question  now 
is,  as  it  was  in  1839,  when  the  amended  treaty  was  before  the 
Senate,  upon  the  submission  of  the  President,  with  his  message 
of  the  twenty-first  of  January  of  that  year.  Have  the  Seneca  band 
of  Indians  given  their  assent  to  this  amended  treaty,  in  con 
formity  with  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the  Senate's  resolution  of 
ratification  of  the  llth  of  June,  1838  ? 

"  This  is  the  simple  question  for  the  Senate  to  decide,  and  this 
long  history  shows  in  what  manner,  and  under  what  circum 
stances,  it  has  come  before  us. 

"Before  proceeding  to  discuss  this  question,  justice  to  the 
President  requires  a  few  words  in  explanation  of  his  course.  It 
has  been  already  more  than  intimated  that  his  reference  of  this 
question  to  the  Senate  is  improper  ;  that  the  point  was  one  for 
him.  to  decide,  as  his  action  alone  is  called  for  to  render  the 
treaty  perfect  and  operative.  Differing  with  the  President,  as 
he  did,  in  reference  to  the  sufficiency  of  the  assent  of  the  Senecas, 
within  the  fair  intent  and  meaning  of  the  resolution  of  the  Senate 
of  the  llth  of  June,  1838,  yet  his  convictions  were  clear  that 
that  officer  had  discharged  his  duty  most  properly  in  again 
referring  the  question  of  doubt  to  the  decision  of  the  Senate. 
Where  was  the  doubt,  and  how  had  it  arisen  ?  Out  of  the  acts 
of  the  Indians,  by  way  of  assent  or  dissent  ?  No ;  but  out  of 
what  should  be  considered  the  true  construction  of  the  resolu 
tion  of  the  Senate,  under  which  that  assent  was  to  be  made. 
The  President  tells  us  he  thinks  we  intended  that  the  chiefs 
should  assent  lin  council,'  and  he  says,  lno  advance  toward 
obtaining  the  assent  of  the  Seneca  tribe  to  the  amended  treaty, 
IN  COUNCIL,  was  made,  nor  can  the  assent  of  a  majority  of  them, 
in  council,  be  now  obtained.'  This  language  refers  expressly 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  939 

to  the  efforts  made  by  the  President,  through  the  Secretary 
of  War,  after  the  passage  of  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the 
2d  of  March,  1839;  and,  while  it  shows  the  construction  which 
he  was  inclined  to  put  upon  the  resolution  of  ratification  of  the 
llth  of  June,  1838,  proves  also  that  he  supposed  the  resolution 
of  the  2d  of  March,  1839,  contemplated  further  measures  on  his 
part  to  obtain  the  assent  of  this  band.  Still  he  was  not  confi 
dent,  as  his  message  abundantly  shows,  that  his  construction  of 
the  resolution  of  ratification  was  that  which  the  Senate  intended ; 
and  hence  his  reference  again  of  the  whole  matter  to  this  body, 
that  we  might  put  our  own  construction  upon  our  own  act.  A 
different  course  on  his  part  would  necessarily  have  been  a  final 
rejection  of  the  treaty,  inasmuch  as  there  is  no  pretense  that  a 
majority  of  the  Seneca  chiefs  assented  lin  council?  So  long  as 
there  was  doubt,  therefore,  it  was  his  imperative  duty  to  make 
the  reference  he  has  made,  and  to  leave  it  to  this  body  to  say 
what  it  intended,  and  whether,  from  all  the  facts  in  the  case, 
which  he  has  most  properly  laid  before  us,  the  spirit  and  intent 
of  our  resolution  has  been  complied  with. 

"  This  brought  him  to  the  real  question  presented  for  discus 
sion;  and  tedious  as  he  had  been  compelled  to  be  in  his  manner 
of  reaching  it,  he  hoped  he  had  succeeded  in  so  far  clearing  the 
ground  as  to  render  the  position  in  which  he  now  stood  perfectly 
perceptible.  Had,  then,  the  New  York  Indians  —  and  especially 
the  Seneca  band  —  given  their  assent  to  the  amended  treaty, 
according  to  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Senate 
of  the  llth  of  June,  1838,  by  which  the  Senate  ratified  that  treaty 
on  its  part  and  tendered  it  to  these  Indians  for  their  assent? 
This  was  the  question.  If  they  had,  the  matter  was  at  an  end. 
The  contract  had  received  the  sanction  of  both  the  contracting 
parties,  and  it  was  in  the  power  of  neither  to  annul  it  without  the 
assent  of  the  other.  If  they  had  not,  it  was  no  treaty  as  to  the 
bands  not  assenting,  and  nothing  which  the  Senate  could  do 
would  make  it  valid  as  to  them.  The  question  was  one  of  fact. 
The  evidence  was  all  before  us  and  we  were  the  jury  by  which 
that  fact  was  to  be  found,  and  the  consequence,  whatever  should 
be  our  verdict,  would  necessarily  follow. 

"  What,  then,  was  the  fact  ?    The  resolution  of  the  Senate  con- 


940  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

tained  two  prerequisites  to  the  consummation  of  the  treaty  by  the 
Indians : 

"  1.  That  it,  with  the  amendments  of  the  Senate,  should  be  sub 
mitted  and  fully  and  fairly  explained,  by  a  commissioner  of  the 
United  States,  to  each  of  said  tribes  or  bands  separately  assem 
bled  in  council. 

"2.  That  each  of  the  said  tribes  or  bands  shall  have  given 
their  free  and  voluntary  assent  to  the  treaty  as  amended. 

"It  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  first  of  these  prerequisites 
has  been  fully  and  fairly  and  honestly  complied 'with;  that  the 
commissioner  of  the  United  States  has  submitted  the  amended 
treaty  to  each  of  the  tribes  or  bands  separately  assembled  in 
council,  and  has  there  fully  and  fairly  explained  the  same  to 
them,  according  to  the  terms  and  spirit  and  intent  of  our  reso 
lution.  Here,  therefore,  he  felt  at  liberty  to  dismiss  that  branch 
of  the  discussion. 

"  It  only  remains  to  determine  whether  the  Indians  have  given 
their  free  and  voluntary  assent  to  the  amended  treaty. 

"Here,  again,  the  ground  is  narrowed  down  to  the  Seneca 
band,  as  all  admit  —  the  President  in  his  message  of  1839,  and 
the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  in  their  reports  at  the  last  and 
present  sessions  of  the  Senate  —  that  the  assent  of  all  the  other 
bands  has  been  satisfactorily  given. 

"The  majority  of  the  committee  now  report  that  the  Seneca 
band  have  not  so  assented,  and  their  honorable  chairman  has 
made  a  most  able  and  forcible  argument  to  sustain  that  report. 
He  did  not  flatter  himself  that  he  could  so  well  deserve  the  atten 
tion  of  the  Senate,  or  that  he  could  discuss  the  question  so  clearly 
and  forcibly,  as  he  could  not  pretend  to  have  made  himself  so 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  volume  of  documents  to  be 
examined.  Yet  he  would  try  to  maintain  the  opposite  side  of 
the  argument,  and  to  trespass  as  lightly  as  possible  upon  the 
patience  and  attention  which  might  be  extended  toward  him. 

"To  establish  the  number  of  chiefs  of  the  Seneca  nation 
entitled  to  be  consulted,  and  authorized  to  act  in  making  trea 
ties,  was  first  necessary.  It  would  appear  singular,  to  those 
who  had  not  examined  these  papers,  that  this  should  be  a 
question  of  dispute  even  among,  not  the  Indians  simply,  but 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  941 

among  their  admitted  chiefs;  and  nothing  could  more  forci 
bly  demonstrate  the  perishing  state  of  these  unfortunate  rem 
nants  of  the  Indian  race  of  the  north  than  this  single  fact. 
They  have  lost  the  number,  and  are  ignorant  of  the  persons 
of  those  who  are  entitled  to  exercise  the  supreme  power  of 
their  nation.  Yet  he  felt  authorized  to  assume  that  the  real 
number  of  chiefs,  or  in  any  event  the  highest  number  which  the 
papers  would  authorize  us  to  assume,  was  eighty-one.  This  was 
the  number  assumed  by  the  President,  by  the  head  of  the  Indian 
Bureau,  by  the  committee,  and  by  the  honorable  chairman  in  his 
argument;  and  this  was  the  number  he  should  assume  as  the 
proper  one  to  test  the  execution  of  the  treaty. 

"It  was  assumed  that  the  assent  of  a  majority  of  the  chiefs 
was  requisite  to  constitute  a  valid  execution  of  the  treaty  on  the 
part  of  the  nation,  and,  of  course,  that  the  signatures  of  forty- 
one  of  the  eighty-one  chiefs  was  the  least  number  which  could 
constitute  an  assent.  Without  admitting  that  the  action  of  a 
majority  of  all  these  eighty-one  chiefs  was  requisite  to  the  for 
mation  of  a  valid  treaty,  or  even  that  it  was  necessary  or  proper 
to  call  for  the  action  of  a  majority  of  all  the  chiefs  of  all  grades 
for  such  a  purpose,  he  should  argue  the  question  upon  the  hypo 
thesis  that  the  concurrence  of  a  majority  of  the  whole  was 
necessary  in  this  case;  and  he  should  do  so,  because  he  felt  entire 
confidence  that  even  under  that  rule  the  Senate  would  be  able  to 
decide  that  the  assent  of  the  Seneca  band  to  the  amended  treaty 
had  been  obtained. 

"  To  those,  however,  who,  with  the  honorable  chairman,  had 
made  up  their  minds  that  the  signatures  of  this  majority  of  the 
chiefs  must  have  been  given  in  '  council,'  and  that  any  assent 
of  a  chief  given  elsewhere,  however  freely  and  fairly,  is  to  be 
treated  as  a  nullity,  he  had  no  argument  to  make.  There  was 
no  pretense  that  a  majority  of  the  chiefs  signed  the  amended 
treaty  'in  council,'  and  if  that  was  to  be  held  as  a  prerequisite 
to  a  valid  execution,  the  assent  of  the  Senecas  had  not  been 
obtained.  He  did  not  so  read  or  so  construe  the  resolution  of 
the  Senate  of  the  llth  of  June,  1838.  He  had  before  divided 
the  resolution  according  to  his  understanding  of  its  meaning. 
The  amended  treaty  was  to  be  '  submitted,  and  fully  and  fairly 


942  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

explained,  by  a  commissioner  of  the  United  States,  to  each  of 
said  tribes  or  bands,  separately  assembled  in  council.'  This,  it 
is  admitted  on  all  hands,  was  done  with  all  the  bands,  and  as 
well  with  the  Senecas  as  the  others.  Then  each  tribe  or  band 
was  to  give  '  their  free  and  voluntary  assent  thereto,'  to  render 
the  amended  treaty  valid  as  to  it. 

"Has  the  Seneca  band  performed  this  condition  on  its  part? 
Have  this  tribe,  through  a  majority  of  their  chiefs,  acting  in  or 
out  of  council,  'given  their  free  and  voluntary  assent'  to  the 
amended  treaty? 

"  He  was  happy  to  observe,  from  the  argument  of  the  honor 
able  chairman,  that  there  would  be  no  substantial  difference 
between  them  as  to  the  facts  connected  with  the  assents  of  the 
Seneca  chiefs,  in  the  manner  in  which  those  assents  had  been 
given,  and  that  the  differences  were  as  to  the  conclusions  to  be 
drawn  from  admitted  facts,  and  as  to  the  fairness,  good  faith 
and  validity  of  the  conceded  acts  of  the  chiefs. 

"  This  would  enable  him  to  state  the  facts  very  concisely,  and 
relieve  him  from  the  labor  of  reading  tedious  extracts  from  the 
reports  of  the  commissioner,  and  the  other  papers. 

"It  is,  then,  conceded  that  sixteen  of  the  chiefs  signed  the 
amended  treaty  '  in  council.' 

"  The  commissioner  states  that  subsequently  thirteen  other 
chiefs  affixed  their  signatures  at  his  room,  in  the  presence  of 
Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  the  agent  appointed  by  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  to  attend  the  negotiations  with  the  Seneca 
and  Tuscarora  Indians,  four  of  which  thirteen  signatures  were 
affixed  by  attorneys  of  the  chiefs  duly  appointed  and  empowered 
to  perform  the  act,  and  the  remaining  nine  by  the  chiefs  in  per 
son.  The  commissioner  adds  that  the  signatures  of  two  other 
chiefs,  who  were  too  unwell  to  attend  in  council,  were  taken  at 
the  rooms  of  the  chiefs,  also  in  the  presence  of  the  Massachusetts 
agent ;  that  all  the  fifteen  chiefs  who  thus  signed  out  of  council, 
were  persons  who  well  understood  the  subject,  and  that  all  the 
signatures  '  were  freely  and  voluntarily  given;'  that  the  four  who 
signed  by  attorney  were  well  known  as  chiefs  friendly  to  emigra 
tion—were  persons  who  signed  the  original  treaty;  that  three 
of  the  powers  of  attorney  were  properly  acknowledged  before  a 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  943 

judge  of  the  county,  and  the  fourth  executed  in  his  own  presence, 
before  the  amended  treaty  was  submitted  for  signatures  in  coun 
cil  ;  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  that  all  the  powers  were  fairly 
obtained. 

"Here  is  shown  the  assent  of  thirty-one  of  the  eighty-one 
chiefs  given,  sixteen  in  and  fifteen  out  of  council;  and  these 
were  all  the  signatures  obtained  by  the  commissioner  from  chiefs 
of  the  Senecas  during  his  first  visit  to  obtain  the  assent  of  the 
several  bands  to  the  amended  treaty. 

"  The  commissioner  states,  in  his  report  to  the  head  of  the 
Indian  Bureau,  that  he  directed  the  local  Indian  agent  to  keep  as 
accurate  an  account  as  was  possible  of  the  number  of  chiefs 
attending  in  council  from  day  to  day,  and  also  of  the  entire  num 
ber  of  chiefs  who  appeared  in  council  at  any  time  during  the 
negotiations,  inasmuch  as  chiefs  and  warriors  attended  in  council 
together,  and  sat  together,  as  did  also  individuals  of  the  other 
bands,  so  that  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  tell  which  were  Seneca 
chiefs,  any  farther  than  the  prosecution  of  his  duties  made  them 
known  to  him  —  that  the  agent  reported  to  him  that  not  more 
than  sixty-one  chiefs  of  the  Senecas  were  present  in  council  at 
any  one  time;  and  he  then  raises  the  question  for  the  decision  of 
the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  whether  the  thirty-one 
assents  obtained,  being  a  majority  of  sixty-one,  the  whole  num 
ber  of  chiefs  present  in  council  at  any  one  time,  the  amended 
treaty  might  not  be  considered  as  sufficiently  assented  to  on  the 
part  of  the  Senecas.  Upon  this  ground  only  did  the  commis 
sioner  intimate  that  the  assent  of  this  band  could  be  considered 
as  sufficiently  given. 

"  The  next  fact,  which  seems  to  be  material  here,  is  given  by 
the  commissioner  in  the  following  words : 

"  '  Since  I  commenced  this  report,  I  have  received,  by  mail,  the  written 
assent  of  five  persons  known  by  me  to  be  recognized  by  the  nation  as  chiefs. 
They  all  signed  the  treaty  last  winter.  These  appear  to  have  been  proved 
and  acknowledged  before  Hezekiah  Salisbury,  a  commissioner  of  deeds  in 
the  county  of  Erie,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  He  is  certified  to  be  duly 
commissioned  as  such  officer  by  the  clerk  of  the  county.  The  persons  who 
have  subscribed  their  names  as  witnesses  are  known  to  me  to  be  respectable. 
I  have  no  doubt  these  assents  were  fairly  given.  Added  to  those  taken  in 
my  presence,  they  make  thirty-six  in  all,  and  are  probably  a  majority  of  the 


944  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF-  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

whole  number  who  attended  during  the  council.  I  observe  in  each  of  these 
papers  is  incorporated  a  power  to  you  and  to  me  to  add  their  respective 
names  to  the  assent  which  I  now  hand  you.  Whether  these  powers  should 
be  exercised  or  not,  you  can  best  judge.' 

"  This  is  an  extract  from  the  report  of  the  commissioner  to  the 
head  of  the  Indian  Bureau,  made  at  Washington  under  date  of 
the  25th  of  October,  1838;  and  it  presents  the  further  question, 
whether  if  the  thirty-one  signatures,  being  a  majority  of  the 
number  of  chiefs  who  attended  council  at  any  one  time,  should 
not  be  considered  a  sufficient  assent,  the  thirty-six,  being  a  majo 
rity  of  the  whole  number  who  appeared  in  council  at  any  time, 
would  not  be  so  considered  ? 

"He  must  be  permitted  here  to  remark  that  his  friend,  the 
honorable  chairman,  criticised  these  suggestions  of  the  commis 
sioner  with  what  appeared  to  him  to  be  undue  severity,  when  he 
said  that  the  commissioner  appeared  to  have  returned  to  Wash 
ington  for  the  grave  purpose  of  submitting  to  the  War  department 
the  question  whether  thirty-one,  or  thirty-six,  were  a  majority  of 
eighty-one.  The  suggestions  were  such  as  he  had  stated,  and 
they  seemed  to  have  been  very  properly  and  very  sensibly  made. 
If  a  vote  had  been  taken  in  council,  and  a  majority  of  the  chiefs 
present  had  approved  of  the  amended  treaty,  and  then  signed  it, 
the  very  ground  upon  which  the  honorable  chairman  rests  his 
argument  would  have  made  that  a  valid  and  satisfactory  assent 
'  in  council.'  Was  there,  then,  anything  very  absurd  or  censur 
able  in  the  inquiry  of  the  commissioner,  whether  that  same  assent, 
given  partly  in  council  and  partly  out  of  it,  was  satisfactory;  and 
if  not,  whether  the  assent  of  a  majority  of  all  the  chiefs' who 
at  any  time  appeared  in  the  council  would  be  sufficient?  He 
thought  not. 

"  Upon  the  facts  here  presented,  the  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  made  his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  under  date  of 
the  29th  of  October,  1838,  strongly  questioning  the  sufficiency  of 
the  assent,  as  to  the  Seneca  band,  and,  under  date  of  the  thirtieth 
of  the  same  month,  he  writes  to  the  commissioner  as  follows: 

'  Your  report  and  the  treaty  with  the  New  York  Indians,  assented  to  as 
amended  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  have  been  submitted  to  the 
Secretary  of  War.  He  is  of  opinion  that  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  all 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  $ILAS  WRIGHT.  945 

the  Seneca  chiefs  must  be  obtained,  but  that,  as  you  have  heretofore  met  the 
requirement  of  the  Senate  by  full  explanation  to  them  in  council,  you  may 
proceed  to  the  Seneca  reservation,  and  there  obtain  the  assent  of  such  Indians 
as  have  not  heretofore  given  it.' 

"Thus  instructed,  the  commissioner  repaired  again  to  the 
Seneca  reservation  to  perform  the  additional  duties  assigned  to 
him.  Under  date  of  the  llth  January,  1839,  at  Washington,  he 
thus  reports  his  doings  to  the  head  of  the  Indian  Bureau. 

"  '  On  the  receipt  of  those  instructions  I  repaired  to  Buffalo,  New  York, 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  them  into  effect.  On  my  arrival  there,  I  was 
joined  by  Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  the  superintendent  appointed  by  the 
Governor  of  Massachusetts,  who  continued  with  me  until  the  close  of  my 
visit  there.  He  was  present  and  witnessed  every  signature  to  the  assent, 
except  one,  which  was  taken  while  he  was  confined  to  his  room  by  indispo 
sition.  Soon  after  my  arrival  at  Buffalo,  I  directed  the  United  States  sub- 
agent,  residing  there,  to  give  public  notice  to  the  Seneca  chiefs  that  I  was 
present  and  authorized  to  receive  the  signatures  of  such  of  their  chiefs  as 
desired  to  give  them,  and  that  the  superintendent  from  Massachusetts  was 
also  present  to  discharge  the  duty  assigned  him  by  the  authorities  of  his 
State.  After  this  notice,  ten  additional  ?iames  were  received  to  the  Seneca  assent, 
making  in  all  forty-one.  Seven  of  this  ten  had  previously  signed  separate 
assents,  containing  powers  of  attorney  to  execute  such  further  papers  as 
might  be  necessary  to  give  validity  to  their  assents.  These  papers  were  all 
proved  and  acknowledged  according  to  the  usual  forms  under  the  laws  of 
New  York.  Five  of  this  number  personally  came  before  me  and  signed  the 
assent  attached  to  the  treaty.  The  other  two  signed  by  attorney.  The 
reasons  why  they  did  not  appear  and  sign  in  person  are  stated  in  two  affida 
vits  which  I  hand  3rou,  marked  No.  1  and  No.  2.  From  the  character  of 
the  affidavits,  and  information  verbally  communicated  to  me  by  several 
respectable  chiefs,  I  have  no  doubt  that  these  affidavits  are  strictly  true.' 

"  This  completed  the  signatures,  in  fact,  of  forty-one  out  of 
the  eighty  one  chiefs  of  this  band,  all  but  two  of  whom  signed 
in  person;,  and  the  two  who  signed  by  attorney,  account  for  their 
doing  so  as  is  seen  above.  In  addition  to  these,  one  chief,  James 
Shongo,  signed  his  assent  to  a  printed  copy  of  the  amended  treaty 
before  the  engrossed  copy  was  laid  before  the  council  for  signa 
tures,  but  did  not  repeat  it  to  the  written  copy.  Another  chief, 
Kenjuquide,  gave  his  assent  by  attorney,  after  the  amended  treaty 
was  returned  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  as  is  seen  by 
the  note  to  his  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  loth  of 

60 


946  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

January,  1839.  Tims,  in  the  manner  stated,  the  assents  of  forty- 
three  of  the  eighty-one  Seneca  chiefs  were  obtained. 

"  Still,  it  is  contended  that  the  amended  treaty  has  not  been 
assented  to  on  the  part  of  this  band,  and  is  no  treaty  as  to  them, 
and  upon  what  grounds  ? 

'•'•First.  That  the  assents  should  have  been  given  '  in  council,' 
and  that  those  not  so  given  are  not  to  be  regarded. 

"He  had  already  given  his  interpretation  of  the  resolution  of 
ratification  of  the  Senate  of  the  llth  of  June,  1838,  and  had  but 
two  other  remarks  to  add  upon  this  point. 

"  He  would  refer  the  Senate  to  page  285  of  the  printed  docu 
ments  to  show,  upon  the  authority  of  two  members  of  the  body, 
that  it  was  not  the  sense  of  the  Senate  itself,  at  the  time  of  the 
passage  of  the  resolution  of  the  2d  of  March,  1839,  that  these 
signatures  must  be  given  '  in  council,'  as  it  appeared  from  the 
communications  of  these  two  Senators  that  an  amendment  to 
that  effect  was  moved  to  that  resolution,  proposing  to  add 
the  words  '  in  open  council?  and  that  upon  a  vote  the  amend 
ment  was  not  adopted.  He  was  aware  that  this  proceeding 
was  had  in  committee,  that  the  vote  was  taken  by  a  count, 
and  not  by  ayes  and  noes,  and  that  nothing  in  relation  to  it 
appeared  upon  the  journal.  He  was  also*  informed  that  the 
recollections  of  all  the  Senators  who  were  present  did  not  agree 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  amendment  was  disposed  of, 
some  believing  that  it  was  withdrawn  without  a  vote.  He  could 
merely  say  that  his  recollection  of  the  offer  of  such  an  amend 
ment  was  very  confident,  and  his  impressions  as  to  the  disposi 
tion  of  it  agreed  with  the  printed  statements,  made  by  the  two 
honorable  Senators,  to  which  he  had  referred. 

"  His  other  remark  was,  that  it  was  competent  for  the  Senate, 
if  it  believed  that  the  assent  of  .a  majority  of  the  Seneca  chiefs 
had  been  fairly,  freely  and  properly  given,  to  declare  such  assent 
satisfactory,  though  not  given  in  the  form  and  manner  directed 
or  intended  by  its  resolution  of  ratification  of  the  llth  of  June, 
1838.  It  was  upon  this  broad  ground  that  he  principally  rested 
his  argument,  and  his  support  of  the  treaty  as  to  the  Seneca 
band.  Without  discussing  the  question  whether  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  Senate  that  the  assents  should  be  given  'in 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  947 

council,'  or  whether  the  language  of  its  resolution  required  that 
construction,  all  must  admit  that  but  one  object  was  to  be  accom 
plished,  viz.,  the  'free  and  voluntary  assent'  of  each  separate 
tribe  or  band  to  the  amended  treaty.  Now,  if  the  Senate  pointed 
out  one  particular  place  or  manner  for  expressing  those  assents, 
and  the  Indians  chose  another  place  or  manner  for  making  the 
same  expression,  will  it  be  contended  that  the  treaty  should  fall 
rather  than  that  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  Senate  should  not 
be  complied  with,  while  the  substance  of  their  requisition  had 
been  met  by  the  'free  and  voluntary  assent'  of  a  majority  of  the 
chiefs  ?  This  was  his  view  of  the  force  of  the  objection  that  the 
assents  had  not  been  given  'in  council.'  To  him  it  was  imma 
terial  whether  the  Senate  intended  that  the  assents  should  be 
given  in  council  or  not,  as  it  was  whether  they  were  given  in 
council  or  out  of  it.  The  only  material  inquiry  to  him  was,  had 
the  majority  of  the  chiefs  in  fact  given  their  'free  and  voluntary 
assent'  to  the  amended  treaty?  This  brought  him  to  the  next 
ground  upon  which  the  sufficiency  of  the  assents  was  resisted. 

"Second.  It  is  contended  that  the  assents  of  the  chiefs,  who 
have  given  their  assents  in  the  manner  before  related,  have  not 
been  'free  and  voluntary,'  but  have  been  obtained  by  bribery, 
fraud  and  improper  practices. 

"  The  charges  of  bribery  are  not  preferred  against  the  commis 
sioner  or  any  of  the  agents  of  the  United  States,  but  against  the 
company  which  had  purchased  the  pre-emption  right  to  the  Seneca 
lands  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  against  the  agents  of 
that  company.  It  was  no  part  of  his  business  to  defend  this  com 
pany  or  their  agents  against  these  or  any  other  charges,  or  to 
justify  the  practices  of  the  one  or  the  other,  but  simply  to  see 
how  far  those  practices,  whatever  they  may  have  been,  should 
be  held  to  invalidate  the  execution  of  this  treaty  on  the  part  of 
the  Seneca  chiefs. 

"The  direct  and  specific  charges  of  bribery  are  based  upon 
eight  several  contracts  made  between  an  agent  of  the  pre-emp 
tion  company  and  that  number  of  the  Seneca  chiefs,  all  of  which 
contracts  were  in  writing,  signed  and  sealed  by  the  respective 
parties  and  attested  by  one  or  more  witnesses.  The  honorable 
chairman  of  the  committee,  in  the  course  of  his  argument,  caused 


948  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

two  of  these  contracts  to  be  read  to  the  Senate,  and  to  save  a 
repetition  he  would  remark  upon  them,  as  samples  of  the  whole. 

"  The  first  was  with  Juhn  Snow,  a  Seneca  chief,  residing  on  the 
Buffalo  Creek  reservation.  This  contract  recites  that  the  pre-emp 
tion  company  are  desirous  to  promote  the  policy  of  the  United  States 
in  the  removal  of  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  also  to 
extinguish  the  title  to  their  lands  in  the  State  of  New  York;  that, 
in  furtherance  of  these  objects,  the  company  had  authorized  nego 
tiations  to  be  opened  with  the  Indians,  and  offers  of  money  to  be 
made  to  them  as  a  permanent  fund  for  the  nation,  and  to  compen 
sate  them  for  their  improvements,  and  also  '  deemed  it  advisable 
and  necessary  to  employ  the  aid,  co-operation  and  services  of  cer 
tain  individuals  who  are  able  to  influence  the  said  Indians  to 
accept  of  the  offers  so  to  be  made  to  them;'  that  Heman  B.  Pot 
ter,  the  first  party  in  the  contract,  was  authorized  to  act  for  the 
pre-emption  company,  and  to  contract  with  individuals  for  their 
aid  and  influence,  and  that  Snow,  the  second  party  to  the  con 
tract,  had  agreed  to  contribute  his  influence  and  services,  and,  in 
case  of  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  by  the  company,  to 
sell  to  them  his  improvements. 

"  The  parties  then  go  on  to  contract,  First.  That  Snow  shall 
'  use  his  best  endeavors  and  exertions '  to  induce  the  Indians  to 
sell  their  lands  and  remove  west,  and  that  he  shall  co-operate 
with,  and  on  all  occasions  aid  the  company  and  their  agents  '  in 
talks  and  negotiations  with  the  chiefs  and  other  influential  men  of 
the  said  tribe,  and  in  the  active  application  of  his  whole  influence 
at  councils  and  confidential  interviews,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
a  treaty  between  the  said  tribe  and  the  said  proprietors,  for  the 
extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  to  the  said  reserved  lands.' 
Second.  That  Snow  shall  and  does  convey  to  the  company  his 
buildings  and  improvements  upon  the  Indian  reservations,  and 
not,  in  the  mean  time,  to  lease  or  in  any  other  manner  dispose  of 
the  same.  Third.  Potter,  as  the  agent  of  the  company,  agrees 
to  pay  to  Snow  the  sum  of  $2,000  within  three  months  after  notice 
of  the  ratification  of  a  valid  treaty  extinguishing  the  Indian  title 
to  the  reservations,  with  these  conditions: 

"  1.  That  if  the  treaty  shall  contain  provisions  to  pay  indi 
vidual  Indians  for  their  improvements,  Snow  shall  receive,  toward 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  949 

the  $2,000  agreed  to  be  paid  to  him,  the  sum  he  may  be  entitled 
to  receive  under  the  treaty  for  improvements,  and  the  balance 
only,  if  any,  shall  be  paid  by  the  company  within  the  time  limited, 
or  as  soon  thereafter  as  it  can  be  ascertained. 

"  2.  That  if,  by  the  provisions  of  the  treaty,  Snow  shall  be 
entitled  to  receive  more  than  $2,000  for  improvements,  the  com 
pany  shall  be  discharged  from  the  payment  of  any  part  of  the 
$2,000,  and  Snow  shall  take  all  that  is  due  to  him  under  the  treaty. 

"  3.  That  Snow  shall  be  entitled  to  a  life  lease,  at  a  nominal  rent, 
of  a  lot  of  land  actually  occupied  by  him,  and  called  the  '  Whipple 
Farm,'  the  lease  to  be  executed  by  the  company  as  soon  as  the 
lands  can  be  surveyed  after  the  treaty,  and  to  have  reference  to 
the  survey. 

"  This  is  the  substance  of  this  contract;  and,  were  all  the  others 
like  it,  their  character  and  objects  would  admit  of  a  more  satis 
factory  explanation.  His  acquaintance  with  the  Indians  of  New 
York  enabled  him  to  appreciate  this  contract.  These  Indians 
'were  confined  within  very  narrow  reservations,  and  it  had  long 
been  a  practice  with  them  to  lease  portions  of  their  lands  to  the 
whites  for  cultivation  and  improvement.  The  improvements 
made  by  themselves  or  their  lessees  were  held  to  be  the  private 
and  individual  property  of  the  Indian,  whose  right  of  occupancy 
to  the  land  in  question  was  admitted  by  the  band.  Hence,  as  a 
necessary  consequence,  when  it  was  proposed  to  make  a  sale  of 
lands,  the  first  object,  to  those  who  owned  improvements  upon 
the  tract  proposed  to  be  conveyed,  was  to  secure  the  value  of 
their  improvements,  so  that  they  should  not,  with  the  value  of 
the  soil,  pass  into  the  common  national  fund.  This  contract 
showed  most  clearly  to  his  mind  that  this  was  the  great  induce 
ment  with  Snow  to  enter  into  it.  By  the  contract  the  company 
guarantees  to  him  82,000  for  his  improvements,  satisfied,  no 
doubt,  that  the  $102,000,  to  be  paid  by  them  for  the  improvements 
of  individual  Indians,  would  give  to  Snow  that  sum.  Indeed,  the 
contract  might  be  suspected  of  intentional  fraud  upon  the  rights 
of  Snow,  as  a  claimant  to  improvements,  were  it  not  that,  in  case 
his  improvements  shall  entitle  him  to  a  greater  sum  than  the 
$2,000  stipulated  to  be  paid,  he  is  to  have  the  surplus,  and  the 
company  are  to  pay  nothing. 


950  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

The  other  contracts,  however,  or  certainly  some  of  them,  are 
for  the  payment  of  money,  without  any  reference  to  the  title  of 
the  chief  to  improvements,  and  in  this  sense  he  did  not  justify  or 
defend  them.  They  were  not,  in  his  opinion,  defensible,  either 
in  principle  or  policy.  He  did  not  entertain  a  doubt  that  these 
very  contracts  had  done  more,  much  more,  to  prevent  a  cordial 
execution  of  this  treaty  than  to  promote  it.  The  knowledge,  on 
the  part  of  the  chiefs  not  contracted  with,  that  others  were 
deriving  money  for  their  influence  in  favor  of  the  treaty  which 
was  not  offered  to  them,  was  eminently  calculated  to  turn  their 
minds  against  it,  and  thus  to  engender  an  opposition  much  more 
powerful  than  the  influence  purchased  would  be  able  to  overcome. 
That  such  had  been  the  practical  fact  in  this  case  he  found  no 
reason  to  doubt,  while  the  opposition  manifested  gave  the 
•  strongest  ground  for  the  presumption  that  it  had  this  stimulus. 

"  It  was  but  just,  however,  to  say  that,  as  gratuities  to  Indian 
chiefs,  in  anticipation  of  a  treaty,  these  proceedings  were  not 
new  in  substance  to  these  or  any  other  Indians.  Many  of  the 
present  opposing  chiefs  of  the  Seneca  band  were  now,  and  long 
had  been,  the  recipients  of  annuities  from  this  very  company, 
given  as  gratuities  upon  the  execution  of  former  treaties.  He 
could  not  say  that  their  opposition  now  proceeded  from  the 
absence  of  similar  offers  to  them  to  become  the  friends  of  the 
present  treaty.  It  was  fair,  however,  to  assume  that  their  oppo 
sition  could  not  be  founded  upon  the  vicious  principle  of  giving 
gratuities  to  chiefs  at  the  time  of  making  a  treaty,  as  they  had 
manifested  no  disposition  to  surrender,  either  to  their  nation 
or  to  the  pre-emption  company,  their  personal  claims  of  that 
character. 

"  It  is  said  that  these  contracts  were  secret,  and  therefore 
fraudulent  and  mischievous.  He  believed  they  were  novel  in 
their  character,  and  he  did  not  doubt  that  the  honorable  chair 
man  was  right  in  saying  that  a  parallel  case  had  never  been 
exhibited  to  the  Senate  ;  but  he  could  not  concede  that  the 
novelty  consisted  in  the  secrecy  of  the  transactions.  So  far  from 
it,  he  apprehended  that  the  singularity  here  consisted  in  the  open 
publicity  of  the  contracts,  the  execution  of  formal  deeds  under 
seal,  and  attested  by  witnesses.  Was  it  the  custom  of  men  who 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  951 

deliberately  undertake  to  practice  bribery  to  do  it  in  this  manner? 
Did  they  usually  make  a  deed  in  writing,  arid  call  witnesses  to  it? 
execution  ?  He  supposed  not;  and  it  seemed  to  him  that  these  facts 
should  rather  be  considered  evidences  of  a  mistaken  consciousness 
of  the  pursuit  of  a  legitimate  and  honest  object,  than  of  a  dis 
position  to  practice  secret  bribery.  Look  for  the  paper  evidence 
of  the  gratuities  which  have  been  given  upon  the  execution  of 
former  treaties  with  this  band  of  Indians.  Look  for  the  paper 
evidences  of  claim  to  the  annuities  which  are  yet  paid,  and  some 
of  which  are  not  only  for  the  life  of  the  chief,  but  go  to  his 
heirs.  Go  to  those  treaties :  and  shall  we  find  them  ?  No,  sir; 
no.  Shall  we  find  deeds  minutely  drawn  and  formally  witnessed  ? 
He  had  heard  of  no  such  papers;  and  yet  the  annuities  existed 
and  were  regularly  paid. 

"He  must  not  be  understood  as  justifying  or  defending  these 
contracts.  He  did  not  do  either;  but  he  could  not  see  that  their 
turpitude  was  to  be  sought  for  in  their  secrecy. 

"  He  could  have  but  one  object  in  referring  to  them,  and  that 
was  to  determine  whether  they  should  be  held  to  vitiate  the 
assent  in  fact  given  by  the  Seneca  chiefs  to  the  amended  treaty 
now  before  the  Senate.  That  point  would  be  made  more  clear 
by  a  brief  reference  to  the  chronological  order  of  the  trans 
actions. 

"  The  first  of  the  eight  contracts  bears  date  on  the  29th  of  July, 
183*7,  and  the  last  of  them  on  the  sixteenth  of  September  of  the 
same  year.  The  original  treaty  was  concluded  at  Buffalo  Creek 
on  the  15th  day  of  January,  1838,  four  months  after  the  execu 
tion  of  the  last  of  these  contracts.  That  original  treaty  was  laid 
before  the  Senate  by  the  President  on  the  13th  day  of  April, 
1838,  and  the  amended  treaty,  now  under  consideration,  was 
substituted  for  it  on  the  eleventh  day  of  June  after,  and,  as 
amended,  was,  by  the  resolution  of  this  body,  of  which  so  much 
has  been  said,  directed  to  be  submitted  to  the  Indians  for  their 
*  free  and  voluntary  assent.' 

"The  contracts  to  bribe,  therefore,  if  such  these  contracts  are 
to  be  considered,  were  consummated  four  months  before  the 
making  of  the  original  treaty  with  the  Indians;  which  was 
formed  after  full  negotiations  with  them,  and  the  ratification  of 


952  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

which  by  them,  if  it  ever  was  a  question  with  the  Senate,  cannot 
certainly  be  so  now,  after  this  body  has  acted  upon  it  as  a 
treaty,  has  amended  it,  has  ratified  it  on  its  part  as  amended, 
and  has  returned  it  to  the  Indians  for  their  assent  in  its  amended 
state.  No  allegation  was  found  in  the  papers,  or  had  reached 
him  from  any  quarter,  of  any  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
pre-emption  company  or  its  agents,  or  of  any  one  else,  to  make 
contracts  of  this  sort  as  an  inducement  to  the  assent  of  the 
Indians  to  the  amended  treaty.  Indeed,  he  was  not  now  aware 
that  charges  of  bribery  of  any  sort  had  been  preferred  in  relation 
to  the  assents  to  the  amended  treaty;  although  the  charges  of 
that  character  relating  to  the  formation  of  the  original  treaty 
had,  so  far  as  he  recollected,  been  principally  embodied  and 
brought  forward  since  the  amended  treaty  had  been  submitted 
and  assented  to  in  the  manner  before  related. 

"  It  was  fair  to  say  that  all  these  contracts  depended  upon  the 
final  ratification  and  confirmation  of  the  treaty  by  the  United 
States,  and  that,  therefore,  the  interest  created  under  them  in 
favor  of  the  chiefs  who  were  parties  to  them  might  have  con 
tinued  to  influence  their  conduct  in  relation  to  the  assents  to  the 
amended  treaty;  but,  to  his  mind,  this  was  giving  to  the  charges 
of  fraud  and  secrecy  a  meliorated  influence  and  greatly  mitigated 
force.  The  contracts  were  completed  in  September,  1837.  The 
amended  treaty  was  submitted  for  assent  in  the  fall  of  1838,  and 
again  in  the  summer  of  1839;  and  if  the  convictions  upon  the 
minds  of  these  chiefs  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  treaty  to 
themselves  and  their  nation,  existing  in  the  fall  of  1837,  whether 
produced  by  the  contracts  or  otherwise,  remained  and  continued 
to  govern  their  voices  and  acts  in  1839,  two  years  after;  and  after 
the  existence  of  the  contracts  had  become  known,  if  a  sufficient 
number  of  their  associate  chiefs  were  willing  to  unite  with  them 
in  assenting  to  the  amended  treaty  to  form  a  majority  of  all  the 
chiefs  of  the  tribe,  the  conclusion  can  but  be  evident  that  strong 
and  good  reasons  for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  on  the  part  of 
the  Indians,  independent  of  these  contracts,  must  have  existed 
and  had  their  influence  upon  the  minds  and  feelings  and  action 
of  that  majority. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  {).V> 

"  Were,  then,  the  assents  of  this  majority  of  the  chiefs  fairly 
and  freely  and  voluntarily  given  ? 

"  He  had  remarked  at  the  outset,  and  had  received  universal 
assent  to  the  proposition,  that  he  should  commence  the  discussion 
with  the  assumption  that  the  commissioner  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  who  negotiated  this  treaty  stood  unimpeached  and  unim 
peachable,  and  that  all  his  statements  of  fact  were  to  be  fully 
credited.  He  was  not  about  to  draw  heavily  upon  his  testimony 
in  relation  to  this  point,  but  a  single  short  paragraph  from  his 
last  report  became  necessary  to  corroborate  the  evidence  of  the 
disinterested  witness  he  was  about  to  call  upon  the  stand,  "the 
commissioner  says: 

"  '  In  every  instance  where  a  signature  was  received,  either  Gen.  Dearborn 
or  I  distinctly  inquired  of  the  person  offering  to  sign  whether  he  fully  under 
stood  the  subject,  and  whether  he  freely  and  voluntarily  signed  the  assent. 
In  each  case  a  distinct  affirmative  answer  was  given.' 

"  He  now  turned  to  the  statements  of  Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Deai'born, 
the  agent  appointed,  on  the  part  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts, 
for  the  single  and  only  purpose  of  seeing  that  the  interests  and 
rights  of  the  Indians  were  protected  in  every  part  of  the  negotia 
tion.  He  had  made  the  preliminary  remark  that  this  was  a  dis 
interested  witness,  and  one  whose  character  and  fairness  had 
been  indorsed  as  well  by  the  opponents  as  the  friends  of  the 
treaty.  Upon  the  point  now  under  discussion,  therefore,  he 
should  rely  wholly  upon  his  testimony,  and  he  should  do  it  with 
the  most  perfect  confidence  that  none  of  his  statements  would  be 
even  doubted. 

"Before  proceeding  to  quote  his  remarks,  he  would,  to  prevent 
confusion  and  misunderstanding,  remind  the  Senate  that  this 
gentleman  did  not  represent  his  State  at  the  making  of  the  origi 
nal  treaty.  A  citizen  of  Buffalo,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  of 
high  standing,  had  the  honor  of  being  deputed  to  represent  the 
State  upon  that  occasion.  Complaints  having  been  made  con 
nected  with  that  negotiation,  as  had  been  before  abundantly  seen, 
when  the  amended  treaty  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  Indians, 
the  Governor  of  that  Commonwealth,  with  a  just  regard  to  his 
own  elevated  standing,  to  the  character  and  responsibilities  of 
his  State,  and  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  these  dependent  red 


954  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

men,  appointed  Gen.  Dearborn,  the  Adjutant-General  of  the 
State,  to  represent  it  upon  the  occasion.  It  was  from  the  official 
reports  of  that  officer  that  he  should  make  his  quotations;  and 
he  would  detain  the  Senate  by  such  only  as  were  pertinent  to 
the  question  whether  the  assents  of  the  Seneca  chiefs  to  the 
amended  treaty  were  fairly,  freely  and  voluntarily  given. 

"  In  his  report  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  under  date 
of  October,  1838,  at  Lewiston,  New  York,  after  the  thirty-one 
assents  had  been  obtained,  he  says  : 

"  '  In  previous  conversations,  I  have  represented  the  deplorable  condition 
of  the  Seneca  Indians,  and  the  reasons  why  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  only  chance  for  their  reformation  and  continued  existence  as  a  dis 
tinct  people  is  an  immediate  emigration  to  the  mild  climate  and  excellent 
tract  of  land  offered  them  by  the  national  government;  and  I  am  perfectly 
satisfied,  were  it  not  for  the  unremitted  and  disingenuous  exertions  of  a 
certain  number  of  white  men,  who  are  actuated  by  their  private  interests,  to 
induce  the  chiefs  not  to  assent  to  the  treaty,  it  would  immediately  have  been 
approved  by  an  immense  majority. 

"  'Not  an  objection  or  complaint  has  been  made,  by  a  single  Indian, 
during  the  whole  progress  of  the  council,  as  to  the  price  obtained  for  their 
right  of  possession  ;  and  I  have  not  seen  an  individual,  other  than  the  per 
sons  above  named,  who  does  not  think  the  offer  of  the  government  a  most 
generous  and  favorable  one  for  the  Indians;  and  who  does  not  concur  in  the 
opinion  that  it  is  not  only  for  their  individual  and  national  interests  to 
remove,  but  that  their  fate  will  inevitably  be  disastrous  —  that  they  will  be 
overwhelmed  with  poverty  and  misery,  and  soon  become  extinct,  from  their 
idle,  intemperate  and  other  vicious  habits,  if  they  do  not  abandon  their 
present  position. 

"  '  The  same  liberal  terms  which  haw  been  offered  to  these  Indians,  if  extended 
to  any  county  in  New  England,  would  nearly  depopulate  it  in  six  months. 

"  'The  conduct  of  the  Hon.  Ransom  H.  Gillet,  the  commissioner  of  the 
United  States,  during  the  whole  session  of  the  council,  has  been  such  as  to 
merit  the  confidence  which  had  been  reposed  in  him  by  the  general  govern 
ment,  and  to  meet  my  entire  approbation,  from  the  unwearied  pains  he  has 
taken  to  fully,  fairly  and  clearly  explain  the  provisions  of  the  treaty,  and  present 
the  character  of  the  soil  and  climate,  and  the  advantages  which  the  Indians 
would  derive  from  accepting  the  territory  which  is  offered  them  beyond  the 
Mississippi.  He  appeared  to  be  solely  actuated  by  an  earnest  desire  to 
advance  their  interests,  and  induce  them  to  comprehend  the  beneficent 
objects  of  the  government  in  making  such  a  munificent  provision  for  the 
advancement  of  their  present  and  future  comfort,  independence,  happiness 
and  prosperity.' 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  955 

"This  is  the  testimony  of  Gen.  Dearborn,  as  to  the  first  effort 
to  obtain  the  assent  of  the  Senecas  to  the  amended  treaty. 

"  In  his  report  to  the  Governor,  after  his  second  visit,  when 
the  ten  additional  assents  were  obtained,  under  date  of  the  2d  of 
January,  1839,  he  says: 

"  '  I  invariably  asked  each  of  the  chiefs,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  persons 
present,  whether  they  were  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  treaty  and  the  con 
tract  for  the  sale  of  their  right  of  possession  to  the  lands  on  which  they 
resided,  and  willingly  and  freely  came  forward  to  sign  the  treaty,  and  tJiey 
all  answered  in  tJie  affirmative ;  and  I  am  fully  of  the  opinion  that  they  have 
done  so  from  an  anxious  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  remov 
ing  into  the  Indian  territory,  west  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  on  the  liberal 
terms  offered  them  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  from  the 
conviction  that  the  condition  of  the  nation  would  become  annually  more 
deplorable,  so  long  as  they  remained  on  their  present  reservations,  where 
there  was  no  hope  of  amendation  in  morals  or  the  habits  of  industry.  I 
sincerely  believe  that  nearly  all  the  other  chiefs  would  have  cheerfully  given 
their  assent,  were  it  not  for  the  conduct  of  certain  white  men,  who  are  inte 
rested  in  the  continuance  of  the  tribe  on  their  several  reservations  of  Alle- 
gany  river,  Cattaraugus,  Buffalo  and  Tonawanda  creeks,  and  the  danger 
they  apprehended  from  the  party  of  a  few  chiefs,  who,  from  ambitious 
motives  and  political  consequence,  are  adverse  to  a  change  of  residence, 
having  threatened  with  fatal  consequences  such  as  should  give  their  assent, 
as  stated  in  my  former  report,  and  illustrated  in  the  deposition  of  John 
Jemison,  marked  F  and  G-.' 

ic  He  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  make  farther  extracts  upon 
this  point.  He  had  shown  that  a  majority  of  the  Seneca  chiefs 
had,  in  fact,  assented  to  the  amended  treaty,  not  in  council,  but 
with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  instrument,  and  a  perfect  under 
standing  of  the  consequences  of  their  acts;  and  here  was  the 
concurring  testimony  of  two  persons,  whose  duty  it  was  to  know 
the  facts,  and  who  could  have  no  possible  interest  in  misrepre 
senting  them,  proving  that  those  assents  were  fairly,  freely  and 
voluntarily  given. 

"  From  this  state  of  facts,  it  would  seem  to  him  to  follow,  as  a 
compulsory  duty,  that  the  Senate  should  declare  these  assents 
satisfactory;  but  if  this  was  too  strong  a. position  to  occupy,  and 
there  was  yet  discretion  left  to  the  body,  it  did  appear  to  him 
impossible  that  he  should  be  mistaken  in  assuming  that  he  had 
shown  enough  to  render  it  fully  competent,  within  the  sound 


956  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

discretion  of  the  members,  to  make  that  declaration,  in  case  it 
should  appear  that  such  a  result  would  be  greatly  beneficial  to 
the  Indians,  to  the  whites  among  whom  they  were  now  located, 
and  not  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  United  States. 

"  There  was  one  other  view  of  the  matter,  however,  which  he 
would  suggest,  before  he  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the 
pecuniary  interests  involved  in  the  controversy. 

"Hitherto  he  had  argued  the  question  of  the  execution  of  this 
treaty  upon  the  admission  that  the  assent  of  a  majority  of  all  the 
Seneca  chiefs,  of  every  grade,  was  necessary  to  its  validity.  This 
was  an  admission  which  he  did  not  make  except  for  the  sake  of 
the  argument,  because  it  was  a  position  in  the  soundness  of  which 
he  did  not  believe.  So  far  as  his  acquaintance  extended,  it  was 
a  new  principle  connected  with  the  making  of  Indian  treaties,  by 
this  or  the  State  governments;  and  he  believed,  also,  that  it  was 
new  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Indians  themselves. 

"He  would  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  two  short 
extracts  from  the  report  of  Gen.  Dearborn  of  the  2d  of  January, 
1839,  which  would  enable  him  to  express  his  opinion  upon  this 
point  in  an  intelligible  manner.  The  first  extract  is  as  follows: 

' '  '  There  are  eight  clans  or  families  in  each  of  the  tribes  of  the  Six 
Nations,  which  are  designated  by  the  names  of  Beaver,  Turtle,  Wolf,  Bear, 
Snipe,  Deer,  Hawk  and  White  Crane  or  Heron.  It  is  expressly  prohibited 
by  a  law  of  the,  tribes  for  persons  of  the  same  clan  to  intermarry,  and  it  is 
considered  as  immoral  and  irreligious  as  would  be  a  union  within  the  for 
bidden  limits  of  consanguinity  among  the  Jews  and  Christians;  and  I  have 
been  assured  that  an  instance  of  such  a  matrimonial  connection,  as  would 
be  considered  by  the  humblest  Indian  a  wicked  and  monstrous  indecency, 
has  never  been  known.' 

"  The  second  is  as  follows : 

; '  There  are  eight  great  sachems  of  the  tribe  in  the  Seneca  nation  of 
Indians,  who  are  also  chiefs.  It  is  the  highest  title  and  rank,  and  the  office 
is  hereditary,  like  that  of  the  other  chiefs.  The  present  sachems  are  Little 
Johnson,  Daniel  Two  Guns,  Captain  Pollard,  James  Stevenson  and  George 
Liusley  of  the  Buffalo  Creek  band;  Captain  Strong  and  Blue  Eyes  of  the 
Cattaraugus  reservation,  and  Jemmy  John  of  Tonawanda,  six  of  whom  have 
signed  the  treaty.  Half  of  them  are  Christians  and  the  others  Pagans.' 

"Now,  if  the  agent  had  been  more  particular,  he  would 
undoubtedly  have  told  us  that,  of  these  eight  sachems  or  princi- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  957 

pal  chiefs,  one  belonged  to  each  of  the  eight  families  or  clans  of 
which  he  had  before  spoken,  and  the  symbolical  names  of  each  of 
which  he  had  given.  He  would  have  learned  that  they  were  the 
great  fathers  of  the  nation,  the  civil  chiefs  upon  whom  the  trans 
action  of  the  business  of  the  nation  is  devolved;  and  he,  Mr.  W., 
did  not  doubt  that,  had  this  treaty  been  negotiated  with  the  State 
of  New  York,  the  signatures  of  a  majority  of  these  sachems  would 
have  been  held  sufficient  to  have  constituted  it  a  valid  treaty,  and 
that  any  other  signatures  of  chiefs  of  a  lower  grade  would  have 
been  considered  a  mere  matter  of  personal  gratification  and  not 
of  essential  substance.  He  had,  therefore,  no  doubt  upon  his 
own  mind  that  the  concurrence  of  six  of  these  sachems  in  this 
amended  treaty  was  of  itself  a  valid  execution  of  it,  according  to 
the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Seneca  nation. 

"  Still,  he  had  argued  the  question  upon  the  other  hypothesis, 
because  an  examination  of  the  papers  had  satisfied  him  that  a 
majority  of  all  the  chiefs  of  all  grades  had  given  an  assent 
which  the  Senate  must  consider  satisfactory. 

"He  would  now  consider,  as  briefly  as  he  might,  the  pecuniary 
interests  of  the  various  parties  to  this  treaty;  and, 

"First.  The  interests  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

"  According  to  his  understanding  in  the  matter,  that  State  had 
now  no  pecuniary  interest  whatever  in  these  questions.  The 
charters  granted  by  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain  to  the  colonies 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  conflicted  as  to  boundaries,  and 
both  colonies  claimed  the  territory  west  of  a  meridian  line  pass 
ing  through  or  near  the  Seneca  lake,  and  within  the  present  limits 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  By  an  amicable  adjustment  between 
the  two  States,  in  the  year  1786,  Massachusetts  released  to  New 
York  the  sovereignty  and  governmental  control  over  the  terri 
tory,  and  New  York  surrendered  to  Massachusetts  the  right  of 
soil,  subject  to  the  Indian  title,  and  the  right  to  extinguish  the 
Indian  title  in  her  own  way.  Not  many  years  after  this  period 
Massachusetts  sold  to  private  individuals  her  pre-emption  right 
to  the  whole  country,  reserving  that  power  of  guardianship 
over  the  Indians  which  the  old  States  have  ever  exercised 
within  their  limits,  and  which  the  United  States  has  exercised 
without  the  limits  of  the  States,  and  within  those  limits  where 


958  LIFE  AND  TIMES  Of  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

the  right  of  pre-emption  from  the  Indians  belonged  to  this 
government.  In  this  way,  and  for  this  reason,  it  is  that  Mas 
sachusetts  has  been  represented  in  all  the  transactions  with  the 
Seneca  and  Tuscarora  Indians  in  relation  to  this  treaty,  the  reser 
vations  of  these  lands  being  within  the  limits  of  her  original 
right  of  pre-emption;  but  since  the  sale  from  her  to  individuals, 
under  whom  the  present  pre-emption  company  hold,  he  did  not 
understand  that  the  State  had  any  other  interest  than  the  duty 
remaining  upon  her,  as  a  government,  to  see  that  the  rights  of 
the  Indians  were  fairly  and  faithfully  protected. 

"  Second.  The  interests  of  the  pre-emption  company. 

"  The  interests  of  this  company  would  be  seen  from  what  had 
been  said  in  relation  to  the  connection  of  the  State  of  Massachu 
setts  with  this  matter.  As  purchasers  from  that  State,  they  hold 
the  exclusive  right  to  extinguish  the  Indian  title,  whenever  the 
Indians  shall  be  induced  to  surrender  the  possession  and  occu 
pancy  of  the  lands.  By  virtue  of  that  right,  they  have  already 
extinguished  the  Indian  title  to  an  extensive  and  fertile  country, 
and  the  present  treaty  proposes  to  complete  the  operation  by 
the  extinguishment  of  that  title  to  all  which  remains,  being 
about  116,000  acres. 

"  The  interests  of  this  company  are  direct  and  palpable.  The 
purchase  from  Massachusetts  was  made  in  1796  or  1797,  and,  so 
far  as  these  lands  are  concerned,  the  purchase-money  paid  to  that 
State  has  been  unproductive  capital  to  the  company  from  that 
day  to  the  present  time.  It  is  abundantly  shown,  too,  that  the 
present  reservations  are  constantly  becoming  less  valuable,  by 
being  stripped  of  their  timber,  which,  in  their  natural  state,  con 
stituted  the  chief  value  of  two  or  three  of  them.  This  considera 
tion  renders  it  a  matter  of  direct  interest  to  the  company  to 
extinguish  the  Indian  title,  and  obtain  the  actual  possession  at 
the  earliest  practicable  day. 

"  As  much  had  been  said  of  the  vast  speculation  which  this 
company  would  make  by  the  ratification  of  this  treaty,  he  had 
taken  some  pains  to  form  an  opinion  upon  that  point,  and  had 
therefore  endeavored  to  ascertain  what  had  been  paid  to  the 
State  of  Massachusetts  for  the  right  to  extinguish  the  Indian 
title.  As  nearly  as  he  could  learn  from  the  documents  which 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  959 

had  come  within  his  reach,  about  £300,000,  New  England  cur 
rency,  equal  to  about  $1,200,000,  had  been  paid  for  the  whole 
purchase,  and  that  somewhere  from  4,000,000  to  5,000,000  acres 
of  land  were  covered  by  the  purchase.  He  therefore  concluded 
that  the  price  paid  to  Massachusetts  for  the  right  of  pre-emption 
from  the  Indians,  say  in  1797,  must  have  been  somewhere  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  cents  per  acre.  He  had  not  taken  the  pains 
to  make  a  calculation  to  see  what,  at  a  fair  rate  of  investment, 
that  price  would  bring  the  cost  of  the  land  to  at  this  period,  but, 
when  added  to  the  $212,000,  or  thereabouts,  now  to  be  paid,  and 
the  gratuities  which  have  been  and  are  to  be  given  in  case  the 
treaty  be  finally  ratified,  he  had  satisfied  himself  that  the  specu 
lation  of  the  company  would  be  much  less  than  had  been 
imagined,  and  that  a  prudent  man,  who  had  the  money,  would 
pause  before  he  would  take  the  property  off  their  hands  at  prin 
cipal,  interest  and  costs. 

"  Still,  the  interests  of  this  company  were  nothing  to  him.  It 
was  not  their  advantage  which  he  felt  called  upon  to  consult,  or 
which  induced  him  to  urge  the  ratification  of  the  treaty.  As 
constituents  of  his,  as  he  believed  most  of  them  were,  and  as 
highly  respectable  individuals,  so  far  as  he  knew  them,  he  would, 
as  far  as  lay  in  his  power,  do  them  justice  upon  this  as  upon  all 
occasions;  but  he  would  not  urge  this  treaty  upon  the  Senate,  to 
the  detriment  of  the  Indians,  because  this  company  might  be 
benefited  by  its  ratification,  as  he  certainly  would  not  vote  for 
its  rejection,  to  the  detriment  of  the  Indians,  for  fear  this  com 
pany  might  profit  from  its  operation. 

"  Third.  The  interests  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  her  citizens. 

"  The  State,  as  such,  had  no  interest  in  this  question,  separate 
from  the  interests  of  the  citizens  to  be  affected  by  the  continu 
ance  or  removal  of  the  Indians.  The  extent  of  these  interests 
would  be  best  shown  by  brief  statistical  statements. 

"  The  Senecas  are  scattered  through  the  six  counties  of  Alle- 
gany,  Cattaraugus,  Chautauqua,  Erie,  Genesee  and  Orleans. 
This  band  of  Indians,  together  with  the  O.nondagas  and  Cayugas, 
who  reside  with  them  upon  their  reservations,  number  2,623  souls, 
and  the  white  population  of  the  counties  in  which  they  are,  as 
shown  by  the  State  census  of  1835,  was  244,144  souls. 


960  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"  The  Onondagas,  at  Onondaga,  number  300  souls,  and  are  in 
the  county  of  their  name,  which  had  at  the  same  period  a  white 
population  of  60,908  souls. 

"  The  Oneidas,  at  Oneida,  are  620  souls,  and  are  in  the  county 
of  their  name,  with  a  white  population  of  77,518  souls. 

"The  American  party  of  the  St.  Regis  number  350  souls,  and 
are  in  the  counties  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Franklin,  with  a  white 
population  of  54,548  souls. 

"The  Tuscaroras  number  273  souls,  and  are  in  the  county  of 
Niagara,  which  has  a  white  population  of  24,490  souls. 

"The  Stockbridges,  Munsees  and  Brothertowns,  so  far  as  they 
remain  in  New  York,  are  scattered  among  the  other  bands,  and 
number,  together,  709  souls. 

"  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  all  these  bands  and  remnants  of  tribes 
of  Indians  are  scattered  through  eleven  counties  of  the  State; 
that  they  number,  altogether,  4,885  souls,  and  that  the  white  popu 
lation  of  the  counties  in  which  they  are,  was,  in  1835,  as  shown 
by  the  State  census,  461,608  souls,  or  almost  100  whites  to  one 
Indian. 

"  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  nothing  like  apprehension  from 
the  presence  of  these  Indians  can  be  felt  by  the  whites;  that  the 
inconvenience  of  the  reservations  to  the  white  settlements,  in 
many  cases, —  the  desire  to  bring  into  profitable  settlement  and  cul 
tivation  the  lands  they  occupy, —  and  the  injurious  effects  upon 
society,  in  all  cases  and  with  both  races,  of  familiar  intercourse 
between  them,  are  the  prominent  interests  which  the  citizens  and 
State  of  New  York  have  in  the  ratification  of  this  treaty.  To 
the  city  and  town  of  Buffalo,  immediately  bordering  upon  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  populous  of  the  Seneca  reservations,  and  the 
city  and  town  containing  a  white  population  of  full  20,000  souls, 
this  question  was  one  of  more  deep  and  pervading  interest,  as  it 
was  also,  properly  considered,  to  the  Indians  residing  upon  that 
reservation.  But  he  believed  he  should  be  justified  by  the  fact, 
if  he  were  to  say  that,  even  in  the  counties  where  these  Indians 
are,  the  strong  feeling  for  their  preservation  from  the  accumulated 
evils  which  surround  them,  and  which,  it  is  seen,  are  rapidly  pro 
ducing  their  extinction,  creates  a  deeper  interest  with  the  whites 
for  their  removal  to  the  Indian  country,  than  any  considerations 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  W RIGHT.  961 

of  convenience  or  property  anticipated  from  the  accomplishment 
of  that  object. 

"  Fourth.  The  interests  of  the  United  States. 

"Much  of  the  debate  had  turned  upon  this  point  ;  and  he  was 
bound  to  confess  that  he  thought  it  the  strongest  ground  upon 
which  the  treaty  could  be  resisted.  Yet  he  hoped  to  show  that 
even  this  ground  of  resistance  was  not  well  taken ;  and  for  that 
purpose  he  would  recur  to  the  facts  in  the  case  touching  the 
national  treasury. 

"  He  had  before  remarked,  that  the  small  sums  to  be  paid  to 
the  various  bands  amounted  to  about  $20,000,  and  that  the  gene 
ral  payment  stipulated  to  be  made  to  all  the  bands,  in  a  propor 
tion  per  capita  as  they  should  remove  west,  was  $400,000.  These 
payments  together  would  be  about  $420,000,  but  of  the  whole 
sum  he  did  not  believe  an  amount  exceeding  $10,000  would  be 
called  for  during  the  present  year.  Such  was  the  condition  of 
all  these  Indians,  that  he  did  not  suppose  it  possible  that  any 
considerable  proportion  of  them,  if  even  a  single  Indian,  could 
remove,  after  this  advanced  period  of  the  spring,  and  after  the 
appropriations  under  the  treaty  could  be  made.  Of  the  sums 
payable  to  the  various  bands,  he  recollected  but  one  sum,  of 
$1,000  to  the  St.  Regis,  which  was  payable  before  removal,  and 
that  sum  was  not  required  to  be  paid  until  the  expiration  of  one 
year  from  the  final  ratification  of  the  treaty.  The  immediate 
demand  upon  the  treasury,  therefore,  was  not  to  alarm  any  one; 
but  the  ultimate  payment  was  considerable;  and  how  was  the 
treasury  to  be  compensated  for  it?  This  was  the  essential 
inquiry;  and  if  it  could  be  satisfactorily  answered,  he  hoped  this 
objection  to  the  treaty  would  be  considered  obviated. 

"  The  answer,  then,  was  that  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  cedes 
to  the  United  States  the  tract  of  land  owned  by  these  bands  of 
Indians  at  Green  Bay,  in  the  territory  of  Wisconsin,  being  435,000 
acres.  At  the  present  minimum  price  of  the  government  for  the 
public  domain,  this  land  will  bring  into  the  treasury  $543,750; 
while  its  location  upon  the  Fox  river,  and  its  quality,  are  said  to 
give  it  peculiar  prominence  and  to  insure  its  instant  sale  for 
immediate  settlement.  He  thought  it,  therefore,  fair  to  antici 
pate,  in  case  of  a  prompt  survey  and  sale,  that  this  land  would 
61 


962  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

bring  into  the  treasury  all  the  money  required  to  carry  the  treaty 
into  effect  as  soon  and  as  rapidly  as  it  would  be  wanted,  and 
would  afford  a  surplus  more  than  equal  to  the  expenses  of  the 
survey  and  sale. 

"  To  this  extent,  therefore,  no  argument  against  the  treaty  was 
to  be  drawn  from  the  demands  it  would  create  upon  the  public 
treasury.  Another  argument  had  been  used,  however,  having 
the  same  tendency,  which  required  examination.  It  was  that  the 
country  stipulated  to  be  given  to  these  Indians,  west,  was  more 
than  an  equivalent  for  their  Green  Bay  lands,  inasmuch  as  320 
acres  for  each  soul  was  given  in  lieu  of  100. 

"The  answer  to  this  was,  that  the  country  west  was  a  part  of 
that  great  country  west  of  the  States  which  the  United  States, 
in  the  prosecution  of  a  wise  and  humane  policy  toward  the 
remaining  Indian  tribes,  have  set  apart  for  their  permanent  and 
peaceful  and  undisturbed  homes,  and  for  the  appropriation  of 
which  forever  to  that  object  the  faith  of  the  nation  has  been 
most  solemnly  pledged.  It  was  wholly  immaterial,  therefore,  in 
a  pecuniary  sense,  what  Indians  should  occupy  any  particular 
portion  of  this  territory.  The  whole  was  set  apart  for  Indian 
occupancy;  and  in  no  treaty  heretofore  made  with  any  Indians 
in  the  Union,  with  a  view  to  their  removal  to  the  Indian  country 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  had  the  value  of  that  portion  of  that 
country  to  be  assigned  to  them  been  taken  into  the  account,  or 
made  a  matter  of  estimate,  in  the  purchase  from  them  of  their 
possessions  within  the  States.  This  country  had  been  set  apart 
from  the  extensive  domain  of  the  Union  as  a  home  for  the  red 
men,  whom  the  cupidity  of  the  whites  had  driven  from  the  homes 
and  hunting  grounds  of  their  fathers,  and  many  of  whom  had  not, 
for  this  cause  —  like  many  of  these  remnants  of  bands  yet  linger 
ing  in  New  York  —  any  country  to  exchange  for  that  quiet  home 
thus  offered  to  them.  The  policy,  therefore,  had  been  to  pur 
chase  their  possessions  and  pay  the  estimated  value  of  them, 
independently  of  the  new  country  to  be  assigned  to  them;  and 
he  believed,  if  the  treaties  were  carefully  examined,  it  would  fur 
ther  appear  that  the  expenses  of  their  removal  and  their  subsist 
ence  for  one  year  at  their  new  homes  had  been  paid  from  the 
public  treasury,  over  and  above  the  value  of  the  lands  purchased 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  963 

from  them.  Not  so  in  this  case.  The  value  of  the  lands  pur 
chased  was  not  problematical.  They  were  already  in  the  middle 
of  a  settled  and  rapidly  settling  country.  Their  quality  was  well 
known  and  their  location  of  the  most  desirable  character,  and  yet 
at  the  minimum  price  of  the  government  lands  they  would  bring 
more  than  $100,000  beyond  every  sum  to  be  paid  under  the  pro 
visions  of  this  treaty.  Nay,  they  would  bring  into  the  treasury 
more  money  than  was  to  be  paid  under  the  treaty,  and  the  cost 
to  the  United  States  of  the  country  to  be  given  to  the  Indians 
west  besides. 

"  Was  this  treaty,  then,  to  be  rejected  on  account  of  its  unfa 
vorable  influence  upon  the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  United 
States  ?  He  trusted  not. 

"There  was  another  view  of  this  point  which  would  place  the 
interests  of  the  United  States  in  a  very  different  light.  It  was 
admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  treaty  had  been  assented  to,  and 
was  perfect  and  binding  as  to  all  the  bands  except  the  Senecas. 
It  had  been  before  seen  that  the  Green  Bay  lands  were  the  pro 
perty  of  the  New  York  Indians  generally  and  equally.  A  portion 
of  those  lands,  equal  to  65,000  acres,  had  been,  by  a  late  treaty, 
granted  in  severalty  to  that  portion  of  the  Oneidas  now  at  Green 
Bay,  and  they  had  ceased  to  be  any  longer  parties  to  this  treaty. 
The  quantity  of  land  remaining  was  435,000  acres,  the  common 
property  of  all  the  bands,  this  portion  of  the  Oneidas  only 
excepted.  The  population  of  all  the  bands,  as  given  i-n  the  sche 
dule  annexed  to  the  treaty,  and  forming  part  of  it,  was  5,485 
souls.  Deduct  the  Oneidas  at  Green  Bay,  600  souls,  and  there 
would  remain  a  population  of  4,885,  owning  the  435,000  acres  of 
land.  Of  this  population  the  Senecas  and  the  Onondagas  and 
Cayugas,  residing  upon  their  reservations,  numbered  2,633. 
These  taken  from  the  4,885  would  leave  2,252,  as  to  whom  the 
treaty  was  admitted  to  be  ratified  and  perfect.  Now,  the  right 
of  all  these  Indians  in  the  Green  Bay  lands  is  a  common,  undi 
vided  right;  and  if,  therefore,  the  treaty  be  not  confirmed  as  to 
the  Senecas,  the  United  States  will  be  the  owner  of  the  2,252 
shares  in  common  with  the  Senecas,  who  will  remain  the  owners 
of  the  2,633  shares,  the  whole  being  in  common  and  undivided, 
and  the  common  interests  of  all  the  proprietors  being  in  and  to 


964  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

every  part.  The  United  States,  therefore,  will  be  unable  to 
realize  anything  for  their  interest,  because  they  can  neither  con 
vey  nor  give  title  to  a  single  separate  foot  of  the  land. 

"  Still,  by  the  last  article  of  the  treaty,  the  United  States  must 
pay  that  proportion  of  the  $400,000,  which  2,258  bears  to  2,633, 
because  as  to  the  2,252  Indians  the  treaty  is  perfect.  In  other 
words,  the  United  States  must  advance  the  gratuities  to  the 
small  bands,  amounting  to  $20,000,  and  must  pay  about  half  of 
the  $400,000,  and  will  have,  as  a  compensation  for  these  pay 
ments,  a  common  and  undivided  right  with  the  Senecas  to  about 
one-half  of  the  Green  Bay  lands,  a  right  of  which  it  cannot  avail 
itself  for  any  useful  purpose  whatever,  while  thus  held  in  com 
mon  with  the  Indians.  On  the  contrary,  confirm  the  treaty  as 
to  the  Senecas,  as  it  is  confirmed  as  to  the  other  bands,  and  the 
right  to  the  Green  Bay  lands  becomes  perfect,  and  the  treasury 
will  be  fully  indemnified  for  all  the  payments  required  to  be 
made  under  the  treaty. 

"  Could  anything  more  be  required  to  show  the  true  pecuniary 
interests  of  the  United  States  to  be  favorable  to  the  confirmation 
of  the  treaty  ?  It  was  due  to  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  too,  if 
within  the  fair  exercise  of  the  powers  of  the  Senate,  that  these 
Green  Bay  lands,  within  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  one  of 
its  most  important  trading  towns,  should  be  disincumbered  and 
opened  for  a  market  and  for  settlement.  This  was  an  interest  of 
the  United  States  which  could  not  be  disregarded,  whether  it 
was  looked  at  in  reference  to  the  sale  of  our  other  lands  there,  or 
to  our  duty  toward  the  present  inhabitants  of  that  territory. 

'-''Last  and  most  important.  The  interests  of  the  Indians,  parties 
to  the  treaty. 

"In  a  pecuniary  sense  these  interests  are  clear,  strong  and 
decided.  They  are,  altogether,  4,885  souls,  and  they  are  to 
receive  from  the  pre-emption  company  about  $212,000  in  money, 
and  from  the  United  States  about  $420,000  more,  and  at  their 
new  homes,  secure  from  the  encroachments  of  the  whites,  320 
acres  of  land  to  each  soul,  man,  woman  and  child,  of  all  the 
bands.  All  this  they  are  to  have  in  addition  to  the  annuities 
which  they  now  annually  receive  from  the  United  States  and 
from  the  State  of  New  York,  and  which  are  to  be  regulary  paid 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIOHT.  965 

to  them  by  an  express  stipulation  of  the  treaty.  These  annuities 
together  cannot  fall  short  of  the  sum  of  $20,000,  and  are  believed 
to  exceed  that  amount.  Then  all  or  nearly  all  the  bands,  except 
the  Senecas  and  Tuscaroras,  have  lands  to  sell  to  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  for  which,  by  the  long-established  practice  of  the 
State,  they  will  receive  the  full  appraised  value  in  money,  or  in 
permanent  annuities,  as  they  shall  choose. 

"  Was  ever  an  entire  community  so  rich  as  these  Indians  will 
be  in  lands  and  money?  Well  has  Gen.  Dearborn  said: 

"'The  same  liberal  terms  which  have  been  offered  to  these  Indians,  if 
extended  to  any  county  in  New  England,  would  nearly  depopulate  it  in  six 
months. ' 

"  If  such  are  the  clear  and  strong  advantages  to  the  Indians 
pecuniarily  from  this  treaty,  what  are  they  to  expect  from  the 
change  proposed  in  their  physical  and  moral  condition  ?  It  was 
only  necessary  to  look  back  to  the  days  of  the  American  Revo 
lution,  to  answer  this  inquiry.  Then  the  New  York  Indians  were 
the  mighty  Iroquois,  an  enemy  almost  as  terrible  to  our  Revolu 
tionary  fathers  as  the  civilized  enemy  with  whom  they  were  con 
tending.  Even  in  a  divided  state,  and  with  one  of  their  strongest 
bands,  the  Oneidas,  arrayed  upon  the  side  of  the  patriots  in  that 
glorious  contest,  the  five  remaining  allied  bands  held  our  arms  at 
bay  for  years,  and  rather  advanced  upon  than  were  driven  from 
the  settlements,  though  opposed  by  some  of  our  most  brave  and 
skillful  generals.  Some  sixty  or  seventy  years  have  passed,  and 
now  the  New  York  Indians  are  the  miserable  scattered  remnants 
of  these  powerful  nations,  and  also  of  the  St.  Regis,  the  Stock- 
bridge,  the  Brothertown  and  the  Munsee  tribes,  and  numbering 
in  all  less  than  5,000  souls.  Some  of  the  bands  of  the  Six 
Nations  have  entirely  disappeared,  and  others  are  reduced  to  a 
few  families,  and  have  no  home  but  such  as  they  enjoy  from  the 
generosity  of  their  allied  neighbors.  The  same  generous  attach 
ment  to  their  race  has  given  a  home  among  the  Six  Nations  to 
the  Stockbridges  from  Massachusetts,  the  Brothertowns  from 
Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  and  the  Munsees  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  from  the  Wyoming  country,  all  the  remnants  of  once  pow 
erful  Indian  nations,  driven  from  their  lands  arid  their  homes  by 
the  (to  them)  desolating  march  of  civilization,  and  having  not 


966  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

where  to  rest  their  feet,  until  our  faithful  allies,  the  Oneidas, 
tendered  them  a  resting  place  and  a  home  in  their  country. 

"What  has  produced  this  startling  change  in  these  hardy 
children  of  nature,  within  the  short  space  allotted  to  the  life  of  a 
single  man  ?  The  answer  stares  us  in  the  face.  Not  war,  nor 
pestilence,  nor  famine,  but  the  friendly  touch  of  the  white  man  ! 
The  progress,  not  of  arms  against  them,  but  of  settlements  and 
civilization  around  them.  Look  at  the  Senecas.  They  constitute 
a  moiety  of  all  the  Indians  now  in  New  York.  In  the  war  of 
1812-15,  they  numbered  their  thousand  warriors,  and  sent  them 
to  the  field,  led  by  the  gallant  Frasier,  to  strengthen  our  army 
upon  the  frontiers  and  within  the  territory  of  the  enemy.  Where 
now  are  those  thousand  warriors  of  the  Senecas  ?  Did  that  war 
reduce  their  number?  No,  sir;  peace  and  friendly  intercourse 
with  us  have  done  it,  and  already  that  thousand  has  become  reduced 
to  four  hundred,  if  not  within  that  number. 

"  He  spoke  from  a  statement  given  to  him  by  two  intelligent 
chiefs  of  the  nation.  The  statement  was  too  long  to  trouble  the 
Senate  with,  but  it  gave  a  history  of  the  perishing  condition  of 
that  people,  which  could  not  fail  to  move  all  to  their  relief. 
They  were  perishing  from  their  contact  with  the  whites;  while,  so 
far  from  improving  from  the  civilization  around  and  among  them, 
they  are,  as  a  people,  worse  fed,  worse  clad  and  worse  provided, 
than  they  were  when  they  had  never  seen  a  white  man.  The 
labors  of  philanthropists  have  been  sedulously  performed  among 
portions  of  this  tribe  for  a  series  of  years,  without  being  able  to 
arrest  their  downward  and  rapid  march  toward  complete  extinc 
tion.  While  some  are  made  wiser  and  better  by  their  white 
associates,  a  vastly  larger  number  are  made  more  idle  and  more 
vicious. 

"The  paper  before  him  gives  a  description  of  the  state  of 
society  upon  the  Buffalo  Creek  reservation,  produced  by  the 
proximity  of  the  large  and  populous  town  of  Buffalo,  which  can 
not  be  read  without  pain  and  loathing.  Superadded  to  all  the 
other  vices  which  have  never  failed  to  be  imparted  to  the  Indian 
from  association  with  our  cities,  seduction  and  prostitution  of  the 
Indian  females  are  said  to  have  become  frightfully  common;  and 
that  the  most  dreadful  of  all  the  consequences  of  pollution  of  this 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  967 

sort  has  reached  the  tribe,  and  is  rapidly  spreading  itself  among 
this  portion  of  it.  Thus  a  scourge,  more  deadly  and  fatal  than 
any  other  which  has  ever  afflicted  the  Indian  —  a  scourge  unknown 
to  the  natives  until  the  white  man  was  known  —  is  sweeping  over 
this  small  remnant  of  the  once  proud  Seneca  nation,  sowing  the 
seeds  of  a  slow  and  miserable  and  lingering  death  around  the 
germs  of  life.  The  statement  before  him  expressed  the  confident 
belief  that  a  majority  of  the  children  born  alive  in  the  nation  die 
within  the  age  of  twelve  months,  many  from  exposure,  from  want 
of  proper  nourishment  and  ordinary  comforts,  from  the  careless 
ness  of  parents,  and  not  a  few  from  disease  inherited  from  the 
mother. 

"He  would  not,  he  could  not,  dwell  upon  this  picture;  and 
yet  there  are  those  whose  mistaken  sympathy  would  hold  these 
people  where  they  are,  to  perish  under  the  load  of  vice  which 
surrounds  them,  pervades  their  society  in  every  form,  and  is 
sweeping  them  into  the  grave  with  unexampled  rapidity.  Not 
so  with  him.  He  would  change  their  condition.  He  would 
remove  them  from  the  contamination  which  surrounds  and  is 
overwhelming  them.  He  would  place  them  where  they  may 
again  be  Indians;  where  they  may  again  have  the  motives 
before  them  of  ambition,  of  enterprise,  of  pleasure,  of  profit, 
which  stimulate  the  Indian;  and  where,  secure  from  the  encroach 
ments  of  the  whites,  they  may  again  become  independent  and 
free  and  virtuous. 

"But,  Mr.  President,  said  Mr.  W.,  reject  this  treaty;  combine, 
as  you  will  then  combine,  the  cupidity  of  the  pre-emption  com 
pany  with  that  of  the  white  settlers  who  now  surround  them, 
and  from  interest  resist  the  company  and  the  execution  of  this 
treaty  —  for  the  common  object  of  both  is  gain  from  the  Indians 
and  from  their  lands  —  and  when  they  find  that  a  division  of 
interest  defeats  either,  a  combination  may  be  easily  formed 
which  will  favor  both;  I  say,  accomplish  this,  and  then  what 
will  be  the  condition  of  the  New  York  Indians?  How  long  will 
they  be  able  to  withstand  a  combination  of  interests  so  strong 
and  so  strongly  wielded  ?  They  cannot  withstand  it,  sir;  and  a 
few  years  will  show  you  their  history  in  that  of  the  Stockbridges, 
the  Brothertowns  and  the  Munsees.  They  will  be  found  miser- 


968  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

able  wanderers  among  their  red  brethren  in  some  remote  part  of 
the  country,  without  a  home,  or  the  means  to  procure  one;  with 
out  the  comforts  of  life,  or  provision  for  their  future  support; 
their  members  but  a  fraction  of  the  present  population,  and  their 
last  hope  buried  with  the  last  council  fire  which  burned  upon 
those  reservations  they  have  been  compelled  to  abandon  to  their 
white  neighbors  to  avoid  perfect  extinction. 

"May  I  not  hope  I  have  succeeded  in  proving  that  it  is  within 
the  power  of  the  Senate  to  declare  the  assents  of  the  Senecas  to 
this  treaty  satisfactory,  and  thus  to  save  them  from  a  fate  so 
certain  and  so  s-ad  ?  " 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WKIGHT.  9G9 


CHAPTER  LXXXIV. 

THE  BANKRUPT  BILL  OF  1840. 

The  overtrading  in  lands  and  merchandise,  between 
1836  and  1840,  had  produced  not  only  bankruptcy,  but 
actual  insolvency,  to  a  very  great  extent.  A  vast  num 
ber  of  active  men  were  so  badly  embarrassed  as  to  prevent 
their  doing  business.  Consequently  there  was  an  exten 
sive  call  for  a  general  bankrupt  law,  as  authorized  by  the 
Constitution.  Mr.  WEIGHT  favored  a  uniform  one,  con 
ferring  upon  creditors  as  well  as  debtors  the  right  to 
institute  proceedings,  and  to  subject  corporations  to 
them  the  same  as  individuals.  He  contended  that  the 
effect  of  a  bill  containing  merely  the  voluntary  provi 
sion  would  leave  the  creditor  without  remedy,  and 
would  seriously  affect,  if  not  destroy,  the  credit  of  our 
citizens  in  foreign  countries.  He  expressed  a  doubt 
whether  a  law  without  this  provision  would  be  within 
the  meaning  of  the  Constitution.  He  moved  several 
amendments,  which  were  engrafted  upon  the  bill  which 
passed  the  Senate  on  the  24th  of  June,  1840,  by  yeas  24, 
nays  23,  Mr.  WEIGHT  voting  in  favor  of  it.  It  did  not 
pass  the  House  at  this  session.  At  the  next  it  passed 
both  Houses,  and  became  a  law  on  the  19th  of  August, 
1841,  but  was  repealed  on  the  3d  of  March,  1843. 


970  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 


CHAPTER  LXXXV. 

THE    BANKS    IN    THE    DISTRICT    OF    COLUMBIA. 

The  subject  of  the  charters  of  the  banks  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  came  up  again  at  the  first  session  of  t-he 
twenty-sixth  Congress,  in  1840,  and  was  much  discussed. 
The  objections  entertained,  by  Mr.  WEIGHT  and  others, 
were  to  the  details  of  the  provisions  presented  for  con 
sideration,  as  the  following  remarks  by  him  will  show  : 

"Mr.  WRIGHT  had  no  strong  feeling  on  the  subject  before 
them.  He  did  not  desire  to  be  captious  in  legislation  ;  but  he 
wished  the  Senate  to  look  at  the  situation  in  which  it  was  placed. 
A  new  bill,  and  one  complicated  in  its  provisions,  came  from  the 
House  of  Representatives,  adopting  former  legislation  as  a  part 
of  its  substance,  and  what  were  they  told  ?  Why,  that  that  bill 
was  to  become  one  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  this  day,  or  the 
most  serious  consequences,  wrhich  gentlemen  feelingly  portrayed, 
must  ensue.  Now,  he  would  ask  gentlemen,  in  the  spirit  of  candor, 
if  it  was  expected  or  believed  that  a  bill  of  this  kind  could  take  its 
second  reading,  pass  into  committee  of  the  whole,  be  discussed, 
amended,  ordered  to  a  third  reading  (and  let  it  be  remembered 
that  when  it  comes  to  a  third  reading  the  same  difficulty  will 
occur  as  now),  and  go  back  to  the  other  House,  be  enrolled,  sent 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  returned  by  him  with 
his  signature,  all  in  one  day  ?  Had  any  Senator  believed  that  all 
this  could  be  performed  between  this  time  and  twelve  o'clock 
to-night,  in  the  face  of  a  fair,  intelligent  and  determined,  though 
not  a  captious,  opposition  ?  He  could  not  believe  it,  and  he 
begged  the  Senate  not  to  wipe  out  its  rules  with  such  little  promise 
of  utility.  He  knew  that  many  members  of  the  Senate  were 
anxious,  and  honestly  so,  for  the  passage  of  the  bill.  For  him 
self,  he  diifered  with  them.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  abatement 
of  suits  when  the  clock  strikes  twelve  to-night.  He  appealed  to 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  971 

the  Senate  to  say  whether  it  was  worth  while  to  try  to  run  these 
bills  through  in  so  hurried  a  manner.  We  know  and  see,  con 
tinued  Mr.  W.,  that  it  cannot  be  run  through  unresisted.  There 
was  an  opposition  here,  though  small,  to  a  certain  class  of  these 
institutions,  but  there  was  none  to  a  different  class  of  them.  In 
reference  to  such  a  law  as  would  save  all  the  rights  of  these  cor 
porations,  and  enable  them  to  wind  up  their  affairs,  he  knew 
there  would  be  no  opposition  to  it.  But  in  opposition  to  that 
legislation  which  would  continue  to  them  the  power  to  discount, 
upon  irredeemable  paper,  there  was  a  small  but  determined 
minority.  He  believed  they  could  not  make  that  bill  a  law 
to-night,  if  they  were  to  wipe  out  every  rule  of  the  Senate  ;  and 
a  failure  of  one  minute  to  them  would  be  as  fatal  as  the  failure 
of  a  month.  Then,  said  Mr.  W.,  let  us  look  at  this  matter  coolly. 
Let  us  act  on  it  as  a  legislative  body  should — act  liberally  and 
rightfully,  but  let  us  act  with  due  deliberation." 

Tile  bill  was  finally  lost  by  a  vote  of  20  to  16,  Mr. 
WEIGHT  voting  for  it.  On  a  motion  to  reconsider,  the 
vote  was  ayes  18,  nays  21,  and  so  the  bill  was  finally  lost. 

MR.  WRIGHT  TO  ALVIN  HUNT. 

"  JAMESTOWN,  CHAUTATJQUA  COUNTY, 

"15th  October,  1840. 

"My  DEAR  SIR.  — I  have  intended  to  visit  Jefferson  before  the 
election,  and  have  given  encouragement  to  our  friends  in  the 
county  that  I  would  do  so.  I  now  find  that  my  engagements  in 
this  quarter  of  the  State  will  probably  put  it  out  of  my  power 
to  do  so.  I  am  to  attend  a  mass  meeting  here  to-morrow,  at 
Buffalo  on  Monday,  Batavia  on  Wednesday,  in  Niagara  or 
Orleans  on  Friday,  and  Rochester  on  Saturday,  the  twenty-fourth. 
From  there,  it  is  my  intention  to  take  the  first  steamboat  I  can 
get  for  Ogdensburgh.  It  will,  in  my  judgment,  be  too  late  to 
make  it  useful  to  attempt  a  mass  meeting  in  Jefferson,  even  if  it 
should  be  otherwise  desirable,  and  therefore  I  make  no  calcula 
tion  to  stop  there.  If  I  could,  I  would  tell  you  when  I  should 
be  at  the  harbor,  but  I  do  not  know  the  days  of  the  boats,  and 
at  this  season  of  the  year  I  suppose  they  will  not  be  regular. 


972  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  give  this  information  to  our 
friends  at  your  place,  as  they  may  have  expected  to  hear  from 
me  on  this  subject  at  an  earlier  day.  I  have  not  a  moment  to 
say  anything  to  you  of  prospects  in  this  quarter. 

"  In  great  haste,  most  truly  yours, 

"SILAS  WRIGHT,  JE. 
"ALVIN  HUNT,  Esq.,  Watertown,  N.  Y." 

ME.  WEIGHT  TO  Lucius  MOODY. 

"CANTON,  Sth  November,  1840. 

"  MY  DEAE  BEOTHEE.  —  I  arrived  home  in  safety  the  morning 
after  I  left  you  at  Oswego,  though  we  made  so  slow  a  passage 
that  I  did  not  get  a  chance  to  stop  at  all,  but  left  the  boat  and 
went  directly  into  the  stage.  I  found  Clarissa  in  better  general 
health  than  she  has  enjoyed  before  for  some  time,  and  she  ascribes 
her  improvement  to  her  trip  to  Toronto.  All  our  friends  here 
are  well;  and  mother,  Luman  and  Horace  have  made  us  a  visit 
this  evening. 

"  I  have  made  a  statement  of  your  interest  on  the  Heaton  land 
contract,  since  my  return,  and  have  given  it  to  Luman,  this 
evening,  with  eighty-six  dollars  and  seventy  cents,  the  same 
which  I  made  your  due.  I  have  left,  with  the  statement,  your 
draft  and  the  small  receipt  you  gave  me  for  one  year's  interest.. 
You  can  draw  on  Luman  for  the  above  sum,  eighty-six  dollars 
and  seventy  cents,  and  when  you  are  here  you  can  look  over  the 
papers,  and  if  there  are  mistakes  I  will  rectify  them  hereafter. 

"  We  are  off  on  Wednesday  morning ;  and  as  the  appearances 
to  us  here  are  that  the  whigs  have  whipped  us,  and  that  old  Tip, 
and  Tyler,  too,  and  log-cabins  and  coon  skins  are  to  have  a  reign, 
it  is  not  unlikely  we  may  make  a  short  absence  this  time. 

"All  wish  to  be  affectionately  remembered  to  yourself,  Julia 
and  Master  Horace,  and  if  you  will  occasionally  write  us,  at 
Washington,  we  will  pay  in  kind  or  in  documents. 

"  In  great  haste,  most  truly  yours, 

"SILAS  WRIGHT,  JE. 

"  Capt.  Lucius  MOODY." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  STLAS  WRIGHT.  973 


CHAPTER  LXXXVI. 

REPORT  OF  THE  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY. 

The  independent  treasury  bill  became  a  law  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1840,  and  steps  were  taken  by  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  administration  for  putting  it  in  operation. 
Should  this  be  completed  and  meet  the  expectation  of 
its  friends,  its  repeal  and  the  substitution  of  a  national 
bank  would  be  no  easy  task.  Agitation  was  calculated 
to  prevent  the  public  mind  settling  down  in  its  favor. 
On  the  15th  of  December,  1840,  Mr.  Clay,  of  Kentucky, 
offered  a  resolution  instructing  the  Committee  of  Finance 
to  report  a  bill  for  its  repeal,  upon  which  he  opened 
a  discussion  in  which  a  large  number  of  Senators  par 
ticipated.  Mr.  WKIGHT,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Finance  and  author  of  the  bill,  was  looked  to  as  one 
of  its  most  appropriate  defenders.  He  performed  this 
duty  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  friends,  and  addressed 
to  the  Senate  the  following  pertinent  remarks : 

"  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  came  from  one  of  the  nineteen  States 
alluded  to  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  and  he  was  happy  to 
say  to  that  Senator  that  he  rejoiced  to  find  it  was  the  disposition 
of  the  party  about  to  come  into  power  to  make  precisely  the 
issue  tendered  by  this  resolution.  He  thanked  that  Senator, 
therefore  —  as  he  would  have  done  yesterday,  when  the  resolution 
was  presented,  had  it  been  proper  —  for  presenting  that  proposi 
tion  to  them.  He  could  say  to  that  Senator  that,  for  one  —  and 
perhaps  he  could  say  it  with  more  propriety  than  any  other 
member  of  that  body  —  he  did  not  desire  further  to  discuss  that 
measure,  either  before  the  Senate  or  the  country;  he  could  only 
say  that,  when  the  Senate  was  called  upon  to  act  upon  the  pro 
position,  he  was  desirous  that  it  should  be  with  an  understand 
ing  of  what  it  is,  and  that' the  Senate  might  be  as  full  as  may  be, 


974  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

consistent  with  the  attendance  of  members  in  the  city.  To-day 
he  did  not  desire  to  act  upon  it,  for  one  Senator  now  in  town 
was  sick  and  not  able  to  be  in  his  place ;  and  another  left  town 
after  the  last  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  prior  to  yesterday,  with 
the  confident  expectation  of  returning  last  evening,  who  had  not 
yet  resumed  his  seat ;  but  if  there  was  a  disposition  in  the  Senate 
to  act  upon  the  resolution,  and  make  an  expression  which  would 
not  mislead  the  public  mind,  he  should  desire  that  expression 
to  be  made  now  and  upon  this  resolution.  It  would  be  a 
work  of  supererogation,  in  a  short  session  like  this,  to  pass 
the  resolution,  and  instruct  a  committee  to  report  a  bill 
for  the  proposed  repeal,  without  any  expectation  that  the 
bill  would  meet  the  approbation  of  the  Senate.  Hence  he 
wished  that  all  the  members  in  attendance  might  be  present 
when  the  vote  should  be  taken.  But  he  could  not  excuse 
himself  if  he  allowed  the  opportunity  to  pass  without  some 
slight  reference  to  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  by  whom 
the  resolution  had  been  introduced.  That  Senator  had  become 
deeply  impressed  with  the  result  of  the  late  election;  and  on 
the  point  whether  it  was  or  was  not  a  full  and  free  and  fail- 
expression  of  the  popular  will,  he,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  did  not  stand 
there  to  express  an  opinion.  He  would  merely  call  to  the  honor 
able  Senator's  mind  that  they  had  just  passed  through  the  first 
election,  under  this  government,  when  principles  on  the  part  of 
the  dominant  party  were  not  declared,  when  measures  were  not 
avowed,  and  when  men  stood  before  the  country,  not  to  proclaim 
to  the  people  their  principles  and  measures,  but  to  apologize  for 
saying  nothing  in  reference  to  their  measures  or  the  policy  which 
they  proposed  to  adopt.  That  being  the  case,  the  Senate  would 
pardon  him  for  calling  their  attention  to  the  fact  that  he,  and 
other  Senators  who  had  sat  there  with  him  from  1832  and  1833 
to  the  present  time,  had  seen  election  after  election,  when  it  was 
the  fashion  of  candidates  and  of  parties  to  avow  their  principles, 
and  had  heard  the  honorable  Senator,  with  an  ingenuity  which 
cannot  be  surpassed,  parry  the  issue  his,  Mr.  WEIGHT'S,  friends  had 
made,  and  contend,  almost  with  success,that  nothing  was  prejudged 
by  the  popular  voice  in  those  popular  elections.  Take  the  very 
measure  which  it  was  now  proposed  to  repeal,  and  what  was  the 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  975 

judgment  of  the  people,  and  what  was  the  public  expression  at 
the  congressional  elections  of  1838  and  1839?  Then,  if  ever,  a 
distinct  issue  or  proposition  was  presented  to  the  people  of  this 
country.  That  was  the  issue  that  was  pending  during  the  war  of 
more  than  three  years'  duration,  of  which  the  honorable  Senator 
had  spoken  —  that  was  the  only  point  in  controversy;  and  what 
was  the  result?  There  was  a  popular  branch  of  the  national 
Legislature  unfavorable  to  this  measure  in  1837  and  1838,  and  one 
was  returned  in  its  place,  in  1838  and  1839,  favorable  to  it;  and  it 
was  adopted  in  pursuance  of  a  pronunciation  of  the  will  of  the 
people  of  this  country,  pending  the  controversy  as  to  the  measure 
itself.  That  popular  mind  may  have  changed  —  it  may  be  differ 
ent  now;  but  if  it  be,  and  if  the  pronunciation  of  the  popular 
opinion  has  been  against  the  independent  treasury,  of  what 
measure,  as  a  substitute,  has  it  been  in  favor  ?  Has  the  pronuncia 
tion  of  the  late  election  declared  the  popular  voice  of  the  country 
to  be  in  favor  of  a  national  bank  ?  Will  the  Senator  contend 
that  it  was  so,  and  will  his  party  assume  it  ?  Or  has  it  declared 
in  favor  of  the  policy  of  another  political  party,  and  a  return  to 
the  system  of  State  bank  deposits  ?  Would  the  honorable  Sen 
ator  admit  that  ?  He,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  did  not  say  the  honorable 
Senator  would  admit  either  or  both,  but  he  had  a  right  to  ask  the 
question. 

"  But  the  Senator  says  the  result  of  the  late  election  has  been 
a  triumphant  pronunciation  against  this  measure.  How  is  it 
ascertained  ?  By  what  declaration  of  policy  or  principle  on  the 
part  of  that  party  which  has  become  predominant  ?  Why,  he 
should  suppose  —  and  he  made  the  remark  without  intending  disre 
spect  anywhere  —  if  the  result  of  the  late  election  could  be  claimed 
as  proving  anything,  it  was  to  prove  that  they  were  to  take  down 
the  splendid  edifice  in  which  he  then  stood,  and  erect  a  log  cabin 
in  its  place;  that  instead  of  the  rich  draperies  and  valuable 
pictures  before  them,  they  were  to  hang  around  their  chamber 
coon  skins,  cat  skins  and  other  trophies  of  the  chase.  But  the 
Senator  does  not  claim  such  to  be  our  duties,  resulting  from  the 
late  expression  of  the  popular  will.  No,  such  is  not  and  has  not 
been  the  result  of  the  pronunciation  of  the  will  of  the  freemen 
of  this  country;  and  yet, -could  they  not  prove  such  conclusions 


976  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

with  double  force  and  double  testimony  over  that  which  the 
honorable  Senator  seeks  now  to  establish  —  the  condemnation  of 
the  sub-treasury  measure?  And  yet  they  were  called  upon  to  be 
silent,  to  submit  and  to  obey  this  foregone  decree.  Against  the 
popular  pronunciation  made  at  the  late  elections  he  should  not 
intentionally  utter  one  word;  the  decision  of  the  people  he 
should  respect,  for  they  were  yet,  thank  God,  the  highest  tribunal 
known  to  our  country  and  her  institutions.  When  the  powers 
which  that  election  has  brought  into  existence  shall  constitu 
tionally  take  their  places,  he  should  be  one  of  those  who,  whether 
as  a  private  citizen  or  in  the  high  position  in  which  he  then  stood, 
would  be  found  ready  to  render  a  constitutional  submission;  but 
he  was  not  ready  to  admit  that,  in  rendering  its  verdict,  the 
popular  voice  had  pronounced  its  decision  against  this  measure; 
or,  if  it  had,  that  it  had  decided  in  favor  of  any  other  measure  in 
its  place.  What,  then,  was  the  argument  of  the  gentleman  in 
favor  of  this  precipitate  repeal  ?  Was  it  that  the  measure  was 
doing  mischief  to  the  country  and  was  working  evil  to  the  peo 
ple?  He,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  did  not  understand  him  to  say  so.  It 
was  that  it  was  not  carried  out  in  its  terms  and  spirit,  —  that  the 
law  was  not  observed,  but  that  it  was  violated,  by  the  officers 
appointed  under  it.  Well,  the  honorable  Senator  might  be 
right,  for  he,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  had  not  that  acquaintance  with  bank 
ing  institutions  which  would  enable  him  to  pronounce  on  the 
fact.  If  that  was  so,  however,  did  it  follow  that  the  law  must 
be  repealed  because  the  law  was  not  observed?  And  should 
they  expect  from  the  honorable  Senator  that  mode  of  getting 
rid  of  a  salutary  law  which  was  not  executed?  Should  not, 
rather,  an  inquiry  be  instituted  to  ascertain  whether  the  officers 
did  discharge  their  duty  ?  He  knew  not  what  the  fact  might  be 
anywhere,  but  he  confessed  it  would  have  pleased  him  better  if 
the  honorable  gentleman  had  consented  to  take  Philadelphia 
instead  of  New  York  as  an  example;  and  he  knew  the  New 
York  banks  were  specie-paying  banks;  and  he  knew  it  was  the 
constructive  duty  of  the  Receiver-General  to  receive  three-fourths 
of  the  revenue  there  in  the  notes  of  specie-paying  banks;  but  does 
the  Philadelphia  Receiver-General  take  checks  upon  non-specie- 
paying  banks?  And  if  the  Receiver-General  of  New  York, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  977 

instead  of  compelling  the  merchants  to  bring  specie  to  his  vaults, 
takes  a  certified  check  that  is  payable  in  specie  and  presents  it 
for  payment  himself,  is  the  law  violated  or  is  the  community 
injured?  What,  then,  is  the  argument?  Why,  that  there  had 
been  but  little  salutary  influence  from  the  practical  operation  of 
this  law,  and  therefore  it  was  better  to  repeal  it.  Repeal  it  for 
what  ?  To  take  the  revenues  out  of  the  reach  of  Congress  and 
place  them  again  where  they  had  virtually  been  since  the  suspen 
sion  of  the  banks,  in  1837,  until  the  passage  of  the  law,  —  in  the 
hands  of  the  executive  ?  Will  it  be  better  to  put  them  exclu 
sively  in  executive  hands,  or  to  keep  them  within  the  power  and 
provisions  of  a  law,  even  if  it  does  not  suit  the  Senator,  until  a 
better  system  can  be  devised  ?  What  is  the  course  of  wisdom, 
and  what  has  been  the  popular  voice  in  the  matter?  But  he  was 
going  further  than  he  had  intended,  and  therefore  he  should  sus 
pend  further  remark.  He  did  not  desire  to  foreclose  the  debate 
by  a  motion  to  postpone  now;  but  when  the  Senate  came  to  act 
upon  this  resolution  he  desired  that  the  decision  should  be  the 
sense  of  the  Senate,  and  of  as  full  a  Senate  as  the  attendance  of 
members  of  the  Senate  in  the  city  would  permit.  For  the  pres 
ent,  he  would  only  ask  that  the  vote  be  taken  by  ayes  and  noes." 

The  debate  on  this  resolution  was  continued  to  the  20th 
of  February,  1841.  Pending  the  discussion,  Mr.  Allen,  of 
Ohio,  proposed  to  amend  the  resolution  by  striking  out 
all  after  the  word  ' c  resolved,' '  and  inserting  the  following  : 

"That  the  financial  policy  established  at  the  origin  of  this 
government,  by  the  first  acts  of  its  legislation,  and  especially  by 
the  thirtieth  section  of  the  'Act  to  regulate  the  collection  of 
duties,  etc.,'  approved  by  President  Washington  July  31st,  1789, 
and  by  the  fourth  section  of  the  'Act  to  establish  the  Treasury 
department,  etc.,'  approved  by  President  Washington  September 
2d,  1789,  was  in  strict  conformity  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Constitution. 

"Resolved,  That,  by  a  long  series  of  subsequent  acts  tending 

to  the  great  detriment  of  the  public  welfare,  that  policy  had  been 

departed  from,  and  was,  by  the  'Act  to  provide  for  the  collection, 

safe-keeping,  transfer  and  disbursement  of  the  public  revenue,' 

62 


978  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

approved  by  President  Van  Buren  July  4,  1840,  fully  restored, 
and  ought  to  be  adhered  to;  and,  therefore, 

".Resolved*  That  the  government  ought  to  collect  no  more  taxes 
from  the  people,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  than  are  absolutely 
necessary  to  an  economical  administration  of  its  affairs. 

".Resolved,  That  the  taxes  paid  by  the  people  ought  not  to  be 
lent  out  by  the  government  to  individuals  or  to  corporations. 

"Resolved,  That  the  taxes  so  paid  by  the  people  ought  not  to 
be  placed  by  the  government  in  the  custody  of  agents  who  are 
not  made,  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  responsible  to  the 
people. 

"^Resolved,  That,  in  the  transaction  of  its  own  affairs,  the 
government  ought  to  receive  and  tender  in  payment  as  money 
nothing  but  that  which  is  made  a  legal  tender  by  the  Constitution." 

This  amendment  was  considered,  but  no  evidence  is 
found  of  its  adoption  or  rejection.  On  motion  of  Mr. 
Sevier,  at  the  close  of  the  discussion,  Mr.  Clay' s  resolution 
was  laid  on  the  table,  by  the  following  vote  : 

"Teas  —  Messrs.  Allen,  Anderson,  Benton,  Buchanan,  Calhoun, 
Clay,  of  Alabama,  Cuthbert,  Fulton,  Hubbard,  King,  Liun,  Lump- 
kin,  Mouton,  Nicholson,  Norvell,  Pierce,  Roane,  Robinson,  Sevier, 
Smith,  of  Connecticut,  Sturgeon,  Tappan,  Walker,  Wall,  Williams, 
WRIGHT,  and  Young  —  27. 

"Nays  —  Messrs.  Bayard,  Bates,  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  Clayton, 
Crittenden,  Dixon,  Graham,  Henderson,  Huntington,  Ker,  Knight, 
Mangam,  Merrick,  Nicholas,  Phelps,  Porter,  Prentiss,  Preston, 
Rives,  Ruggles,  Smith,  of  Indiana,  Southard,  Tallmadge,  Webster, 
and  White  —  25." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  979 


CHAPTER   LXXXVII. 

FINANCES  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 

On  the  14th  of  December,  1840,  Mr.  WRIGHT  moved 
that  so  much  of  the  President' s  message  as  related  to  the 
finances  of  the  country  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Finance.  At  the  instance  of  Mr.  Webster  the  considera 
tion  of  the  motion  was  postponed.  When  it  came  up  for 
consideration,  on  the  seventeenth,  Mr.  WEIGHT  thus 
addressed  the  Senate : 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
[Mr.  Webster]  had  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  open  this  discussion 
upon  the  message  of  the  President,  pending  a  simple  motion  to 
refer  the  portions  of  it  to  which  he  had  alluded  to  the  appro 
priate  committee  of  the  Senate,  under  the  apprehension  expressed 
by  him  that  the  publication  and  distribution  of  the  statements 
and  views  of  the  President  might  produce  erroneous  impressions 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the  country.  A  similar  appre 
hension,  entertained  by  Mr.  WRIGHT  as  to  the  remarks  of  the 
Senator,  moved  him  to  make  this  reply  to  that  gentleman.  A 
belief  that  his  remaks  were  calculated  to  give  erroneous  impres 
sions  as  to  the  message,  and  the  fiscal  condition  of  the  country 
at  the  present  time,  made  it  his  duty  to  notice  some  of  the  posi 
tions  and  arguments  of  the  honorable  Senator,  and  to  correct,  as 
far  as  he  might  be  able,  the  errors  of  fact  and  conclusion  which 
seemed  to  him  to  have  been  committed.  This  lie  intended  to  do 
as  briefly  as  possible;  and  in  the  discussion  he  should  endeavor 
to  imitate  the  courtesy  which  had  so  clearly  distinguished  the 
language  and  manner  of  the  honorable  Senator. 

"The  Senator  first  referred  to  page  eight  of  the  message,  where 
the  President  speaks  of  a  national  debt  and  a  national  bank.  The 
Senator  did  not,  at  that  time,  consider  it  within  his  object  to  make 
any  remarks  in  reference  to  the  President's  observations  as  to  a 


980  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

bank;  but  it  was  to  the  views  expressed  in  the  message  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  national  debt  to  which  his  attention  was  directed,  with 
that  point  and  force  which  always  characterize  the  Senator's  mind, 
and,  he  might  perhaps  say,  on  this  occasion,  the  ingenuity  which 
sometimes  characterizes  his  arguments.  He  had  asked  if  the  Presi 
dent  supposed,  or  if  anybody  supposed  that  there  was  a  party  in  this 
country  friendly  to  a  national  debt,  per  se.  He,  Mr.  WEIGHT,  did 
not  believe  that  position  met  the  President's  remarks  at  all,  for  he 
did  not  understand  the  President  as  offering  his  views  and  urging 
his  reasons  against  the  contraction  and  perpetuation  of  a  national 
debt  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  debt  to  be  contracted  for  the 
single  and  sole  love  of  the  debt  for  itself.  He  understood  the 
President  as  taking  other  and  higher  ground,  and  as  endeavoring  to 
impress  upon  his  countrymen,  on  the  occasion  which  called  forth 
that  message,  the  evils  of  debt  —  under  any  circumstances,  how 
ever,  under  whatever  circumstances,  and  for  whatever  considera 
tion  contracted  —  and  attempting  to  convince  them  that  it  should 
be  avoided  at  all  times  and  upon  all  occasions,  and  for  all  con 
siderations,  when  the  safety  and  honor  of  the  nation  will  permit. 
Such  he  understood  to  be  the  drift  and  purport  of  the  message 
upon  this  very  important  topic.  Fet  he,  Mr.  W.,  was  prepared 
to  go  farther  than  the  President  had  gone,  and  say  what  he  had 
not  said.  He  would  say,  not  that  there  is  a  political  party  in 
this  country  in  favor  of  a  national  debt,  per  se,  but  that  there 
are  interests  in  this  country  so  in  favor  of  a  national  debt  — 
interests  which  ever  had,  do  now,  and  ever  will  favor  the  exist 
ence  and  perpetuation  of  a  national  debt,  per  se,  for  itself,  for 
the  advantages  they  derive  from  it.  He  believed  those  interests 
existed  in  every  civilized  country  —  he  believed  they  were  ever 
active  —  and  he  believed  they  constituted  an  influence,  against 
which  it  was  one  of  the  prominent  objects  of  the  President  to 
warn  Congress  and  the  country.  What  are  those  interests  which 
naturally  favor  a  national  debt,  per  se  ;  a  national  debt  for  itself, 
and  for  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from  its  existence?  Retired 
capitalists,  men  who  have  withdrawn  from  business,  with  a  capi 
tal  which  they  wish  to  preserve  for  themselves  and  their  families, 
constitute  one  such  interest.  Such  persons  naturally  desire  a 
permanent  and  safe  investment  for  their  money;  and  it  is  most 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  981 

rational  that  they  should  vastly  prefer  their  country  as  tln-ir 
debtors,  if  it  be  of  good  standing  and  credit,  to  any  oUn-r. 
Look  at  England.  What  supports  and  perpetuates  the  aristoc 
racy  of  wealth  there  but  the  British  national  debt  ?  It  rests 
upon  the  debt,  and  could  not  be  sustained  without  it,  and  the 
indebtedness  of  the  country  is  its  strength  and  power.  Mr.  W. 
said  he  spoke  not  of  this  interest,  as  now  existing  in  this  coun 
try,  in  censure;  it  was  as  natural  as  existence  itself;  it  must  grow 
up  in  every  prosperous  community;  will  ever  exist  in  some  form, 
and  can  only  be  curbed  and  controlled  by  a  people  and  govern 
ment  free  from  debt. 

"  But  was  there  not  another  interest,  and  an  important  one  in 
every  commercial  community,  which  was  benefited  by,  and  there 
fore  was  in  favor  of  the  existence  of  a  national  debt  for  itself  ? 
He  spoke  of  that  great  interest  connected  with  foreign  com 
merce,  and  desirous  of  a  medium  of  convenient  remittance 
between  its  own  and  foreign  countries.  Why,  he  had  seen  fre 
quently  the  utility  of  a  national  debt  pressed  upon  the  country 
for  this  cause;  and  quite  recently  articles  had  appeared  in  the 
public  newspapers  —  and  articles  written  with  great  ability  — 
stating  that  since  the  extinguishment  of  our  debt,  fluctuations 
in  our  paper  system  had  been  more  frequent  and  more  deleteri 
ous,  and  contending  that  the  existence  of  a  national  debt,  and 
its  influence  on  commercial  transactions,  were  necessary  to  give 
that  system  stability.  But  a  year  ago,  a  proposition  was  delib 
erately  put  forth  of  that  character,  recommending  that  this 
country  should  create  a  debt,  not  singly  to  furnish  these  com 
mercial  accommodations,  but  urging  that  these  would  be  neces 
sary  incidental  benefits,  while  other  great  objects,  valuable  in 
the  mind  of  the  writer,  were  supposed  to  warrant  the  contrac 
tion  of  the  proposed  debt  of  hundreds  of  millions.  These  were 
not  all. 

"There  was  a  third  interest,  which  embraced  that  class  of 
enterprising,  acute  persons,  who  seek  a  living,  and  their  fortunes, 
by  dealing  in  stocks  —  the  class  of  brokers.  They,  as  a  class  of 
men,  must  be  attached  to  a  national  debt,  per  se ;  for  nothing 
could  be  more  desirable  in  the  stock  market  than  an  abundance 
of  national  stocks  and  securities,  and  that  abundance  of  custom- 


982  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

ers,  seeking  investments  and  a  market,  which  a  full  supply  of 
superior  stocks  would  never  fail  to  present  to  that  department 
of  trade.  Such  securities,  too,  must  have  a  tendency  to  keep  the 
prices  of  stocks  more  stable,  and  thus  render  the  profits  of  the 
broker  more  certain,  and  his  calling  more  safe,  if  not  more 
lucrative. 

"A  further  interest,  having  the  same  natural  tendency,  was 
the  money  incorporations  of  the  country,  authorized  to  deal  in 
stocks  and  exchange,  or  practically  so  dealing  with  or  without 
authority.  These  institutions,  more  naturally  than  the  brokers, 
must  favor  the  existence  of  a  national  debt,  per  se  /  inasmuch  as 
the  profits  of  their  business  would  be  equally  involved,  while 
their  own  stability  would  be  much  more  essentially  promoted. 
He  did  not  enumerate  this  interest  with  any  political  reference. 
It  was  an  existing  interest  in  our  country,  and  in  every  commercial 
country  in  the  world;  and  it  would,  most  likely,  continue  to 
exist,  so  long  as  trade  and  commerce  existed.  Properly  restrained, 
it  was  a  healthful  interest  to  trade  and  commerce,  while,  without 
restraint,  it  was  a  fearful  interest.  It  was  always  active,  and  at 
times  powerful  beyond  the  careless  estimate  of  a  confiding  people. 
Yet  it  was  an  interest  which  a  people  free  from  debt  need  not 
fear,  but  from  which  any  people  loaded  with  debt,  public  or  pri 
vate,  had  everything  to  apprehend.  It  was  a  corporate  interest, 
representing  no  feeling  to  which  human  beings  are  susceptible, 
and  destitute,  from  its  nature,  of  all  human  sympathies. 

"  There  was  still  another  interest  which  should  be,  in  his  judg 
ment,  in  favor  of  a  national  debt  per  se.  He  referred  to  the  men 
and  interests  in  the  country  which  favored  the  establishment  and 
preservation  of  a  national  bank  as  an  institution  to  regulate  our 
currency  and  credit.  He  did  not  speak  of  this  interest  as  that  of 
a  political  party  in  the  country,  or  as  connected  with  any  existing 
political  party.  His  object  was  to  follow  the  course  of  argument 
of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  and  take  a  financial 
view  of  the  topics  under  discussion;  and  he  believed  in  his  heart 
that  every  man  who  desired  the  establishment  and  perpetuation 
of  a  national  bank  in  the  United  States  should  desire,  as  the  only 
safe  and  secure  foundation  for  such  an  institution,  a  permanent 
national  debt.  In  his  opinion,  that  was  the  only  safe  corner-stone, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  !)*:} 

the  only  secure  defense  for  a  national  bank  in  this  country.  It 
was  not  his  object,  upon  the  present  occasion,  to  question  the 
patriotism  or  purity  of  purpose  of  any  friend  of  a  national  bank. 
He  would  not,  if  he  could  avoid  it,  make  this  discussion  political, 
much  less  partisan. 

"He  had  looked  at  our  own  history,  and  found  that  a  national 
debt  had  been  the  apology,  and,  as  he  thought,  the  controlling 
cause  of  our  two  former  national  banks;  and  he  believed,  further, 
that  the  existence  and  continuance  of  the  debt  had  given  to  both 
the  most  of  the  permanency  and  stability  which  they  had  mani 
fested  to  the  country  as  money  institutions  controlling  our  cur 
rency  and  credit. 

"  He  had  also  referred,  himself,  to  the  pecuniary  institutions  of 
England,  and  became  equally  satisfied  that  the  national  bank 
there  could  not  sustain  itself  for  an  hour,  with  its  conceded 
power  over  the  paper  system  of  that  commercial  country,  if  dis 
connected  from  the  British  national  debt.  The  capital  of  the 
bank  consists  of  the  debt,  and  the  country  is  its  debtor  for  the 
credit  it  commands.  How,  then,  is  the  country  to  get  rid  of  the 
bank  but  by  the  payment  of  the  debt,  and  how  can  the  debtor, 
though  the  proudest  government  in  the  world,  control  the 
creditor  while  these  embarrassing  relations  exist  ?  It  cannot  be 
done,  and  hence  the  Bank  of  England  must  be  as  enduring  as  the 
debt  of  England. 

"  So  here;  so  everywhere.  When  a  government  is  in  debt  and 
requires  a  permanent  credit  beyond  its  means  of  payment,  it  may 
require  a  government  bank  to  manage  and  regulate  its  fiscal 
affairs;  to  extend  credit  when  its  necessities  require,  and  so  regu 
late  private  business  as  to  make  that  extension  safe  and  profitable 
to  itself. 

"  He  must  then  repeat  that,  in  his  judgment,  every  man  and 
every  interest  in  this  country,  favorable  to  a  national  bank, 
should  be  also  favorable  to  a  national  debt,  as  the  only  safe 
foundation  upon  which  such  a  superstructure  can  be  erected  with 
any  reasonable  promise  of  permanency.' 

"  He  must  conclude,  therefore,  that  there  were  in  this  country 
interests,  strong,  powerful  and  active  interests,  in  favor  of  a 
national  debt  per  se  ;  that  these  interests  have  favored,  do  now 


984  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

favor,  and  will  continue  to  favor  the  contraction  and  perpetuation 
of  a  national  debt  for  the  advantages  which  they  may  derive 
from  it,  and  that  the  President  was  wise  in  warning  his  country 
men  against  their  influence  in  this  direction.  Other  interests 
might  be  added  to  the  enumeration,  but  these  were  sufficient  to 
elucidate  the  argument  and  show  the  danger  to  be  constantly 
apprehended. 

"  The  honorable  Senator,  if  Mr.  WEIGHT  had  understood  him 
correctly,  admitted  that  the  views  of  the  President,  as  expressed 
in  his  message  upon  the  subject  of  a  national  debt,  were  correct 
and  sound,  but  seemed  to  question  his  right  to  give  them  to  his 
countrymen,  because,  as  he  contended,  they  were  contrary  to  the 
practice  of  the  administration,  and  of  the  President  as  its 
head. 

"  To  prove  this  position,  he  asserts  that  the  present  is  the  first 
administration,  under  our  institutions,  which  has  begun  a  national 
debt  in  time  of  peace.  The  assertion  is  true;  and  yet,  is  it  a  fair 
presentation  of  the  point  intended  to  be  discussed  ?  Is  it  calcu 
lated  to  do  justice  to  the  President  or  to  his  administration? 
Why  did  not  the  Senator  tell  us  that  the  adminstration  of  Gen. 
Jackson  was  the  first,  under  our  institutions,  which  ever  paid  a 
national  debt  ?  It  would  have  been  as  true  ;  and  yet  the  asser 
tion,  presented  in  this  way,  would  have  been  calculated  to  do 
injustice  to  every  administration  preceding  that  of  Gen.  Jackson. 
The  fact  is  that  no  administration,  prior  to  that  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  had  ever  existed,  under  our  Constitution,  which  could 
begin  a  national  debt,  because  every  preceding  administration 
had  found  a  national  debt  in  existence.  Such  a  debt  was  con 
tracted  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  before  our  present 
government  was  formed,  and  was  first  finally  extinguished  during 
the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson;  and  yet  he  believed  he  was 
safe  in  saying  that  every  administration  had  borrowed  money, 
and  thus  added  to  the  existing  debt,  and  had  made  payments 
toward  its  extinguishment.  While,  therefore,  it  was  true  that 
no  administration,  prior  to  that  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  had  begun  a 
debt,  either  in  a  time  of  peace  or  war,  and  that  no  administration, 
prior  to  that  of  Gen.  Jackson,  had  paid  off  and  extinguished  our 
national  debt,  it  was  also  true  that  all  administrations,  as  well  in 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  985 

peace  as  war,  had  borrowed  money,  contracted  debts  and  paid 
debts.  The  simple  assertion  of  the  Senator,  then,  that  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  was  the  first  administration  which  had  begun  a  debt  in 
time  of  peace,  did  not,  in  his  judgment  —  and  he  pronounced  the 
opinion  with  deference  —  present  fairly  to  the  country  the  Presi 
dent  or  his  administration. 

"  It  might  be  proper  here  to  remark  that,  if  the  subsequent 
positions  of  the  Senator  were  sound,  no  debt  had  been  begun 
under  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration,  because  a  national  debt 
had  not  ceased  to  exist.  That  which  had  been  treated  as  our 
national  debt,  in  our  laws  and  in  our  fiscal  accounts,  was  extin 
guished  during  the  administration  of  Gen.  Jackson ;  but  if  the 
items  of  Indian  and  other  claims,  referred  to  by  the  Senator,  are 
to  be  set  down  as  items  of  national  debt,  then  has  our  national 
debt  never  been  paid,  and  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 
cannot  have  '  begun  '  such  a  debt. 

"The  true  and  fair  question  is,  however,  why  and  under  what 
circumstances  has  any  portion  of  debt  been  contracted  under  this 
administration  ? 

"  It  would  not  be  necessary  for  him,  Mr.  W.  said,  to  spend 
much  time  in  answering  this  inquiry,  as  most  of  the  Senators 
present  were  members  of  the  body  in  1837,  and  would  retain  per 
sonal  recollections  of  the  whole  matter.  All  would  remember 
that  Congress  was  convened  extraordinarily,  for  the  single  pur 
pose  of  supplying  the  treasury  and  enabling  it  to  preserve  the 
public  faith  and  honor ;  that  this  call  was  not  made  at  a  time  of 
scarcity  or  want  in  the  public  funds,  but  when  our  revenues  were 
most  abundant,  when  we  had  millions  on  deposit  with  the  banks, 
and  millions  due  from  them ;  that  their  inability  to  pay  the  drafts 
of  the  Treasurer,  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  Congress,  created 
the  want  and  compelled  the  call  of  Congress ;  and  that  the  same 
inability  of  the  banks  compelled  us,  by  the  admission  of  all,  to 
borrow  money  upon  the  credit  of  the  people  to  keep  the  national 
treasury  in  operation. 

"This  new  debt  was  not,  then,  contracted,  or,  in  the  language 
of  the  Senator,  '  began,'  because  the  extravagance  of  the  adminis 
tration  had  expended  our  substance.  No,  but  because  our  trus 
tees —  because  those  with  whom  the  money  of  the  people  had 


986  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

been  placed  for  safe-keeping,  could  not  pay  upon  demand  accord 
ing  to  our  laws ;  because  our  millions  upon  millions  were  without 
our  control,  in  the  keeping  of  banking  institutions,  and  the  credit 
of  the  people  w.is  ivsorteil  to  to  sustain  the  faith  and  honor  of 
the  country.  What  was  the  extent  of  the  power  then  conferred 
upon  the  administration  to  contract  a  debt  ?  If  his  recollection 
served  him,  it  was  $10,000,000.  And  what  were  our  dues  from 
the  banks  alone  ?  If  he  was  not  mistaken,  some  $13,000,000  or 
$14,000,000;  and,  beyond  that,  one  of  the  prominent  and  worthy 
objects  of  the  loan  was  to  extend  indulgence  upon  duty  bonds 
to  the  merchants  of  the  country,  who  were  equally  distressed 
with  the  public  treasury  from  the  revulsions  of  the  time.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  was  that  the  present  administration  '  began 
a  debt  in  time  of  peace.' 

"  The  next  position  of  the  honorable  Senator  is  that  the  admin 
istration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  has  expended  much  more  money 
annually  than  the  accruing  revenue.  That,  he,  Mr.  WRIGHT, 
believed  to  be  true;  but  he  did  not  propose  to  follow  the  Senator 
at  all  in  the  data  given  to  prove  the  position;  he  would  say  what 
he  was  sure  would  not  be  controverted,  that  the  administration 
had  expended,  year  by  year,  just  so  much  and  no  more  money 
than  Congress  had  appropriated  and  ordered  to  be  expended; 
that  every  year  the  appropriations  of  Congress  had  exceeded,  by 
millions,  the  estimates  of  expenditure  presented  to  it  by  the 
executive  departments,  and  that  it  was  a  matter  for  Congress  to 
provide  the  means  to  meet  the  expenditures  itself  directed.  But 
it  would  not  have  been  unjust  to  that  administration  if  the  honor 
able  Senator  had  said,  in  passing,  that  during  every  year  of  its 
existence  the  mass  of  the  public  expenditures  had  been  materially 
and  rapidly  reduced.  The  expenditures  of  1838  were  shown,  by 
the  President's  message  and  the  Secretary's  report  —  the  two 
documents  to  which  the  Senator  had  referred  in  this  discussion  — 
to  be  less  than  those  of  1837.  Those  of  1839  were  some  six  millions 
less;  those  for  1840  had  been  from  two  to  three  millions  less  than 
those  for  1839,  and  the  estimates  for  1841  were  materially  less 
than  those  for  any  preceding  year.  This,  then,  was  both  sides 
of  the  book,  — it  was  the  present  administration  as  it  is,  in  refer 
ence  to  expenditures.  During  its  term,  those  expenditures  had 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  987 

been  undergoing  a  rapid  reduction,  from  the  commencement  of 
its  four  years  to  the  present  hour.  This  was  a  just  and  entire 
view  of  the  matter. 

"The  next  position  taken  by  the  honorable  Senator  was  the 
most  material  one  in  his  argument,  and  without  which  Mr.  W. 
might  not  have  felt  himself  called  upon  to  make  this  reply.  The 
Senator  did  not  even  assert  his  point,  but,  in  a  manner  most 
courteous,  expressed  his  opinion  that  the  President  had  made  a 
variety  of  mistakes  and  omissions  in  his  statement  of  the  present 
national  debt,  as  given  in  his  message;  that  the  country  is,  in 
fact,  more  in  debt  than  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Trea 
sury  have  represented  it  to  be;  and  that,  without  his  correction 
of  these  mistakes,  these  excesses  of  debt  might  be  charged  over 
to  the  coming  administration,  and  the  present  might  retire  under 
appearances  more  favorable  than  the  facts  would  warrant. 

"  To  examine  these  opinions  and  apprehensions  of  the  honor 
able  Senator,  and  to  try  them  by  the  facts,  should  now  be  his 
aim  and  effort,  and  Avas  the  purpose  which  had  principally  induced 
him  to  appear  before  the  Senate  upon  the  present  occasion. 

"  It  was  admitted  that  the  President  had  referred  to  the  balance 
of  outstanding  treasury  notes  truly.  He  had  stated  that  the 
amount  unredeemed  did  not  exceed  four  and  a  half  millions  of  dol 
lars,  but  the  complaint  was  that  he  had  represented  that  as  the 
whole  debt  of  the  country  at  the  present  time,  and  as  the  amount 
which  would  constitute  the  whole  debt  at  the  time  when  he  should 
hand  over  the  administration  of  its  affairs  to  his  successor. 
Now,  how  had  the  Senator  sought  to  show  that  the  President 
had  been  mistaken?  By  referring  to  what  was  called  the  Trust 
Funds,  and  principally,  and  he  believed  entirely,  to  those  portions 
of  those  funds  which  appertain  to  the  Indians.  In  reference  to  the 
Indian  trust  funds,  he  said  not  that  the  fact  was  so,  but  that,  on 
examination,  he  was  inclined  to  believe  that  portions  of  them  had 
been  actually  expended  for  the  ordinary  uses  of  the  treasury,  and 
were  now  a  debt  resting  upon  the  country;  that  the  moneys  stipu 
lated  by  Indian  treaties  to  be  invested  had  not  been  all  invested, 
but  that  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  of  these  moneys 
had  been  paid  out  and  expended,  and  were  now  a  debt  against 
the  treasury.  He,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  had  taken  as  much  pains  to 


988  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

obtain  information  upon  these  points  as  the  time  which  had 
elapsed  since  the  Senator's  remarks  were  made  would  permit; 
and  as  he  designed  to  state  the  facts  fairly,  plainly  and  truly,  as 
far  as  he  was  able,  and  as  the  various  Indian  treaties  varied  in 
their  provisions  as  to  the  trusts  constituted  under  them  and  con 
ferred  upon  the  United  States,  he  would  be  compelled  to  speak 
of  certain  treaties  and  certain  trusts  separately,  each  by  itself,  to 
make  himself  understood  and  to  enable  others  to  understand  the 
facts.  He  would  refer,  then,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  treaty  with 
the  Chickasaw  Indians,  as  that  treaty  was  peculiar,  and  the  trust 
constituted  and  assumed  was  novel  in  our  dealings  with  the 
Indian  tribes.  In  this  case,  the  United  States  had  become  the 
voluntary  trustee  of  the  Chickaaaws,  and  had  stipulated  to  sell 
their  lands  as  the  public  domain  of  the  United  States  is  sold,  to 
deduct  simply  the  expenses  of  the  treaty,  of  the  survey  and  sale 
of  the  lands,  and  such  other  expenses  as  might  be  incurred  for 
account  of  the  Indians,  not  including  any  commissions  or  other 
compensation  to  the  trustee,  and  to  account  to  them  for  all  the 
moneys  which  shall  remain  unexpended.  In  other  words,  the 
treaty  binds  the  United  States  to  sell  the  lands  of  these  Indians 
to  the  best  advantage,  to  account  to  them  for  the  whole  proceeds, 
and  to  manage  such  of  their  cash  funds  as  shall  remain  in  the 
hands  of  the  government,  without  charge  for  trouble  or  responsi 
bility. 

"Upon  inquiry  at  the  Treasury  department,  he  learned  that  a 
law  of  Congress  had  placed  the  principal  part  of  the  money  to  be 
received  under  this  treaty  in  charge  of  the  head  of  that  depart 
ment,  for  the  purpose  of  investment;  that  small  portions  belong 
ing  to  Chickasaw  orphans,  and  to  certain  members  of  the  tribe 
denominated  'incompetent  Chickasaws,'  remained  in  charge  of 
the  Secretary  of  War;  that  of  the  money  in  charge  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  all  has  been  invested,  over  and  above  the 
portion  consumed  in  expenses  in  conformity  with  the  treaty, 
which  there  has  been  time  to  invest  since  the  receipts;  that  the 
money  is  mostly  paid  in  at  the  Pontioc  land  office,  in  the  State 
of  Mississippi,  and  some  time  is  required  to  get  the  returns  of 
sales  and  to  bring  the  money  into  the  treasury;  that  there  may 
be  now  from  $20,000  to  $30,000  of  these  funds  in  the  land  offices, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  989 

in  transitu,  and  in  the  treasury;  but  that  no  portions  of  them 
have  been  expended  for  the  general  uses  of  the  treasury,  and 
that  investments  are  invariably  made  as  soon  as  the  sum  accu 
mulated  is  sufficient  to  authorize  a  negotiation  for  stocks.  The 
honorable  Senator  will  see,  therefore,  that  his  conjecture  that 
some  $300,000  or  $400,000  of  these  funds  had  been  expended  is 
mistaken,  and  that  no  addition  to  the  public  debt  is  to  be  sought 
in  this  quarter. 

"Whether  or  not  there  were  small  sums  arising  under  this 
treaty  in  the  care  of  the  War  department,  and  not  yet  invested, 
he  did  not  know,  as  time  had  not  allowed  him  to  call  upon  the 
head  of  that  department  for  the  information.  Still,  he  supposed 
this  information  immaterial  for  this  argument,  as  money  in  the 
charge  of  the  War  department  could  not  be  in  the  treasury,  and 
therefore  could  not  be  reached  by  a  warrant  upon  the  treasury 
or  expended  in  the  ordinary  calls  upon  it. 

"It  was  proper  here  to  remark  further,  that  the  only  Indian 
money  in  the  charge  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  invest 
ment  is  the  portion  of  the  Chickasaw  fund  before  pointed  out. 
All  those  moneys  arising  under  other  treaties  are,  by  the  treaties, 
committed  to  the  charge  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  Congress 
has  not  yet  transferred  their  custody  to  the  treasury. 

"  Investments  of  Indian  moneys,  to  large  amounts,  had  been 
made  both  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  accounts  of  the  transactions  had 
been  laid  before  Congress.  The  honorable  Senator  had  referred 
to  them,  and  had  spoken  of  the  prices  in  some  cases  paid  for 
stocks,  in  a  manner  to  give  the  impression  that  he  suspected  the 
investments  had  not  been  prudently  and  cautiously  made.  Mr. 
WRIGHT  believed  all  the  investments  had  been  confined  to  stocks 
of  the  States,  a  description  of  security  which  he  felt  sure  that 
Senator  would  not  willingly  depreciate  or  disparage;  and  if  he 
would  refer  to  the  dates  of  the  respective  investments,  and  to  the 
prices  current  of  the  stocks  in  the  principal  markets  of  the  coun 
try,  at  the  several  periods,  little  ground  would  be  discovered  for 
complaint  upon  this  point. 

"  He  would  now  pass  to  another  class  of  references  made  by 
the  honorable  Senator,  and  where,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  WRIGHT, 


990  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

he  approximated  more  nearly  to  the  discovery  of  a  debt,  techni 
cally  speaking,  which  is  not  noticed  by  the  President.  He  alluded 
to  the  Senator's  reference  to  several  Indian  treaties  in  a  group, 
viz.  : 

"  One  with  the  Ottawas  and  Chippewas $200,000 

"  One  with  the  Osages 69,120 

"  One  with  the  Delawares 46,080 

"  One  with  the  Sioux  of  Mississippi 300,000 

"  One  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  of  Mississippi 200,000 

"  One  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  of  Missouri 157,400 

"  One  with  the  Winnebagoes.    1,100,000 

"  One  with  the  Creeks 350,000 

"  One  with  the  Saways 157,500 

$2,580,100 


"  These  treaties  severally  stipulate  that  the  sums  above  named 
shall  be  invested  by  the  United  States  for  the  benefit  of  the  seve 
ral  tribes  of  Indians  named,  and  he  believed  it  to  be  true  that,  as 
yet,  none  of  the  sums  had  been  invested,  but  that  Congress  had 
preferred  to  appropriate  annually  the  interest  upon  them,  as  a 
part  of  the  current  annual  expenses  of  the  country.  All  of  the 
treaties  except  one,  that  with  the  Delawares,  had  been  concluded 
since  the  commencement  of  the  year  1837,  and  his  information 
was  that,  in  all  the  cases,  very  few  sales  of  the  lands,  ceded  by 
the  respective  treaties,  had  yet  been  made ;  not  enough,  in  many 
cases,  to  cover  the  expenses  of  the  treaties,  and  in  none  sufficient 
to  bring  into  the  treasury  any  considerable  portion  of  the  capital 
required  to  be  invested. 

"Another  reason  exists  for  the  non-investment  of  these  sums, 
which  has  its  foundation  in  the  Constitution  of  the  country.  It 
is  that  Congress  has  neither  provided  nor  appropriated  the  money 
required  to  make  the  investments;  and  without  an  appropriation 
by  law,  neither  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  nor  the  President, 
can  take  money  from  the  treasury  for  these  or  any  other  pur 
poses.  The  treaties  create  the  liability  against  the  United  States 
for  the  $2,580,100,  but  it  is  not  a  debt  within  the  law,  and  cannot 
be  noticed  as  such  by  the  fiscal  officer,  until  Congress  recognize 
it,  and  provide  for  it  by  the  proper  constitutional  appropriation. 
The  treaties  are  the  acts  of  the  President  and  Senate,  the  treaty- 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  991 

making  power  of  the  country ;  but  Congress  and  the  President  — 
the  law-making  power  —  can  alone  pay  money,  even  under  a 
treaty.  If,  then,  every  acre  of  the  land  ceded  by  the  Indians, 
and  purchased  by  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States  under 
these  several  treaties,  were  to  be  sold  to-morrow,  and  the  money 
paid  into  the  treasury,  neither  the  Secretary  of  War,  nor  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  nor  any  other  person,  could  legally  or 
constitutionally  invest  one  dollar  of  it,  or  pay  it  out  under  any 
provision  of  the  treaties,  until  Congress  shall  have  appropriated 
it  by  law,  and  directed  its  application.  In  these  cases,  as  he  had 
before  said,  the  lands  had  not  been  sold,  the  money  had  not 
come  into  the  treasury,  and  Congress  had  preferred  rather  to 
appropriate  the  annual  interest,  than  to  borrow  the  money  in 
advance,  for  the  single  purpose  of  funding  it. 

"  He  cheerfully  admitted  that  the  amount  was  a  debt,  as  far  as 
the  treaty-making  power  could  impose  a  debt  upon  the  country; 
but  it  was  not  a  liability  upon  the  treasury,  within  the  laws  of 
Congress,  and  could  not,  therefore,  be  recognized  as  a  debt  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  presenting  the  state  of  the 
treasury,  its  means  and  liabilities,  to  Congress.  The  government 
was  bound  to  pay  the  interest  upon  these  sums  to  the  Indians,  or 
forfeit  its  faith,  pledged  through  the  treaty-making  power,  or  it 
was  bound  to  invest  the  principal  so  that  the  Indians  might 
receive  the  interest  from  other  debtors.  Congress  had  exercised 
its  option  and  preferred  to  appropriate  the  interest  simply,  and 
wait  the  sale  of  the  lands  to  realize  the  capital  to  be  invested. 
[Here  Mr.  Webster  inquired,  '  Where  did  Congress  get  the 
option  ? ']  Mr.  WEIGHT  asked,  does  it  not  follow  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  transactions  between  the  parties?  The  Indians 
sell  and  convey  their  lands  to  the  United  States,  and  surrender 
the  title  and  possession  together,  upon  the  faith  of  treaty  stipula 
tions.  In  consideration  of  the  lands  sold,  the  United  States  agree 
to  hold  certain  portions  of  the  purchase-money,  and  invest  them 
for  the  Indians.  The  United  States  alone  are  trusted,  and  the 
receipt  by  the  Indians  of  the  annual  interest  upon  the  sums  to  be 
invested  is  a  good  compliance  with  the  contract  to  them.  Would 
it  not  be  a  perfect  technical  compliance,  if  the  government  were, 
by  way  of  investment,  to  issue  to  the  Indians  its  own  stocks  ? 


992  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

And  can  it  be  material,  so  long  as  the  United  States  choose  to 
remain  the  debtors,  whether  this  form  be  gone  through  with,  or 
the  treaty  be  left  as  the  evidence  of  liability,  and  Congress  annu 
ally  appropriate  the  interest  on  the  money  as  it  would  upon  the 
stocks?  It  seemed  to  him  that  the  inquiry  of  the  Senator  raised 
a  distinction  without  a  difference  of  interest  on  either  side,  and 
questioned  the  right  of  Congress  to  its  option  in  a  case  where 
the  option  could  not  but  exist  from  the  nature  of  the  transac 
tions.  The  most  the  Indians  can  claim  is  the  liability  of  the 
United  States  for  the  interest  and  principal  of  their  money.  That 
they  have  by  the  solemnity  of  treaty  stipulations,  while  the 
money  is  not  invested.  When  it  shall  be,  they  may  have  securi 
ties  of  a  less  desirable  character,  but  in  conformity  with  their 
contract.  The  only  question,  then,  which  could  influence  Con 
gress,  in  its  option,  was  the  interest  of  this  government  and  the 
convenience  of  its  treasury. 

"  Could  it  be  wise  for  Congress,  in  the  fulfillment  of  treaties 
of  this  character,  and  with  such  parties,  and  at  a  time  when  there 
was  not  a  surplus  of  money  in  the  treasury,  to  have  directed 
loans  upon  the  credit  of  the  people  for  the  payment  of  debts, 
the  payment  of  which  was  not  a  matter  of  feeling  or  interest 
with  the  creditor,  and  for  the  eventual  payment  of  which  an 
ample  fund  had  been  provided  by  the  terms  of  the  contract  which 
made  the  debt  ?  Could  loans  have  been  made  at  a  rate  of  interest 
less  than  that  stipulated  to  be  paid  to  the  Indians?  That  will 
not  be  pretended. 

"  Where,  then,  is  the  cause  of  complaint  or  of  fault  ?  It  is 
simply  in  the  assumption  that  here  is  a  debt  not  mentioned  by 
the  President,  and  still  a  debt  against  the  public  treasury  and  the 
people  of  the  country. 

"  Is  this  so,  in  the  sense  in  which  the  complaint  has  been  pre 
ferred  by  the  honorable  Senator  against  the  message  of  the 
President  ?  Mr.  WRIGHT  had  admitted  that  there  was  a  liability 
to  pay,  and  an  ample  fund  in  the  lands  ceded  by  the  Indian 
treaties  to  make  the  payment,  and  had  attempted  to  show  that 
Congress  had  acted  wisely  in  appropriating  the  interest  upon  the 
money  merely,  until  the  sale  of  the  lands  should  bring  into  the 
treasury  interest  and  principal,  and  thus  enable  the  investment  to 
be  made  without  the  contraction  of  a  permanent  debt. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS   WRIGHT. 

"  Was  there  anything  in  all  this  new  or  singular,  or  peculiar  to 
this  administration  ?  How  long  had  this  government  been  mak 
ing  treaties  with  the  Indians  for  the  purchase  of  their  land,  and 
contracting  obligations  with  them?  And  if  these  are  items  of 
the  public  debt,  why  riot  their  annuities  for  the  purchase  of  the 
same  lands,  which  are  of  a  large  amount  ?  They  are  debts  in  the 
nature  of  investments,  but  they  are  never  reported  as  part  of  the 
public  debt  of  the  country.  Neither  are  to  be  found  in  any 
report  heretofore  made  from  the  financial  department  of  the 
government,  under  any  administration  which  has  ever  existed,  as 
items  of  our  public  debt.  They  are  not  so  by  the  law,  and  they 
have  never  been  so  treated  in  practice.  He  had  in  his  possession 
a  document  which  he  had  obtained  for  another  purpose,  and 
which  contained  a  schedule  of  the  entire  Indian  treaties  up  to 
last  year.  He  should  think  —  for  he  had  not  taken  the  trouble 
to  count  them  —  that  there  were  several  hundreds,  and  on  cast 
ing  his  eye  over  them  this  morning  he  found  they  commenced, 
at  the  latest,  as  early  as  1790,  and  had  been  made  constantly,  if 
not  strictly  annually,  up  to  this  time. 

"The  practice  of  stipulating  to  invest  sums  of  capital,  though 
not  new  in  the  administration  of  our  Indian  affairs,  had  greatly 
increased  within  the  last  few  years.  He  had  had  occasion  to 
become  personally  acquainted  with  an  old  case.  He  referred  to 
the  deposit,  by  the  Seneca  Indians  of  New  York,  of  the  sum  of 
$100,000  with  the  United  States,  being  part  of  the  consideration 
money  for  their  possessory  title  to  their  reservations  under  the 
stipulation  on  the  part  of  this  government,  as  he  was  informed 
and  believes,  that  they  should  receive  six  per  cent  interest  upon 
their  capital  so  loaned.  He  spoke  from  recollection,  and  would 
not  be  confident,  but  his  impression  was  that  the  contract  was 
entered  into  in  1806.  He  could  further  inform  the  Senator  that, 
during  the  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  this  money 
had  been  invested  in  the  three  per  cent  stocks  of  the  United 
States  then  outstanding,  and  that  Congress,  while  he  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  other  branch,  as  he  now  recollected  and  believed, 
appropriated  the  other  $3,000,  or  about  that  sum,  to  make  up  to 
the  Indians  the  interest,  to  which  they  were  entitled.  This  was 
an  old  case,  and  he  spoke  from  memory  in  regard  to  it;  but  from 


994  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

it  the  honorable  Senator  could  see  that,  if  we  were  now  to  go 
back  to  the  commencement  of  our  Indian  relations  and  bring  up 
a  new  account  of  public  debt,  we  should  be  compelled  to  look 
far  behind  the  time  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  as  well  as  to  begin  an 
entirely  new  calculation  of  debt.  If  the  honorable  Senator  would 
look  for  the  investment  of  this  Seneca  fund  of  $100,000  he 
thought  he  would  look  in  vain;  and  yet  it  had  never  appeared  in 
any  statement  from  the  treasury,  as  an  item  of  our  public  debt. 
An  estimate  for  the  interest  would  be  found  in  every  annual  esti 
mate  of  expenditure  since  the  redemption  of  the  government 
stock  in  which  the  last  investment  was  made,  but  the  capital  was 
not  mentioned,  because  it  had  not  been  reappropriated  for  a  dif 
ferent  investment.  Still,  the  Senator  would  not  be  disposed  to 
charge  this  $100,000  to  the  present  administration,  as  a  debt  con 
tracted  by  it  and  to  be  unjustly  palmed  off  upon  its  successors. 

"  Yet  this  was  but  a  fair  sample  of  the  policy  of  going  back 
into  these  Indian  relations  to  find  an  existing  debt,  not  disclosed, 
against  the  present  administration.  If  we  adopt  the  idea,  we 
must  go  back,  not  to  1806,  but  to  1790,  and  bring  up  the  account 
through  all  the  administrations  which  have  existed  under  our 
Constitution,  and  then  solve  the  question  whether  that  adminis 
tration  is  to  be  most  censured  for  contracting  debt  which  has 
succeeded  in  extinguishing  most  Indian  title  to  the  public 
domain  of  the  country,  or  whether  the  debts  so  contracted  have 
been  and  are  considered  as  resting  upon  a  sure  fund  for  their 
redemption  in  the  lands  purchased;  while  the  treaties  are,  in 
every  other  respect,  beneficial  to  the  country,  to  its  population 
and  prosperity,  and  to  its  treasury. 

"  He  believed  the  last  and  the  present  administrations  had 
extinguished  more  Indian  titles,  and  brought  more  of  the  public 
lands  into  the  market,  and  within  the  reach  of  settlement,  than 
any  other  two,  if  not  more  than  all  preceding  administrations; 
and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  the  amounts  of  purchase- 
money  paid,  and  agreed  to  be  paid,  in  the  shape  of  annuities, 
investments  and  otherwise,  would  be  greater  than  under  pre 
vious  administrations.  But  what  had  hitherto  been  the  estimate 
placed  by  the  country  upon  such  policy  successfully  prosecuted? 
Had  we  been  in  the  habit  of  setting  down  these  purchases  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  995 

Indian  lands  as  bad  and  losing  bargains,  —  as  imposing  burdens 
upon  the  treasury  and  debts  upon  the  country,  —  or  as  improv 
ing  the  public  revenues  and  strengthening  the  treasury,  while  they 
enriched  the  country  ?  Had  it  ever  been  supposed  that  the  lands 
purchased  were  not  much  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  the  debts 
contracted  ? 

"  If,  however,  this  movement  was  the  indication  of  a  change 
of  policy  by  the  coming  administration  in  regard  to  the  lands; 
if  the  fund  thus  provided  to  pay  these  debts  is  to  be  separated 
from  the  debts;  if  the  lands,  or  their  proceeds,  are  to  be  given 
away,  and  the  liabilities  incurred  under  the  Indian  treaties  are  to 
be  left  unpaid  upon  the  hands  of  this  government,  then  indeed 
the  amounts  due  to  the  Indians,  as  well  in  annuities  as  in  invest 
ments,  or  otherwise,  may  justly  be  counted  as  debts,  as  perma 
nent,  enduring  debts,  only  to  be  paid  by  taxation  upon  the 
people.  He  would  tell  the  Senator,  however,  that  that  adminis 
tration  and  that  party  which  shall  adopt  this  new  policy,  and 
give  away  the  lands  without  discharging  these  obligations 
incurred  for  their  purchase,  will  be  the  administration  and  the 
party  which  will  charge  these  sums  upon  the  people  as  debts, 
and  which  must  bear  the  responsibility  of  the  act. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  proposes  to  have  a  new  set  of  books 
opened,  to  protect  the  next  administration  from  the  debts  and 
liabilities  incurred  by  this;  to  establish  what  he  calls  '  a  rest ' 
between  them.  Mr.  WKIGHT  would  go  with  him  to  do  this ;  but 
he  should  insist  that  the  accounts  be  fairly  stated  and  the  books 
fairly  kept ;  that  when  the  Senator  had  charged  the  administra 
tion  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  with  the  debts  due  to  the  Indians,  he 
should  credit  it  with  the  lands  which  formed  the  consideration 
for  the  debts.  In  this  way,  the  account  would  present  the  whole 
truth,  and  he  did  not  fear  the  responsibility  of  balancing  the 
books  so  kept. 

"  He  was  aware  that  one  most  expensive  treaty  had  been  made, 
not  by  this,  but  the  last  administration,  without  profit  to  this 
government.  He  referred  to  the  last  treaty  with  the  Cherokees, 
for  the  extinguishment  of  their  title  to  their  lands.  These  lands 
were  principally  in  the. State  of  Georgia,  and  the  Indian  title 
was  extinguished  for  the  benefit  of  that  State,  and  not  of  the 


996  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WEIGHT. 

national  treasury.  Yet  this  treaty  was  but  a  late  fulfillment  of 
an  obligation  resting  upon  this  government  in  favor  of  that 
State,  and  almost  as  old  as  the  government  itself;  an  obligation 
entered  into  to  acquire  its  title  to  a  large  portion  of  the  public 
domain,  and  upon  which,  therefore,  the  moneys  paid  and  payable 
under  that  treaty  are  justly  chargeable,  and  from  the  proceeds 
of  which  they  should  be  reimbursed  to  the  public  treasury. 

"  Still,  this  treaty  being  included,  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands  would  clear  all  former  administrations,  as  well  as  the 
present,  from  any  responsibility  for  debts  contracted  under 
Indian  treaties.  Let  the  new  set  of  books,  then,  show  both  sides 
of  the  account,  and  contain  a  full  and  fair  statement  of  the 
whole  matter,  and  we  shall  not  hear  that  this  or  any  other  admin 
istration  has  run  the  country  in  debt  by  the  extinguishment  of 
the  Indian  title  to  our  immense  public  domain.  Let  the  proceeds 
of  the  lands  stand  against  the  moneys  paid  and  the  liabilities 
incurred,  and  see  if  these  have  been  bad  and  unprofitable  and 
losing  bargains. 

"  Is  this  to  be  charged  at  this  day,  and  from  that  quarter  ? 
How  long  is  it  since  we  heard  a  very  different  account  of 
these  Indian  contracts  ?  Since  he  had  been  honored  with 
a  seat  here,  the  charge  had  been  made  in  this  chamber, 
and  repeated  much  more  loudly  and  widely  out  of  it,  that 
our  Indian  policy  was  a  swindling  policy;  that  we  were  pur 
chasing  their  lands  for  a  song,  and  driving  them  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  for  a  resting  place.  Then,  the  charge  was  that  we 
were  making  cruel  bargains  with  the  ignorant  savages,  the  poor 
Indians!  Now,  it  is  that  the  administration  has  been  loading  the 
country  with  debt  by  making  these  same  bargains.  It  will  not 
do,  said  Mr.  W. ;  it  is  too  soon  to  make  this  short  turn,  and  wholly 
change  the  character  of  the  complaints  growing  out  of  our  Indian 
relations.  The  facts  will  not  sustain  the  last  position.  The  bar 
gains,  as  a  whole,  have  been  profitable,  vastly  profitable,  to  the 
public  treasury,  and  the  lands  yet  unsold  constitute  a  fund  a 
hundred-fold  more  than  sufficient  to  discharge  every  remaining 
liability.  So  much  for  this  mode  of  showing  the  President  in 
error  in  his  statement  of  our  public  debt. 

"  The  honorable  Senator  proceeded  to  enumerate  other  heads, 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  !)!)7 

under  which  he  did  not  assert,  but  expressed  his  suspicion,  that 
there  were  existing  debts,  lie  did  not  attempt  to  enumerate 
items  of  debt,  and  it  was  impossible  for  Mr.  WRIGHT  to  conjec 
ture  what  the  items  were,  or  for  what  the  debts  were  suspected 
to  have  been  contracted.  The  heads  enumerated  were,  debts  for 
the  public  works,  debts  for  the  Florida  war,  debts  for  Indian 
depredations  at  the  north,  and  debts  for  other  things. 

"Well,  now,  as  to  the  debts  for  public  works;  there  might  be 
such,  but  he,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  did  not  know  what  they  were  —  he 
did  not  know  that  there  were  any.  He  was  sure  it  could  not  be 
possible  that  the  Senator  intended  simply  to  inform  us  that  there 
were  public  works  commenced  which  it  was  the  interest  of  the 
country  to  prosecute,  and  that  money  was  to  be  appropriated  for 
them.  And  if  there  was  a  debt  for  public  works,  other  than  such 
a  prospective  obligation,  he  was  ignorant  of  it.  If  that  descrip 
tion  of  account  was  to  be  opened,  he  would  abandon  the  discus 
sion  with  the  single  remark  that  the  honorable  Senator  would  be 
fortunate  if  he  found  the  new  administration  clear  of  obligations 
of  that  character,  either  at  its  commencement  or  its  close. 

"  What  was  the  debt  growing  out  of  the  Florida  war  ?  He, 
Mr.  WEIGHT,  was  ignorant  of  it,  unless  it  consisted  of  claims  for 
losses  sustained  by  citizens  in  consequence  of  that  war ;  and  did 
any  man  suppose  that  the  President  of  the  United  States,  or  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  authorized  to  present  those  claims 
to  the  country  as  a  part  of  its  public  debt  ?  Are  they  so,  in  fact  ? 
They  have  been  presented  year  after  year,  and  session  after  ses 
sion,  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  a  Congress  has 
not  yet  been  found  to  recognize  a  dollar  of  them.  And  were 
the  executive  officers,  in  the  face  of  this  action  of  Congress,  to 
declare  them  public  debts,  to  state  their  amount,  and  call  upon 
Congress  for  provision  for  their  payment  ?  The  slightest  reflec 
tion  would  convince  the  Senator  that  such  was  a  very  uncertain 
and  dangerous  way  to  make  up  an  amount  of  debt.  It  would  be 
nothing  short  of  executive  usurpation  of  a  tearful  character. 

"  Then  the  debts  for  Indian  depredations  at  the  north  —  as,  if 
he  understood  the  Senator  correctly,  this  was  one  of  his  heads  of 
enumeration  —  he  knew  nothing  of  them;  he  knew  not  what  or 
where  they  were. 


998  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"But  there  were  'debts  for  other  things;'  yes;  why  did  not 
the  honorable  Senator  bring  in  the  $5,000,000  for  French  spolia 
tions  previous  to  the  year  1800  ?  That  was  as  much  a  debt  as 
the  others.  It  was  a  claim  not  recognized  by  Congress.  The 
honorable  Senator  believed  it  was  a  debt ;  he,  Mr.  WEIGHT,  did 
not.  Why  not  call  up  the  pension  list  ?  That  is  a  debt  which 
we  must  pay  until  the  gallant  old  soldiers  are  no  more.  It  was 
just  as  properly  presented  as  the  Indian  annuities.  Why  not 
present  the  claims  of  the  heirs  of  the  late  Robert  Fulton  ?  Many 
supposed  that  a  just  debt.  The  Mead  claim?  Many  thought 
similarly  of  that?  In  short,  why  not  present  the  10,000  claims 
which  their  Secretary  told  him  would,  in  a  day  or  two,  be  inven 
toried,  under  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  last  session? 
There  are  10,000  claims  on  the  files  of  the  two  Houses  of  Con 
gress,  and  are  they  debts  to  be  charged  to  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Yan  Buren?  Was  this  to  be  done  before  Congress  had 
recognized  their  justice,  or  made  them  debts  at  all?  He  hoped 
not,  and  he  believed  not. 

"Again,  the  honorable  Senator  said,  if  he,  Mr.  WEIGHT,  under 
stood  him  aright,  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  author 
ized  the  assumption  that  this  administration  was  to  throw  a 
balance  of  debt  on  the  next,  by  the  admission  that  he  did  not 
anticipate  the  payment  of  the  outstanding  treasury  notes  previous 
to  March,  1842.  [Mr.  Webster  observed  that  he  was  not  conscious 
of  having  stated  that.]  Mr.  WEIGHT  did  not  wish  to  misrepresent 
the  Senator,  but  he  had  so  understood  him,  and  so  read  his  re 
marks  published  in  the  Intelligencer  of  this  morning.  He  would, 
however,  refer  to  the  seventh  page  of  the  annual  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  the  present  year,  now  upon  our 
tables,  to  prove  that  such  was  not  his  anticipation,  but  that  lie 
expected  the  revenues  of  1841  would  meet  the  expenses  of  that 
year,  redeem  the  whole  outstanding  balance  of  four  and  a  half 
millions  of  treasury  notes,  and  leave  in  the  treasury,  in  money, 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1842,  the  sum  of  $824,273. 

"  The  statement  of  the  Secretary  is  as  follows : 

' '  More  details  concerning  the  estimates  of  the  next  year  will  be  proper, 
and  will  illustrate  the  correctness  of  some  of  the  preceding  results. 

' '  It  may  be  stated,  from  the  best  data  in  possession  of  this  department, 
that  the  receipts,  under  the  existing  laws,  will  probably  be  as  follows: 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  999 

"  *  From  customs $19,000,000 

"  ' From  lands 3,500,000 

"  '  From  miscellaneous 80,000 

"  '  Add  the  expected  balance  in  the  treasury,  avail 
able  on  the  first  of  January  next 1 ,580,855 

"  '  The  aggregate  of  ordinary  means  for  the  next 

year  would  then  be $24, 160,855 

41  '  There  will  be  nothing  more,  either  of  principal  or 
interest,  due  from  banks,  which  is  likely  to  be 
made  available,  except  about 220,000 

"  *  A  power  will  exist,  under  the  act  of  31st  March, 
1840,  to  issue  treasury  notes  till  a  year  from  its 
passage  expires,  but  not  to  make  the  whole  emis 
sion  outstanding  at  any  one  time  exceed  five 
millions  of  dollars. 

"  '  This  will  furnish  additional  means,  equal  to  the 
computed  amount  which  can  be  issued  at  the 
close  of  the  present  year,  being  about 342,618 

"  '  Hence,  there  may  be  added  from  these  several 
sources  so  much  as  to  make  the  whole  means  for 
the  next  year $24,723,473 

"  'On  the  other  hand,  the  expenditures  for  1841,  for 
ordinary  purposes,  if  Congress  make  no  reduction 
in  the  appropriations  requested  by  the  different 
departments,  are  estimated  at 19,250,000 

"  '  This  would  leave  a  balance  in  the  treasury,  at  the 

close  of  the  year,  equal  to |6,473,473 

"  '  But  certain  payments  must  also  be  made  on  ac 
count  of  the  funded  and  unfunded  debt,  unless 

Congress  authorize  contracts  to  be  formed  for 

extending  the  time  of  their  payment.     Thus, 

there  will  be  required, 
" '  On  account  of  the  funded  debt,  chiefly  for  the 

cities  of  this  district $149,200 

"  '  For  the  redemption  of  treasury  notes,  if  all  the 

others  be  issued  which  can  be  under  the  present 

law,  as  then  the  amount  returned  within  A.  D. 

1841  will  probably  not  exceed 4,500,000 

-  4,649,200 


U    i 


Estimated  balance  in  the  treasury  at  the  close  of 
the  next  year,  after  all  payments  whatever  .... 


1000  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"It  was  not,  then,  supposed  by  the  Secretary  that  this  debt  of 
four  and  a  half  millions  was  to  be  thrown  over  to  1842.  He 
expressly  anticipated  its  payment  in  1841.  He  would  now  pass, 
very  briefly,  to  other  topics. 

"The  honorable  Senator  complained  that  the  President,  in  his 
message,  and  the  Secretary,  in  his  report,  had  made  reference  to 
the  money  on  deposit  with  the  States,  and  called  with  earnestness 
to  know  whether  the  President  or  the  Secretary  had  recommended 
the  withdrawal  of  that  money,  or  any  part  of  it.  He,  Mr.  WEIGHT, 
found  no  such  recommendation,  and  for  the  best  of  all  reasons,  in 
his  judgment, —  there  was  no  necessity  for  it;  the  revenue  of  the 
year  1841  was  expected  to  be  equal  to  the  expenditures  of  1841, 
including  the  redemption  of  $4,500,000  of  treasury  notes.  The 
deposit  with  the  States  was  referred  to  as  an  item  of  property 
belonging  to  this  government,  but  was  not  mentioned  as  in  the 
power  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  or  of  the  President.  It 
was  in  the  hands  of  Congress,  an  accumulation  of  former  years 
when  taxation  was  heavier  than  at  the  present  time,  and  was 
referred  to  to  show  that  there  was  no  cause  for  increased  taxa 
tion  upon  the  people;  that  the  government,  as  such,  was  pos 
sessed  of  means  to  discharge  every  existing  liability,  and  to 
present  a  balance  of  some  $17,000,000  or  $18,000,000  for  the 
future  disposition  of  the  national  Legislature.  This  certainly 
could  be  no  just  cause  of  complaint.  The  President  and  the 
Secretary  had  been  in  the  exercise  of  most  responsible  trusts. 
They  were  about  to  surrender  them  to  others,  who  would  seem 
more  directly  to  represent  the  public  will  and  choice.  It  was 
their  duty  to  present  a  true  and  full  account  of  the  public  pro 
perty  and  the  public  interests  as  they  supposed  them  to  exist; 
and  surely  a  reference  to  an  interest  of  some  $28,000,000  of  safely 
invested  money  could  not  be  considered  singular  or  censurable. 

"The  honorable  Senator  had  seen  fit  further  to  complain  that 
the  President  had  not  recommended  a  modification  of  the  tariff 
and  an  increase  of  taxation.  Why  should  he  have  done  so  ?  The 
calculations  arid  representations  of  the  responsible  officer  charged 
with  that  duty  showed  that  more  revenue  was  not  required  for  the 
contemplated  service  of  the  coming  year.  Why,  then,  should  the 
President  have  recommended  measures  for  an  increase  of  revenue  ? 


/y //•'/<:  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  1001 

"If  there  had  been  a  just  anticipation  of  a  deficiency  of  mean- 
to  meet  the  wants  of  the  treasury  it  would  have  been  incimilH-nt 
upon  him,  as  it  would  upon  the  Secretary,  to  have  pointed  out 
the  mode  and  recommended  the  measures  to  supply  that  defi 
ciency.  Such  did  not  appear  to  be  their  anticipations,  and  their 
communications  to  Congress  had  been  made  to  conform  to  their 
sense  of  their  public  duties.  It  might  have  been  very  unchari 
table  in  him,  but,  when  the  Senator  was  indulging  in  his  remarks 
upon  this  point,  he  could  not  but  feel  that  the  gentleman  was 
impressed  with  the  exceedingly  difficult  question,  the  many 
knotty  points,  which  the  adjustment  of  the  tariff  is  likely  to  pre 
sent  to  the  coming  administration,  and  that  it  was  the  manifest 
interest  of  the  now  dominant  party  in  the  country  that  poor 
defeated  Mr.  Van  Buren  should  come  in  and  make  an  effort  to 
settle  it  in  advance.  It  could  not  fail  to  be  seen  that  portions  of 
that  triumphant  party  would  complain  of  anything  which  any 
man  could  recommend  upon  this  subject,  and  the  Senator  might 
kindly  suppose  that  complaints  could  not  now  harm  the  Presi 
dent. 

"  So  far  from  reciprocating  these  feelings,  Mr.  W.  rejoiced  that 
it  had  not  been  found  necessary  for  the  present  President  to 
touch  this  vexed  question.  And  he  could  not  be  mistaken  in 
supposing  that  it  would  have  been  indecorous  in  him,  after  the 
tremendous  defeat  he  had  experienced  at  the  late  elections,  to 
have  reached  after  disputed  topics  with  a  view  to  their  final  and 
permanent  adjustment  by  himself  or  his  friends.  He  was  taking 
leave  of  his  responsible  position,  and  Mr.  W.  rejoiced  to  believe 
he  was  doing  what  he  believed  it  was  alone  proper  for  him  to 
do, —  confining  himself  strictly  to  the  discharge  of  those  duties 
which  his  short  remaining  official  term  required  at  his  hands. 
In  reference  to  the  adjustment  of  the  tariff,  he  had  done  as  he 
should  have  done:  he  had  left  the  whole  matter  to  those  who  are 
to  come  after  him,  and  who  should  be,  as  they  claim  to  be,  the 
more  immediate  and  acceptable  representatives  of  the  popular 
will;  and  he,  Mr.  W.,  did  not  speak  untruly  when  he  said  his 
most  ardent  wish  was  that  they  might  be  able  to  adjust  that  diffi 
cult  question  happily  for  the  country  and  satisfactorily  to  every 
interest  involved. 


1002  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

"A  single  word  more  and  he  would  close.  The  honorable  Sen 
ator  concluded  with  a  remark  which  manifested  a  disposition  to 
say  that  the  friends  of  this  administration  were,  or  were  to  be 
made,  responsible  for  the  necessity  of  an  extra  session  of  Con 
gress,  if  a  convention  of  the  new  Congress  should  be  ordered  by 
the  new  President.  Now  he,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  was  one  of  those  who 
should  do  everything  in  his  power  to  obviate  any  such  necessity; 
and  to  accomplish  that  object  with  the  greatest  certainty,  he 
should  use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  keep  the  appropriations  of 
this  session  within  the  anticipated  means  of  the  year  1841.  He 
believed  the  estimates  supplied  all  the  necessary  wants,  and  he 
intended  to  adhere  to  them  strictly.  Having  done  so,  he  should 
cheerfully  leave  it  to  those  who  have  been  placed  in  power,  by  a 
triumphant  expression  of  the  popular  voice,  to  call  a  Congress 
when  they  pleased,  and  to  recommend  such  measures  as  they 
pleased.  [Mr.  Webster  having  made  some  remaks  in  reply 
resumed  his  seat.]  Mr.  WRIGHT  said  he  rose  to  make  a  very  few 
explanations,  and  would  detain  the  Senate  but  a  few  minutes. 

"  He  thought  the  Senator  in  error  as  to  his  additional  six 
millions  of  means  which  had  been  expended  during  the  term  of 
the  present  administration,  arising  from  deferred  merchants' 
bonds.  He  spoke  from  recollection,  and  would  not  be  confident, 
but  the  only  general  suspension  of  bonds  which  he  recollected 
took  place  under  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  16th  of  October, 
1837,  passed  at  the  extra  session  of  that  year,  and  that  was  a 
suspension  but  for  nine  months,  and  could  only  have  operated 
upon  bonds  falling  due  in  that  year. 

"  In  reference  to  the  Senator's  remark  as  to  the  President's 
anticipation  of  a  further  diminution  of  the  expenses  of  the  gov 
ernment,  he  preferred  that  the  President  should  speak  for  himself. 
The  Senator  said  that  he  assigned  no  other  cause  for  the  expecta 
tion  than  the  diminution  of  the  pension  roll  by  death.  What 
the  President  did  say  was  : 

"  '  Causes  are  in  operation  which  will,  it  is  believed,  justify  a  still  further 
reduction,  without  injury  to  any  important  national  interest.  The  expenses 
of  sustaining  the  troops  employed  in  Florida  have  been  gradually  and 
greatly  reduced,  through  the  persevering  efforts  of  the  War  department; 
and  a  reasonable  hope  may  be  entertained  that  the  necessity  for  military 
operations  in  that  quarter  will  soon  cease.  The  removal  of  the  Indians 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  1003 

from  within  our  settled  borders  is  nearly  completed.  The  pension  list,  one 
of  the  heaviest  charges  upon  the  treasury,  is  rapidly  diminishing  by  death. 
The  most  costly  of  our  public  buildings  are  either  finished  or  nearly  so,  and 
we  may,  I  think,  safely  promise  ourselves  a  continued  exemption  from 
border  difficulties.' 

"  His  principal  object,  in  rising  at  this  time,  was  to-  make  a 
correction  of  an  error  into  which  the  Senator  had  fallen  in  his 
first  remarks,  in  reference  to  the  manner  of  keeping  the  accounts 
of  the  trust  funds  at  the  Treasury  department.  He  had 
intended  to  make  the  correction  before;  but  not  having  noted  it 
on  his  brief,  it  had  been  forgotten.  He  was  expressly  authorized 
to  say  that  separate  and  distinct  accounts  of  all  trust  funds  were 
kept  at  the  department,  with  all  the  accuracy  and  care  which 
characterized  the  keeping  of  any  accounts  there.  The  books 
containing  these  accounts  were  regularly  brought  up,  and  the 
statement  of  any  such  account  could  be  regularly  and  accurately 
made  from  them;  but  the  state  of  these  accounts  was  not,  as 
matter  of  course,  communicated  to  Congress  with  the  Secretary's 
financial  report.  Such  communications  were  always  made  when 
called  for,  and  not  otherwise.  The  Senator  would  see,  therefore, 
that  his  idea  —  that  these  accounts,  and  the  moneys  in  the  trea 
sury  to  their  credit,  had  become  intermingled  with  the  general 
affairs  of  the  treasury,  so  that  it  was  difficult  to  tell  how  the 
trust  funds  did  actually  stand  —  was  a  mistaken  one.  There  was 
no  confusion  upon  the  subject  at  the  department.  [After  a  few 
remarks  from  Mr.  Webster]  Mr.  WEIGHT  said  he  wished  to  add 
a  single  remark  which  he  had  omitted  when  last  up.  The 
Senator  complained  that  the  sums  which  were  stipulated  by  the 
Indian  treaties  to  be  invested  for  the  Indians  did  not  appear  in 
the  annual  estimates  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He 
said  the  Indian  annuities  were  annually  estimated  for,  and  there 
fore  were  made  to  appear  to  Congress  yearly  as  claims  which 
must  be  paid.  Mr.  WRIGHT  thought  it  was  a  perfect  answer  to 
the  suggestion  to  say  that  the  interest  upon  the  sums  stipulated 
to  be  invested,  and  not  invested,  was  annually  estimated  for,  as 
the  Senator  would  find  by  examining  the  estimates  for  the  Indian 
department,  and  this  estimate  showed  the  liability  as  fully  as  an 
estimate  of  the  principal  would  do.  The  estimate  is  for  the 


1004  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

annual  interest  upon  a  sum  named  and  stipulated  by  treaty  to 
be  invested.  Is  it  possible  to  specify  the  liability  more  distinctly 
or  plainly?  Are  our  liabilities  for  the  annuities  more  fully 
exhibited  in  the  estimates  ?  He  could  not  see  that  they  were. 

"Another  single  remark  would  content  him.  The  Senator 
seemed  to  suppose  it  doubtful,  from  the  message  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  remarks  of  himself,  whether  they  did  not  both 
favor  a  recall  of  the  moneys  on  deposit  with  the  States,  rather 
than  the  imposition  of  duties  upon  '  wines  and  silks.'  Of  the 
opinion  of  the  President  upon  this  subject  he  could  say  nothing, 
because  the  President  had  expressed  no  opinion  ;  and  for  him 
self,  he  could  say  that  he  had  neither  given,  nor  intended  to  give, 
any  opinion  upon  this  point.  He  would  not  certainly  favor  a 
recall  of  the  money  deposited  with  the  States  until  the  treasury 
wanted  money,  and  when  that  state  of  facts  should  be  shown, 
and  he  should  be  asked  for  a  vote,  either  to  recall  those  moneys 
or  to  impose  a  duty  upon  wines  and  silks,  he  should  not  be  found 
unprepared,  or  reluctant,  to  make  the  decision. 

"  The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  WEIGHT 
[to  refer  to  the  Committee  on  Finance],  which  was  agreed  to." 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  1005 


CHAPTER   LXXXVI1I. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    GRANTING    PENSIONS. 

Pensions  were  originally  granted  to  those  who  were 
made  invalids  by  service  in  the  army  or  navy.  From  a 
very  small  beginning,  by  enlarging  the  principles  upon 
which  they  are  granted,  our  pensions  alone  now  cost  the 
treasury  as  much,  if  not  more,  than  the  whole  govern 
ment  did  in  Mr.  Adams'  and  Gen.  Jackson's  time.  In 
early  times  the  widows  and  orphans  of  naval  officers 
were  pensioned  and  paid  out  of  a  fund  created  by  small 
monthly  contributions  withheld  from  their  regular  pay, 
and  by  applying  the  government's  share  of  naval  prizes 
to  that  object.  Now  they  are  paid  directly  from  the 
treasury.  Pensions  were,  as  early  as  1818  and  1832, 
granted  to  all  who  served  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
These  were  subsequently  extended  to  their  widows.  Now 
we  pension  those  who  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  as  well 
as  those  disabled  in  our  late  war,  and  the  widows  and 
children  of  those  dying  in  the  service.  It  has  often  hap 
pened  that  Congress  has,  by  special  act,  given  pensions 
to  those  who  were  not  included  in  any  general  law.  On 
the  23d  of  December,  1840,  the  case  of  Hannah  Leighton 
came  before  the  Senate,  when  Mr.  WRIGHT  addressed 
that  body  in  opposition  to  it.  He  expressed  his  fears 
that  the  principles  upon  which  pensions  were  allowed 
would  be  expanded  to  an  alarming  extent,  and  that  indi 
vidual  cases  might  be  granted,  where  congressional  action 
was  based  solely  upon  sympathy.  The  following  remarks 
disclose  the  principles  upon  which  he  acted.  The  bill 
passed  by  29  to  13. 

"  Mr.  WRIGHT  hoped  he  might  be  indulged  in  a  few  remarks 


1006  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

on  the  subject  then  before  the  Senate  ;  and  he  owed  it  to  himself 
to  say,  however  much  less  sensible  he  might  appear  to  be  to  the 
sympathies  of  the  human  heart  than  other  Senators  who  had 
preceded  him,  it  was  with  great  embarrassment  and  pain  that  he 
opposed  a  case  of  this  kind  ;  and  were  it  not  that  he  saw  in  it 
the  introduction  into  their  legislation  of  a  principle  of  fearful 
extent,  he  should  not  be  heard  in  opposition;  but  under  that 
consciousness  he  had  opposed  it  before,  and  he  felt  bound  to  do 
so  again.  But  he  begged  permission  to  say  a  few  words  in 
explanation.  He  did  not  question  at  all  the  right  of  the  present 
Committee  on  Pensions  to  introduce  a  new  principle  into  the 
pension  system ;  he  had  no  doubt  that  this  case  had  appealed  to 
the  strongest  feelings  of  their  hearts,  and  that  they  had  been 
induced  by  their  sympathies  to  present  it  to  the  Senate ;  but  he 
desired  to  say  that  it  was  presented  here  on  a  principle  new  to 
him  in  the  pension  system.  What  had  been  the  ground  assumed 
as  the  basis  of  pensions  hitherto?  Length  of  service.  Upon 
what  principle  was  the  law  of  1818  based?  If  his  memory 
served  him  right,  it  was  service  in  the  regular  army,  and  for  at 
least  nine  months.  Upon  what  hypothesis  were  pensions  based 
then  ?  He  could  not  say  positively,  for  he  was  not  in  the  Con 
gress  at  that  time,  but  he  had  always  supposed  on  the  hypothesis 
that  the  time  of  a  man  had  been  consumed  in  the  service  of  his 
country,  and  that  he  had  never  been  remunerated  for  that  service, 
or  that  he  had  been  paid  in  continental  paper  which  was  worth 
nothing ;  and  at  that  late  day,  that  was  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  proposed  to  compensate  him  for  the  early  service  of  his  life 
in  the  perils  of  that  war.  That  he  supposed  to  be  the  predica 
tion  of  the  pension  act  of  1818.  They  passed  on,  then,  so  far  as 
his  memory  served  him,  without  any  important  addition  to  that 
act  until  the  year  1828,  and  then  they  passed  a  very  important 
law  pensioning  a  certain  class  of  officers  of  the  Revolution.  And 
on  what  ground  ?  Why,  they  had  been  patriotic  enough  to  peril 
their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  country.  Yes;  and  he,  Mr. 
WRIGHT,  was  acting  at  the  time  that  law  was  passed;  it  was  as 
a  commutation  of  a  promise  held  out  to  them  by  the  old  Con 
gress,  which  had  either  not  been  fulfilled  or  not  equivalently  ful 
filled  ;  on  that  he  knew  the  action  of  Congress  was  based,  or  of 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT.  1007 

the  other  branch  of  it,  of  which  he  was  a  member  when  the  law 
of  1828  was  passed.  In  1832,  again,  a  much  more  broad  and 
comprehensive  pension  act  was  passed,  but  he,  Mr.  WRIGHT,  was 
not  then  a  member  of  Congress.  But  what  was  its  peculiar 
characteristic  ?  First  to  shorten  the  term  of  service  from  nine 
to  six  months,  and  to  comprehend  the  militia  as  well  as  the  rcgu- 
'  lar  army.  These,  according  to  his  recollection,  were  the  features 
of  that  law  — a  term  of  service,  sacrifices,  and  loss  of  time,  which 
had  not  been  compensated  for,  was  the  predication  of  that  law. 
Well,  then,  so  far  pensions  were  confined  to  persons  who  had 
performed  service,  and  they  had  not  then  departed  from  that 
principle  either  in  favor  of  widows  or  heirs.  In  1836  another 
pension  law  was  passed,  and  a  most  significant  and  impor 
tant  law  it  was.  He  was  a  member  of  this  body  at  the 
time ;  and  he  felt  it  to  be  a  just  reproach  upon  himself 
when  he  said  that,  when  that  law  was  passed,  he  was  not 
fully  aware  of  the  extent  of  its  provisions  —  he  then  was 
derelict  of  his  duty;  but  what  were  the  principles  of  that  law  ? 
It  retained,  to  his  understanding,  the  same  predication;  it 
extended  pensions  to  the  widows  of  officers  and  soldiers  of  the 
Revolution,  who  were  the  wives  of  such  officers  and  soldiers  at 
the  time  when  they  performed  service  —  to  widows  who  had  them 
selves  sustained  sacrifices,  and  injuries  produced  in  their  fami 
lies,  by  the  taking  away  the  head  of  the  family  into  the  military 
service  of  the  country.  So  far,  then,  though  they  had  gone  a 
step  beyond  the  individuals  who  had  performed  the  service,  they 
had  retained  the  broad  basis  on  which  the  pension  system  was 
founded.  It  was  in  1836  that  that  law  was  passed;  and  in  1838 
they  passed  another  most  essential  measure,  as  they  had  seen  in 
its  operation  on  the  treasury,  for  he  thought  he  was  not  mistaken 
when  he  said  it  had  taken  $4,000,000  from  the  treasury,  or  had 
added  that  much  to  the  expenses  of  the  government.  These 
laws  were  passed  when  they  had  an  overflowing  treasury,  impel 
ling  them  on  to  an  overflowing  expenditure.  This,  then,  was  a 
brief  review  of  what  he  understood  to  be  the  general  pension 
laws  which  had  been  passed;  he  knew,  as  the  honorable  chairman 
of  the  committee  said,  that  particular  laws  had  passed,  but  he 
asked  if  this  proposed  law  did  not  contain  a  principle  entirely 


1008  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  SILAS  WRIGHT. 

new?  From  the  fact  stated  by  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts, 
the  time  was  nothing,  at  the  most  but  twenty-four  hours,  but  it 
was  the  service  of  the  life  of  a  gallant  and  patriotic  officer.  But 
he  was  not  the  first  man  that  fell,  for  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  told  them  that  five  or  six  freemen  of  this  country  fell 
before  the  weapon  was  aimed  at  the  life  of  this  officer.  Could 
they,  then,  pension  his  widow,  and  not  the  widows  of  those  other 
men  ?  Could  they  make  such  a  distinction  ?  Yes,  and  the  next 
day,  and  the  next,  the  patriots  of  that  period  rushed  to  the  battle 
field;  and  should  they  say  that  the  widow  of  the  man  who  fell 
on  the  first  day  of  that  contest  should  have  a  pension  for  her 
life,  and  that  the  widows  of  those  who  served  in  that  patriotic 
struggle  for  a  longer  period,  and  then  fell,  should  have  no  com 
pensation  ?  Could  men  make  this  distinction  ?  Could  their  sym 
pathies  induce  them  to  yield  to  this  claim,  and  not  yield  to  the 
others?  He  had  spoken  in  admiration  of  the  committee,  and 
that  admiration  made  it  a  most  reluctant  duty  to  oppose  them;  but 
to  what  extent  the  principle  might  be  carried,  if  they  opened  the 
door,  he  could  not  say,  and,  therefore,  he  felt  impelled  to  guard 
against  unforeseen  evils.  Who  had  apprehended,  when  the  law 
of  1838  was  passed,  the  millions  on  millions  that  had  been  taken 
from  the  treasury  in  that  short  period  ?  No  man,  he  ventured  to 
say.  Who  could  say  now,  if  they  adopted  the  principle,  that  the 
living  widows  of  other  gallant  spirits  who  rushed  to  the  battle 
field  on  the  first  day  of  the  Revolution  would  not  claim  to  be 
pensioned  for  life,  and  not  only  pensioned  for  life,  but,  as  in  this 
case,  for  some  years  back?  [Mr.  Bcnton — Nine  years  back.] 
Mr.  WRIGHT  continued.  To  what  extent  the  principle  would 
lead,  he  could  not  conceive.  If  this  bill  Avere  to  become  a  law 
of  Congress,  if  this  case  were  to  prevail,  who  could  stand  up 
and  protect  his  sympathies  against  granting  similar  pensions  to 
the  widows  of  those  who  fell  at  Lexington  before  the  fall  of  this 
officer?  It  was  views  of  this  sort  that  impelled  him  a  year  ago, 
and  which  would  impel  him  now,  to  oppose  this  bill,  appealing 
as  forcibly  as  it  did,  with  an  irresitible  force,  to  their  sympathies 
and  their  feelings  of  humanity." 


9|£ 


14  DAY  USE 

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